Here's the latest Argus column by Islwyn MS Rhianon Passmore:

WELSH Labour leader and first minister Mark Drakeford, and Welsh Labour’s minister for social justice Jane Hutt have announced an extra £3.7 million for the additional Police Community Support Officers across Wales, bringing the total budget to more than £22 million and delivering another of the party’s key election pledges at May’s Senedd election.

The additional 100 PCSOs brings the total funded by the Welsh Labour Government to 600.

The funding also shows the importance the Welsh Labour Government places on the values of community, equality, and social justice. This will be another step forward to ensure strong and safe communities with resources in place to cut crime.

At the Senedd election in May I stood, in Islwyn, on a platform that promised to strengthen support for safer communities, so I’m really pleased that our Welsh Labour Government has already announced funding to deliver this key commitment to the people of Wales.

While the Tories in Westminster inflicted a decade of cuts to policing across the UK, our Welsh Labour Government stepped up and has funded 500 PCSOs on our streets since 2011 to support neighbourhood policing.

Communities right across Wales have appreciated the difference that PCSOs make to their neighbourhoods. I’m pleased that our Welsh Labour Government has hit the ground running to deliver this pledge, demonstrating its commitment to keeping our communities and neighbourhoods safe.

The Covid pandemic is not over. Wales is recording its highest rates of new cases of Covid-19 since January as we continue to see the third wave ripple across the United Kingdom.

So far, in this third wave, we have not seen a sharp rise in the number of hospital cases and deaths.

The vaccines are degrading the link between number of cases of Covid and the numbers of people who are hospitalised and who die of the virus.

In Wales 16 and 17 year olds are now being offered their first dose of vaccination.

I would urge everybody, who can, to be vaccinated against Covid. The stories that are emerging of young unvaccinated people being hospitalised by Covid is deeply concerning. 132,000 people in the UK have died as a result of Covid-19.

As Wales moves cautiously forward we must continue to be watchful.

I thank the people of Islwyn who have continued to play their part in Wales’ collective effort in this pandemic.

Rhianon Passmore MS — Putting Islwyn First

Rhianon.Passmore@senedd.wales