INCIDENTS of violence against women crept up in Swansea last year, according to the latest figures, but domestic-related ones dropped.

There were 2,099 offences in 2021 where victims of violence were female, 504 of which were domestic related.

In comparison there were 1,979 such offences in the county in 2020, of which 552 were domestic.

The 2021 figures were contained in a council scrutiny committee report about the work of a multi-agency group called Safer Swansea Partnership.

Drug trafficking offences declined in Swansea, according to the report, from 238 in 2020 to 184 last year.

Knife crime appeared to drop markedly, with 612 knife-related incidents reported in 2021 compared to 954 the previous year.

But the report said the decrease could be explained by a change in the way such incidents were extracted from the police database.

Hate crimes rose from 330 in 2020 to 456 last year – mostly around racism and religion – but the committee was told at a meeting on February 15 that this could be because there was more trust among people in contacting police.

Councillors also heard Swansea was not a hate crime “outlier” compared to cities of a similar size.

The committee asked representatives from the council and South Wales Police about serious and organised crime and police priorities in Swansea. They were told serious and organised crime was not growing in the county but was an ongoing concern.

Cllr Sue Jones said she felt there was a perception that knife crime was on the increase.

Police chief superintendent Trudi Meyrick said knife crime was falling in Swansea, but that the force was not “taking the foot off the gas” in this area.

There was a brief discussion about an independent review of the riot which took place in Mayhill last May. The review, published last month, found there were significant failings in the police response.

Cllr Cyril Anderson described it as “very damning”. He asked if senior police officers involved in the response would be made accountable, and also if councillors would be able to read the outcome of an in-depth police review which would take place.

Ms Meyrick said terms of the reference for the police review were being developed, and that the force intended to be “open and transparent”.

She said the issue that night last May, when cars were torched and pushed down Waun Wen Road and residents’ windows were smashed, was not the number of officers available but the way they were deployed and used.

“There were a number of issues on the night in question which really made our response ineffective,” she said.