Knife Crime

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Wednesday 15th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful for the noble Lord’s broad support for the action plan. It is an ambitious target to halve knife crime within a decade, but it is one that we think is worth achieving. As I said in what I outlined to the House, there are measures about legislation, about policing and about stop and search, but there is also a great emphasis on prevention. The prevention estimates are predominantly dealt with by my colleagues in the Department for Education. We are trying to open the 50 young future hubs by the end of this Parliament. The initial eight opened last week; they have long-term funding and back-up for the course of this Parliament.

The noble Lord makes an interesting point on the question of detached youth work. I do not have statistics on that in front of me, and I would not wish to second-guess what they may be, but I shall examine that issue and talk to colleagues in the Department for Education, and if I have information that I can share with the noble Lord I shall do so in writing. The important point is that in this measure that we have here there are the youth future hubs, £66 million for the violence reduction units, and the 50 youth future panels. There is the money going into schools in the hotspot areas and the diversion of £26 million of resources to the 27 police forces in the areas where 90% of knife crime occurs. That is a way of trying to focus it down. It is very important that we do what the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, suggested, which is to use intelligent information to determine where this is a problem and therefore look, with neighbourhood police, youth workers and youth hubs, at what interventions are required. That is not for me to second-guess, but it is the direction of travel, and I hope that the noble Lord will welcome that. If I can give him the specific information, I shall do so.

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

My Lords, like other noble Lords, I greatly admire the Minister and his approach to these subjects. The noble Lord, Lord Hacking, raised the issue of the 16,000 knives that had been taken. The dilemma that those responsible have to face is that, for some young people, they are set on a career of crime and they are dangerous people who need to be handled with the greatest severity. However, the House will also agree that many young people are terrified and, although they are by no means criminals, they carry a knife for protection. I would only say that trying to get that balance right is extraordinarily difficult, although we have all those preventive and youth support programmes. When my noble friend spoke at the beginning he talked of the importance of work and about keeping young people in school—anything to give young people gainful occupation and stop them slipping into the vicious cycle of knife crime. That is really important, but I for one do not think that every vulnerable young person who is picked up carrying a knife is necessarily a criminal.

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I agree with the noble Baroness on that. As I said, as part of my general contribution, some of the work that the MoJ is doing and is for individuals who are on that cusp and who might well be getting involved in a gang and carrying a knife. There are resources in the knife crime action plan for the Ministry of Justice not to have a criminal justice outcome for those individuals but to try to find ways in which we can divert them and support them to choose a different lifestyle and break with that gang culture.

Interestingly, some 63,611 knives have been taken out of circulation since the general election through the surrender scheme; that includes weapons through the ninja sword surrender scheme, which had cross-party support, as well as the schemes for zombie knives and machetes, and knives seized by Border Force when they entered the country. We are trying to reduce the types of knife that can be carried or used for those offensive purposes. Every one of us will use a knife in our daily work or life; we have to look at what we do with the ninja knives that we have banned and with the import of the wrong type of knife and the measures that we have taken on registration. The noble Baroness makes a very important point that criminalising young people is not necessarily the best way in which to help them to have a lifetime free of criminal activity, which is key to the plan.

Regulated and Other Activities (Mandatory Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse) Bill [HL]

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 17th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

My Lords, I warmly commend the noble Baroness for her tenacity in bringing forward this Bill. There is enormous respect and support for what she is doing.

I want to touch on the context. It was 50 years ago that we had the first public inquiry into child physical abuse, with the Maria Colwell case, when Maria Colwell was beaten and killed by her stepfather. Since then, we have had any number of inquiries on physical abuse, and we do not need any more. The lessons are always the same; why are they not implemented, and why are the dots not joined? With the reports of Herbert Laming, now the noble Lord, Lord Laming, and William Utting, the lessons are the same.

Then we came upon child sexual abuse, which frankly was unthinkable. I think that the House fails to realise that this was not a concept that people even considered, and we are not so far along the line in understanding how addictive it is. In the 1970s, I was asked to review the literature on paedophilia at the Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley. The view was that the trauma of reporting in a court case was so much more damaging to a family than actually trying to give them a little bit of counselling. Attitudes have changed beyond belief, and we should not judge the past by the present.

Why are people so resistant to reporting? I have personal evidence. I started working for Frank Field at the Child Poverty Action Group; then I wanted to become a psychiatric social worker, so I went as an unqualified social worker to a special boarding school for the Inner London Education Authority. I discovered that the headmaster spent all his time hanging around the girls’ bedrooms, the lavatories and bathrooms. This was horrific. I was 23, it was my first job—I wanted my reputation, so what could I do? I could do no other. I went to the head of my service, the school social work service for the Inner London Education Authority, but I was told, “No, Virginia—if they think that social workers are going to be reporting on things, they won’t allow social workers in the schools”. That was too much for me. My formidable aunt, Peggy Jay, a GLC member, said, “Go and see Lena Jeger”, who was a wonderful Labour woman. I went to see her—and what happened? The man was given a good reference and went to a school in Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells. I could do no other. My friend Patrick Mayhew—the late Lord Mayhew—was the MP, and I said, “If you ever hear anything, you must do something”. What happened? The man went off to a school in Canada.

We need to understand the resistance to reporting. It is damaging for the sport—and the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, is going to speak. You do not want people to think that athletics is full of sex abuse or that a school is full of sex abuse. You do not want people to feel that the Church is full of sex abuse—so we should just be sympathetic to the resistance.

On my next point, we must be careful of false reporting. We all remember the late Lord Brittan and the horrors that he had in the last years of his life—and Lord Bramall. I used to work with a young man who was very disturbed and had seen more than anyone should have done at 15. The first thing he did when he went to a children’s home was to accuse somebody of touching him up. What happens? The person immediately gets suspended. We all know about this from constituents in our schools. False accusations mean instant dismissal and a reputation destroyed, and it is almost impossible for that individual to get back. I am not condoning anything—the trauma, the loss of innocence, the loss of a childhood from child sexual abuse, as the noble Lord, Lord Mann, said. So many people in our prisons and so many drug addicts have had these terrible experiences. But, again, the IICSA story was such a dog’s breakfast. It had all the wrong chairmen. They should have stayed with the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, and they finally got to Alexis Jay, who I hope will be a Baroness. She is a wise woman, who at last has sorted it out in an intelligent and practical way—and our job is to implement these recommendations.

[Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Twycross) (Lab)]

My Lords, while I appreciate how passionately we feel about this issue, the first two speakers have gone about 30 seconds over the advisory speaking time, so could noble Lords please be mindful of the advisory speaking time of four minutes?

King’s Speech

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone Excerpts

Wednesday 24th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone (Con)]

My Lords, it is always a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, for whom I have very high regard. The Minister will discover that in the House of Lords the debates are much better than they are in another place. I know he does not have much experience in another place, but criminal justice, of all subjects, is an enormously complex problem, and the debates and the speeches on it here are always some of the best that we have. I welcome him most warmly. He brings a tremendous example to the House. I just hope he stays in post, because we have heard it all before. What we need is tenacity, continuity and delivery. We really were not sure whether we wanted the noble Lord as our Minister. We were quite tempted by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Gloucester, and we were thinking that if the most reverend Primate the Archbishop would allow that, it could be a constitutional innovation. She has consistency and dedication. She was the first woman bishop in this place and is a wonderful woman.

I want to say in passing that the Minister made an excellent maiden speech and that I look forward to the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Hanson. I am afraid the shop steward for all matters relating to Hull—the noble Lord, Lord Norton—has already tapped me on the shoulder. I was chancellor for only 17 years. I know the noble Lord, Lord Timpson, is chancellor at Keele. I knew he was at Hull, and I was going to mention it in passing—it is in my notes—as was another great entrant to the House, the noble Baroness, Lady Hazarika.

My noble and learned friend Lord Bellamy said so much in his speech that I care deeply about. I could go off on many highways and byways in this debate, but I have very little time. I want to say how impressed I have been by the appointments in this Government. Not many people are as old as me, but I remember 1997 when it was carnage. All the people who had done the shadow jobs were chucked out, and Tony’s cronies arrived. As Alex Aiken said, it was tears all the way down Downing Street, not from John Major and his team leaving but from all the people who thought they were going to get the jobs when the new people arrived. To my amazement, the shadows have been appointed—people who have served an apprenticeship. I think the credit for this goes to Sue Gray for ensuring that there has been a measured and sensible adoption of office.

I must declare an interest: as most people know, 25 years ago I decided that it was not just policies that matter but people, so I have been in executive search for 25 years. We appoint some important people. In 2008 we handled the job of the Director of Public Prosecutions, in 2018 we handled the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, and in 2003 I found the chief executive of the Refugee Council, so I am pleased that the Prime Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, and the noble Lord, Lord Vallance, are all people who have been vetted—as I would say without that sounding like a conflict of interest, which I am terrified of in this place. We have the noble Lord, Lord Hendy, and many others who bring expertise.

I envy the Minister. The only job I wanted in government was to be Home Secretary, but my problem is that I think prisons are throwing good money after bad. I was alienated about prisons for many years when it was very unfashionable for a Conservative to feel that. My experience was that I was chairman of the juvenile court in Lambeth at the time of the Brixton riots, when I was only 32. I sat at one stage with my noble friend Lord Waldegrave and the late Baroness Howe. These were children from the most appalling homes, or who had no home and no education. They could not read the oath. They had drawn the short straw and nobody wanted them. I wanted a levy on local authorities that had their residents in prison, because nearly always they had not invested in their education, healthcare or training. But it was not to be.

I had a bloodcurdling row with my very close and good noble friend Lord Howard when he introduced secure training centres. I am deeply sceptical about putting young people in prison. I admire those who have made such a difference. I pay credit not only to the Minister but to the wonderful Finlay Scott, who founded the Clink—I would like to speak for 20 minutes on the Clink but I cannot—and to Jocelyn Hillman at Working Chance. These are practical schemes that make a difference.

I also want to warn the Whips that I will be against them if they try to whip me on the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It is an error and a waste of money. It can be a little memorial but it must not be a learning centre. I am pleased that the King did not mention it and that the Prime Minister mentioned only a memorial, not a learning centre. Best wishes to the Minister.