Budget Resolutions

Vicky Foxcroft Excerpts

Monday 11th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Foxcroft (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)]

Today, we are talking about growing the economy. I think a lot of our constituents stop listening when they hear that phrase, as it sounds far too removed from their daily lives in which they have been struggling with the cost of living crisis, sky-high housing costs and unsafe streets.

We are all aware of the devastating impact of youth violence. In 2015, as a new MP, I lost several young constituents to knife crime in quick succession. Their deaths had a huge effect not only on their friends and families, but on the community as a whole. That drove me to set up the cross-party Youth Violence Commission, of which the Home Secretary was a member, along with the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens). I hope that hon. Members present will remember our work.

From the very start, the commission pushed for a public health approach to tackling youth violence, which means drawing on knowledge from a wide range of policy areas to create a multidisciplinary approach. Pioneering work was done in Scotland when the first violence reduction unit was founded in Glasgow by Strathclyde police under a Labour Government. Its mission was to identify, understand and address the underlying causes of violence. The commission’s interim report, published in 2018, called for the adoption of the public health approach overseen by a network of similar violence reduction units. The right hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Sir Sajid Javid), who was Home Secretary at the time, endorsed that course of action and other regional violence reduction units were established.

Two years later, the commission’s March 2024 report welcomed the Government’s commitment to further support and resources for violence reduction units. Last Wednesday, the Chancellor announced funding, which is so important—to be precise, £75 million over three years from 2025—with his stated intention that it should be used to upscale existing violence reduction units and expand the model across the country.

One of the commission’s core concerns has always been the long-term funding of violence reduction units. We all know that that can be difficult in politics, as Governments of different colours come and go and priorities change. Violence reduction units cannot fulfil their potential and do all the things they want when they do not know how much more money will be coming in beyond the next few years. The commission’s view has always been that they need to have 10-year funding settlements. I also question how the £75 million will be spent. Given that the funding allocation for 2023-24 totalled around £45 million, just £25 million a year both to upscale existing VRUs and to expand the network does not seem sufficient. I would appreciate further clarification on that.

Times are incredibly hard—we all know that—but we will grow our economy by ensuring that as many people as possible are economically active, and that must include our young people. We owe it to them to show that we are serious about investing in their future. When preparing the 2020 report, the commission took evidence from a huge range of people. The root causes of youth violence—and indeed the solutions—do not begin and end with the Home Office and violence reduction units. If we want our young people to grow up and play an active role in the economy, we need to invest in them from the very start. That means investing in children’s centres, schools, youth services, decent housing, youth employment and tackling poverty, as well as increasing the number of police officers on our streets and rebuilding community relationships.

I stress that as policymakers we need to engage with young people, and by that I mean not only listen to them but act on their concerns and recommendations. Only then can we truly understand their needs and work with them to ensure that every single young person in this country has a bright future.