Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (a) whether his Department has made an assessment of trends in the levels of murder of teenagers by stabbing and (b) what steps he is taking to tackle knife crime amount young people.

The Government is aware of the number of young victims of knife crime and tackling knife crime is a priority for this Government.

The Office for National Statistics publishes statistics on homicide from the Home Office Homicide Index. Over recent years, there has been an increase in homicides involving sharp instruments, including an increase in younger victims. The data are available here: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/homicideinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2020

It is vitally important that we prevent young people from being drawn into violent crime. This is why the Government has made £130.5m available this year to tackle serious violence, including murder and knife crime.

This includes £35.5m for Violence Reduction Units which bring together local partners to tackle the drivers of violence in their area. VRUs are delivering a range of early intervention and prevention programmes to divert people away from a life of crime and have reached over 300,000 young people in their first year.

We have invested £30m to support the police to take targeted action in parts of England and Wales most affected by serious violence through the Grip programme, which uses data to identify violence hotspots and target operational activity in those areas. Through the Grip pilot in Essex, Southend-on-Sea, there was a 73.5% drop in violent crime in hot spot areas on patrol days.

We are also investing up to £20m million for new early intervention programmes that will help stop young people from being drawn into violence, including cognitive behavioural therapy, family therapy, as well as specialist support in crisis moments such as when a person is admitted to A&E with a knife injury. We have also established the £3.3 million Creating Opportunities Forum to provide meaningful employment-related opportunities and raise the aspirations of young people at risk of serious violence over the next 2 years.

Longer term investment includes the 10-year Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) which we have invested £200 million in, to test and evaluate what works to support children and young people at risk of exploitation.

We acknowledge there is more to do which is why the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill includes a duty on public sector bodies to take a joined-up approach to addressing serious violence; the requirement for local agencies to review the circumstances when an adult homicide takes place involving an offensive weapon; and Serious Violence Reduction Orders, which give the police the authority to stop and search known knife and weapons carriers.

We have also introduced Knife Crime Prevention Orders in London, to help the Metropolitan Police identify and support those most at risk of violence. KCPOs will enable the courts to place restrictions on individuals, such as curfews, geographical restrictions, use of social media, as well as positive interventions requirements and, importantly, explicit prohibition to carry a knife.