Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce knife crime in Slough.

Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s Safer Streets mission, and we are taking immediate action to tackle the scourge of serious violence on our streets. We have implemented the ban on zombie-style knives and machetes, outlawing the manufacture, supply, sale and possession of those lethal blades, and we will go further – with a consultation on the ban of ninja swords being launched shortly.

We will also create a new Young Futures programme – with new Prevention Partnerships and youth hubs so we can intervene earlier to prevent at-risk young people from being drawn into violent crime.

The Government’s manifesto included a commitment to introduce a new offence of criminal exploitation of children, to go after the gangs who are luring young people into violence and crime, and we will set out more detail on this in due course.