Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the devolved Administrations on (a) violence reduction strategies and (b) where she plans to allocate additional funding to help tackle violence in the devolved regions.

The Government is committed to reducing serious violence and putting an end to the tragedies afflicting our communities. It is important that we work across government, statutory, private, and voluntary sectors to deliver change, including with the devolved administrations.

We are, for example, working closely with the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland, the Police Service for Northern Ireland and the Scottish Government to deliver the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 surrender and compensation scheme across the United Kingdom. We also work closely with the devolved administrations on other aspects of our firearms controls.

Crime prevention and policing are devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland but we maintain regular dialogue on our shared interests. On Monday 8 February, the Minister for Crime and Policing addressed the ‘Four Nations’ conference on the subject of public health approaches in policing and serious violence across the UK. This week-long conference was match funded by the Home Office.

Crime prevention and policing are reserved in Wales, however, other areas of focus in reducing and preventing serious violence such as health and education are devolved and we continue to work closely with the Welsh Government on these matters. The Home Office has invested a total of £176.5 million over two years into the 18 police force areas worst affected by serious violence – the Serious Violence Fund (SVF). South Wales is one of these 18 areas. From the SVF, South Wales Police have been allocated £1.98m to Surge their police operational capacity. Additionally, £1.76m of the SVF has been invested into the South Wales PCC to develop their Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), which brings together key partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them. On the 8 February 2021 we announced a further £880,000 investment into the South Wales area to further develop their VRU for 2021-2022.

In addition to the Serious Violence Fund, we have invested £200 million in early intervention and prevention support initiatives over 10 years to support children and young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF). In total, 12 grantees in Wales are in receipt of funding from all grant rounds. The YEF will reform the way this government responds to serious violence by identifying what works in diverting children and young people away from involvement in serious violent crime. That is why this government has awarded an extra £5 million towards the expedited development of a national Centre of Excellence (CofE) to help guide government investment and national policies. The CofE will develop a robust evidence base and share best practice across local and national partners to facilitate learning.