Question to the Home Office:

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

The Government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities, and tackling knife crime is a priority. Across England and Wales, we are recruiting 20,000 additional police officers and increasing the amount of funding available to the policing system for 2021/22 by up to £636 million, totalling £15.8 billion.

Over the last two years we have invested a total of £176.5 million through the serious violence fund to address the causes of serious violence and to bolster the police response in police force areas most effected by serious violence across England and Wales. We have set up Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in the 18 worst-affected local areas. VRUs bring together police, local government, health and education professionals, community leaders and other key partners to identify the drivers of serious violence, to help them to implement a long term, multi-agency approach, to stop violence from happening in the first place.

We have committed a further £130.5m to tackle serious violence and homicide in 21/22, including funding for targeted policing and interventions to protect young people from involvement in violence.

We have also invested £200 million through the 10-Year Youth Endowment Fund to ensure those most at risk are given the opportunity to turn away from violence and lead positive lives.

We also continue to strengthen the law on knife crime and serious violence. The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 introduced Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPO). These preventative orders enable the courts to place positive intervention requirements as well as other measures including prohibition to carry a knife on individuals to help the police steer those most at risk away from serious violence and to set them on a more positive path.

Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs) have been introduced in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill and will give the police powers to make it easier to stop and search those already convicted of knife and offensive weapon offences.

We have also introduced legislation which will place new duties on a range of specified agencies across different sectors, such as local government, youth offending, and health and probation, to work collaboratively, share data and information, and put in place plans to prevent and reduce serious violence.