Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of the causes of the increase in the level of knife crime.

The Government is very concerned about the increase in knife crime and the devastating impact it has on victims, their families and communities. That is why we published the Serious Violence Strategy in April setting out action to tackle knife crime including new legislation in the Offensive Weapons Bill, the launch of the anti-knife crime Community Fund to provide grants to local initiatives, the #knifefree media campaign, and continuing police action under Operation Sceptre. The strategy outlines an ambitious programme and is based on evidence about the trends and drivers of serious violence and analysis of what works in terms of interventions.

Our analysis clearly points to a range of factors driving increases in serious violence including improvements in police recording, but changes in the drugs market is a key driver of recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide. Our multi agency approach means that the strategy is not solely focused on law enforcement, but depends also on partnerships across a number of sectors such as education, health, social services, housing, youth services, victim services and others. In particular, the strategy stresses the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes of serious violence and provide young people with the skills and resilience to lead productive lives free from violence, supported by the new £22 million Early Intervention Youth Fund and the recently announced £200 million Youth Endowment Fund.