Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of trends in the level (a) youth crime and (b) violent crime in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency in the last three years; and what (i) steps she is taking and (ii) resources she is allocating to tackle those crimes.

It is vitally important that we prevent young people from being drawn into violent crime. The Government is committed to reducing serious violence and putting an end to the tragedies afflicting our communities.

The Home Office collects data from police forces on police recorded crime, broken down by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership Area, including the London borough of Haringey. Data is not collected at parliamentary constituency level. The latest data can be found here (This includes the number of recorded offences of violence against the person):

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tables

In March the Home Office announced its £130.5 million investment in tackling serious violent crime, including homicide and knife crime, in 2021-22. This includes an extra £30 million to support the police in taking targeted action in parts of England and Wales most affected by serious violence, and up to £23 million for new early intervention programmes that will help stop young people from being drawn into violence. This includes programmes which use significant moments in a young person’s life – such as when they enter police custody or Accident and Emergency – as opportunities for trained professionals to engage and divert young people away from violence.

In total, £105.5 million, over three years (2018 – 2021), has been invested in multi-agency Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in the 18 areas most affected by serious violence, which bring together local partners to deliver an effective, joined up approach to tackling violent crime and its drivers. £21 million was allocated to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to develop the London VRU, covering all London boroughs. £136.5 million, over three years (2018 – 2021), has also been allocated to the same 18 police forces to fund a surge in police operational activity. The Metropolitan Police Service have been allocated £42,547,955 of this funding.

In addition 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). The 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.

In March a new criminal justice bill was introduced to Parliament – the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. The 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.