Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will hold discussions with representatives of (a) Operation Shutdown, (b) bereaved family members, (c) grassroots and other youth and community groups and (d) other stakeholders on the Government's public health approach to tackling the increase in knife crime.

The Home Secretary and Ministers regularly meet families, victims and a range of other stakeholders to discuss issues around knife crime and serious violence. Tackling serious violence is a top priority for the Government and it is clear we must continue to step up the response to stop this violence. The Serious Violence Strategy sets out the Government’s approach, which depends on a multi-agency ‘public health’ approach across several sectors and stresses the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes. We have also taken a number of steps towards introducing a multi-agency ‘public health’ approach to knife crime and serious violence.

On 1 April we launched a public consultation on a new legal duty to support a ‘public health’ multi-agency approach to preventing and tackling serious violence. This statutory duty would make serious violence a top priority for all key partners, ensuring that they are working together to prevent young people being caught in the criminal cycle. The consultation, which closes on 28 May, can be found on the Gov.UK website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=home-office&publication_filter_option=consultations

On 13 March the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a further £100 million funding in 2019/20 to help in the police’s immediate response to the rise in serious knife crime, enabling priority forces to immediately begin planning to put in place the additional capacity they need. £35m of this Serious Violence Fund will support the setting up of Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in areas most affected by knife crime. The VRUs will be similar to the Glasgow model, bringing together a range of agencies including health, education, social services and others, to develop a multi-agency approach in preventing serious violence altogether.

In October 2018 the Home Secretary announced a ten-year £200m Youth Endowment Fund, focused on targeted early intervention with those children and young people most vulnerable to involvement in serious violence. This will form an important part of the multi-agency, public health; approach to serious violence.

On 1 to 4 April 2019 the Prime Minister hosted a Serious Youth Violence Summit at 10 Downing Street, with the support of the Home Secretary and Secretaries of State. The central aim of the summit was to ensure a shared understanding and commitment to a multi-agency, ‘public health’ approach to tackling knife crime and serious violence more generally. An outcome of the Summit is the creation of a new Ministerial Taskforce, chaired by the Prime Minister, to drive cross-government action. This will be supported by a new, dedicated, serious violence team in the Cabinet Office to support cross-departmental coordination.