Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle knife crime using public health methods.

Tackling serious violence, including knife crime, is a top priority for the Government. As set out in our Serious Violence Strategy, we are taking a multi-agency approach that brings together different sectors and stresses the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes of violence.

To reinforce this approach, on 1 April, we launched a consultation on a new legal duty to underpin a public health approach to tackling serious violence. The consultation, which will close on 28 May can be found on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/serious-violence-new-legal-duty-to-support-multi-agency-action].

Between 1 and 4 April 2019, the Prime Minister hosted a Serious Youth Violence Summit at 10 Downing Street, with the support of the Home Secretary and other Secretaries of State to ensure a shared understanding and commitment to the multi-agency, public health approach to tackling knife crime and serious violence. A new Ministerial Taskforce, chaired by the Prime Minister, has been created to drive cross-government action. A report summarising the key discussion points can be found on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prime-ministers-summit-on-serious-youth-violence.

In addition, on 13 March the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an additional £100 million funding for this year to tackle serious violence, which includes funding to support investment in Violence Reduction Units to support cross-sector work. The Violence Reduction Units will bring together a range of public agencies, such as the police, education, health partners, offender management, local authorities and others to tackle serious youth violence.