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Written Question
Knives: Crime
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)

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 in (a) Enfield North Constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £43m of funding for a London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) (including £9.5m this year) which is providing a multi-agency, preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime. In addition, we have invested over £60m (including c.£8.9m this year) in ‘hotspot policing’ to boost the policing response to serious violence in London and provide high-visibility police patrols and problem-solving tactics in the streets and neighbourhoods most affected.

VRUs are tasked with investing in evidence-based approaches designed to steer vulnerable young people away from involvement in violence. As part of this approach, the London VRU is funding local interventions in Enfield including an outreach and detached youth team which delivers after school activities and creative sessions, 1-1 holistic support for young people, mentoring sessions and sports sessions for children and young people. Alongside this, the policing hot spot response programme is targeting key locations in Enfield Town and Fore Street. In addition to additional visible police patrols, policing interventions delivered through this programme in Enfield have included work to prevent robberies of school pupils and work to target males who were assaulting sex workers.

The government is also taking forward a programme of national activity to drive down knife crime. This includes recent consultation on new legislative proposals, including a ban of zombie-style knives and machetes. The government response was published on 30 August 2023. Following careful consideration of the responses to the consultation, a Statutory Instrument was laid in Parliament on 25 January 2024. Once the legislation has been approved by Parliament, a surrender scheme will be launched this summer to remove these items from our streets and once this has been completed, the manufacture, supply, sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes will be outlawed from 24 September 2024. This will cover face to face and online sales.

Additionally, through the Criminal Justice Bill 2023, which is currently progressing through parliament, we are providing more powers for police to seize knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.


Written Question
Crimes of Violence: Greater London
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle violent assaults in (a) Enfield North Constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £43m of funding for a London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) (including £9.5m this year) which is providing a multi-agency, preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime. In addition, we have invested over £60m (including c.£8.9m this year) in ‘hotspot policing’ to boost the policing response to serious violence in London and provide high-visibility police patrols and problem-solving tactics in the streets and neighbourhoods most affected.

VRUs are tasked with investing in evidence-based approaches designed to steer vulnerable young people away from involvement in violence. As part of this approach, the London VRU is funding local interventions in Enfield including an outreach and detached youth team which delivers after school activities and creative sessions, 1-1 holistic support for young people, mentoring sessions and sports sessions for children and young people. Alongside this, the policing hot spot response programme is targeting key locations in Enfield Town and Fore Street. In addition to additional visible police patrols, policing interventions delivered through this programme in Enfield have included work to prevent robberies of school pupils and work to target males who were assaulting sex workers.

The government is also taking forward a programme of national activity to drive down knife crime. This includes recent consultation on new legislative proposals, including a ban of zombie-style knives and machetes. The government response was published on 30 August 2023. Following careful consideration of the responses to the consultation, a Statutory Instrument was laid in Parliament on 25 January 2024. Once the legislation has been approved by Parliament, a surrender scheme will be launched this summer to remove these items from our streets and once this has been completed, the manufacture, supply, sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes will be outlawed from 24 September 2024. This will cover face to face and online sales.

Additionally, through the Criminal Justice Bill 2023, which is currently progressing through parliament, we are providing more powers for police to seize knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.


Written Question
Arson: Greater London
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle arson in (a) Enfield North Constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £43m of funding for a London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) (including £9.5m this year) which is providing a multi-agency, preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime. In addition, we have invested over £60m (including c.£8.9m this year) in ‘hotspot policing’ to boost the policing response to serious violence in London and provide high-visibility police patrols and problem-solving tactics in the streets and neighbourhoods most affected.

VRUs are tasked with investing in evidence-based approaches designed to steer vulnerable young people away from involvement in violence. As part of this approach, the London VRU is funding local interventions in Enfield including an outreach and detached youth team which delivers after school activities and creative sessions, 1-1 holistic support for young people, mentoring sessions and sports sessions for children and young people. Alongside this, the policing hot spot response programme is targeting key locations in Enfield Town and Fore Street. In addition to additional visible police patrols, policing interventions delivered through this programme in Enfield have included work to prevent robberies of school pupils and work to target males who were assaulting sex workers.

The government is also taking forward a programme of national activity to drive down knife crime. This includes recent consultation on new legislative proposals, including a ban of zombie-style knives and machetes. The government response was published on 30 August 2023. Following careful consideration of the responses to the consultation, a Statutory Instrument was laid in Parliament on 25 January 2024. Once the legislation has been approved by Parliament, a surrender scheme will be launched this summer to remove these items from our streets and once this has been completed, the manufacture, supply, sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes will be outlawed from 24 September 2024. This will cover face to face and online sales.

Additionally, through the Criminal Justice Bill 2023, which is currently progressing through parliament, we are providing more powers for police to seize knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.


Written Question
Knives: Bournemouth
Wednesday 14th February 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of creating a violence reduction unit in Bournemouth to tackle knife crime.

Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)

Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) can play a key role in the implementation of a whole-system, or public-health, approach to tackling violence. The value of such approaches is recognised in the Government’s 2018 Serious Violence Strategy.

Since 2019, the Government has provided over £160m to support the implementation of VRUs, with a further £55m invested in 23/24. Violence is strongly linked to specific geographies and to ensure maximum impact, this funding is targeted at 20 force areas that collectively experience the highest volumes of violent offences (around 80% of relevant offences). In light of the number of violent offences taking place in the Dorset Force area, Dorset does not currently meet the threshold for VRU funding specifically.

We recognise, however, that a public health approach can still have value in areas with comparatively lower levels of violence, and that is why in 2023, we introduced the Serious Violence Duty, which requires specified authorities across England and Wales to work together to plan to prevent and reduce serious violence in their local areas. Local areas may choose to implement VRU-style partnerships as part of their work to fulfil obligations arising under the Duty. Useful information for those wishing to do so can be found here: Violence Reduction Units 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Government remains committed to providing the resources needed to tackle violent crime. We have provided funding to support implementation of the Duty, which for Dorset, amounts to £292k in 23/24, and we have also recently confirmed Dorset’s police funding settlement of £179.8 million in 2024/25, an increase of up to £11.1 million when compared to 2023/24. In addition, in recognition of recent exceptional policing demand arising in Bournemouth, we are pleased to have recently approved, on an exceptional basis, an additional £600k in 23/24 to enable Dorset Police to respond to this pressure.


Written Question
Knives: Crime
Thursday 25th January 2024

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken to work with relevant authorities to tackle knife (a) possession and (b) crime among youth in (i) England and (ii) Romford constituency.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling knife crime is a priority and the Government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.

We recently consulted on new legislative proposals to tackle knife crime and as a result, in the Criminal Justice Bill, we have introduced provisions to provide more powers for police to seize knives held in private that could be used in crimes, increase the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s. In the next few weeks, the Government intends to introduce a new ban on zombie-style machetes and knives.

As a result of the Government’s Police Uplift Programme (PUP) the Metropolitan police service has recruited 3,468 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 4,557 officers. The Metropolitan Police’s funding will be up to £3,581.1 million for 2024/25, an increase of up to £118.9 million when compared to 2023/24.

Under this Government, it has never been easier for the police to make legitimate use of stop and search powers. Every knife seized through stop and search is a potential life saved. In 2022-23, stop and search removed over 15,000 weapons and firearms from our streets and resulted over 74,000 arrests across England and Wales. In Essex there were over 2,000 resultant arrests following a stop and search and almost 4,600 searches resulted in a stolen or prohibited article being found in 2022-23.

The Home Office has invested over £160m since 2019 into the development of 20 Violence Reduction Units across England and Wales with a further £55m made available for 2023/24. Since 2019, we have provided over £43 million to develop and run the London Violence Reduction Unit, which covers Havering. This includes an investment of £9.5m in 2023/24. Violence Reduction Units deter people, particularly young people, from becoming involved in serious violence by bringing together partners from health, probation, policing, housing and beyond and investing in the best evidence-based interventions.

Through our Grip programme, we are providing additional funding to enable the Metropolitan police to boost patrols in specific streets and neighbourhoods most affected by violence, including Romford High Street. This programme is providing regular, visible patrols to deter violence and provide community reassurance as well as problem-oriented policing.

Problem-oriented policing is based on an analytical approach that seeks to identify and respond to the specific drivers of violence as they affect the particular location, so that working with partners, the police can take effective preventative action to tackle these. Since 2019, we have provided The Met Police with c.£51.8 million for their delivery of the programme and have awarded them a further c.£8.9 million for this (23/24) financial year.

Violence Reduction Units, in combination with GRIP, have delivered a statistically significant reduction in hospital admissions for violent injuries since funding began in 2019 (an estimated 3,220 admissions have been prevented in areas where the programmes operate).

Over 10 years the Home Office is investing £200m in early intervention and prevention initiatives to help children and young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund.

The YEF have funded the SW!TCH Lives project in Romford, which aimed to promote positive actions and emotions and reduce risky behaviour by providing young people with consistent, positive role models, weekly mentoring and positive peer networks. They have also funded ‘You and Me Counselling’ as part of the COVID-19 Learning Project, which aimed to provide targeted support to young people at risk of being involved in violence; and second, to learn fast about the best ways to reach young people during a period of social distancing.


Written Question
Knives: Crime
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle knife crime in Solihull constituency.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling knife crime and violent assaults is a priority and the Government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.

As a result of the Government’s Police Uplift Programme (PUP) the West Midlands Force recruited 1,376 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 1,218 officers. On 31 March 2023, there were 8,067 police officers in West Midlands, a total growth of 1,376 additional officers against the baseline (6,691) at the start of the Police Uplift Programme.

The Government is proposing a total police funding settlement of up to £18.4 billion in 2024-25, an increase of up to £842.9 million when compared to 2023-24. Assuming full take up of precept flexibility, overall police funding available to PCCs will increase by up to £922.2 million (6.0% in cash terms). West Midlands funding will be up to £789.4 million for 2024/25, an increase of up to £50 million when compared to 2023/24.

West Midlands Police are delivering additional policing in their areas worst affected by serious violence via the Grip programme funding, including in Solihull City Centre. This is a combination of regular visible patrols in the streets and neighbourhoods (‘hotspot areas’) experiencing the highest volumes of serious violence to immediately suppress violence and provide community reassurance, and problem-oriented policing. Problem-oriented policing is bespoke to the local areas to tackle the local underlying drivers of crime, using a more comprehensive menu of policing interventions and enforcement. Interventions in the Force area have included targeted open space knife sweeps, knife crime education in schools, and conducting safeguarding referrals. Grip-funded analysts monitor operational police activity within the hotspots, as well as crime levels, to understand the effects of additional patrols on violent crime.

Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) bring together local partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area. They facilitate the sharing of data across organisational boundaries to build a shared understanding of the root causes of violence locally.

In the West Midlands its VRU delivers a range of preventative interventions, including Hospital and Custody Navigators (youth workers in settings steering young people away from violence at a ‘teachable moment’), cognitive behavioural therapy programmes and sports-based diversionary programmes.

Violence Reduction Units, in combination with Grip, have delivered a statistically significant reduction in hospital admissions for violent injuries since funding began in 2019 (an estimated 3,220 admissions have been prevented in areas where the programmes operate). VRUs have supported over 271,000 young people through funded initiatives in in their fourth year of operation alone.

We also recently consulted on new legislative proposals to tackle knife crime and as a result, in the Criminal Justice Bill, we have introduced provisions to provide more powers for police to seize knives held in private that could be used in crimes, increase the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s. When Parliamentary time allows, the Government intends to introduce a new ban on zombie-style machetes and knives.


Written Question
Crimes of Violence: Solihull
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle violent assaults in Solihull constituency.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling knife crime and violent assaults is a priority and the Government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.

As a result of the Government’s Police Uplift Programme (PUP) the West Midlands Force recruited 1,376 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 1,218 officers. On 31 March 2023, there were 8,067 police officers in West Midlands, a total growth of 1,376 additional officers against the baseline (6,691) at the start of the Police Uplift Programme.

The Government is proposing a total police funding settlement of up to £18.4 billion in 2024-25, an increase of up to £842.9 million when compared to 2023-24. Assuming full take up of precept flexibility, overall police funding available to PCCs will increase by up to £922.2 million (6.0% in cash terms). West Midlands funding will be up to £789.4 million for 2024/25, an increase of up to £50 million when compared to 2023/24.

West Midlands Police are delivering additional policing in their areas worst affected by serious violence via the Grip programme funding, including in Solihull City Centre. This is a combination of regular visible patrols in the streets and neighbourhoods (‘hotspot areas’) experiencing the highest volumes of serious violence to immediately suppress violence and provide community reassurance, and problem-oriented policing. Problem-oriented policing is bespoke to the local areas to tackle the local underlying drivers of crime, using a more comprehensive menu of policing interventions and enforcement. Interventions in the Force area have included targeted open space knife sweeps, knife crime education in schools, and conducting safeguarding referrals. Grip-funded analysts monitor operational police activity within the hotspots, as well as crime levels, to understand the effects of additional patrols on violent crime.

Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) bring together local partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area. They facilitate the sharing of data across organisational boundaries to build a shared understanding of the root causes of violence locally.

In the West Midlands its VRU delivers a range of preventative interventions, including Hospital and Custody Navigators (youth workers in settings steering young people away from violence at a ‘teachable moment’), cognitive behavioural therapy programmes and sports-based diversionary programmes.

Violence Reduction Units, in combination with Grip, have delivered a statistically significant reduction in hospital admissions for violent injuries since funding began in 2019 (an estimated 3,220 admissions have been prevented in areas where the programmes operate). VRUs have supported over 271,000 young people through funded initiatives in in their fourth year of operation alone.

We also recently consulted on new legislative proposals to tackle knife crime and as a result, in the Criminal Justice Bill, we have introduced provisions to provide more powers for police to seize knives held in private that could be used in crimes, increase the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s. When Parliamentary time allows, the Government intends to introduce a new ban on zombie-style machetes and knives.


Written Question
Knives: Bournemouth
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to introduce a Violence Reduction Unit within the Dorset constabulary to tackle knife crime in Bournemouth.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government is committed to ensuring that the police have the resources they need to tackle violent crime. That is why I have recently confirmed Dorset’s police funding settlement of £179.8 million in 2024/25, an increase of up to £11.1 million when compared to 2023/24. In addition, in recognition of recent exceptional policing demand arising in Bournemouth, I am pleased to have recently approved, on an exceptional basis, an additional £600k in 23/24 to enable Dorset Police to respond to this pressure.

Serious Violence is strongly linked to specific geographies, and, to ensure maximum impact, Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) funding is accordingly allocated in accordance with volumes of serious violence (as measured by hospital admissions relating to injury with a sharp object). This means that Violence Reduction Unit funding is allocated to 20 Police Force Areas, not including Dorset, which collectively account for around 80% of total relevant admissions.

However, the Government also recognises that a preventative approach to tackling violence will also benefit in other parts of England and Wales with lower levels of violent crime and that is why we have introduced the Serious Violence Duty, which requires relevant agencies to work in partnership to tackle violence. Funding has also been provided to support implementation of the duty (for Dorset amounting to £292kin the 23/24, with funding continuing in 24/25) which can be used to support delivery of a Violence Reduction Unit based approach in Dorset.


Written Question
Knives: Crime
Monday 18th December 2023

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle knife crime in (a) Romford constituency and (b) England.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

Tackling knife crime is a priority and the Government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.

As a result of the Government’s Police Uplift Programme (PUP) the Metropolitan Police Service now has over 35,000 officers (35,411), the highest number on record.

On 31 January, the Government confirmed a total police funding settlement of up to £17.2 billion in 2023/24, an increase of up to £313.8 million when compared to 2022/23. The Metropolitan Police’s funding will be up to £3.3 billion in 2023/24, an increase of up to £102.3 million when compared to 2022/23.

Since 2019, we have provided over £43 million to develop and run the London Violence Reduction Unit, which covers Havering, including Romford. Violence Reduction Units deter people, particularly young people, from becoming involved in serious violence by bringing together partners from health, probation, policing, housing and beyond and investing in the best evidence-based interventions.

Since 2019 we have provided the Metropolitan Police, who serve Havering, with over £61 million to deliver targeted enforcement action to tackle serious violence. The Grip programme suppresses and prevents serious violence by using data to identify the top violence hotspots and targets visible police activity in those areas.

We recently consulted on new legislative proposals to tackle knife crime and as a result, in the Criminal Justice Bill, we have introduced provisions to provide more powers for police to seize knives held in private that could be used in crimes, increase the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives to under 18s. When Parliamentary time allows, the Government intends to introduce a new ban on zombie-style machetes and knives that have no practical use.

Finally, we are also providing £200 million over 10 years for the Youth Endowment Fund, to test and evaluate what works to ensure those young people most at risk are given the opportunity to turn away from violence. This includes a variety of projects across London.


Written Question
Children: Organised Crime
Wednesday 15th November 2023

Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent children being (a) exploited, (b) recruited into criminal organisations and (c) involved in knife crime in the West Midlands.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government is determined to crack down on knife crime and the criminal gangs who are exploiting our children and have a devastating impact on our communities.

That is why we are investing in a number of programmes to respond to child exploitation including the Prevention Programme, delivered by The Children’s Society, who work with partners across sectors to tackle and prevent a range of exploitation types.

In addition, we are investing up to £145m over three years in our County Lines Programme which provides funding for targeted operational activity in the four largest exporting force areas including West Midlands Police. We are also investing in dedicated specialist support provided by Catch-22 to help those who are criminally exploited through county lines to safely reduce and exit their involvement. Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 4,700 lines closed, over 14,800 arrests and over 7,200 safeguarding referrals.

The Government is also committed to ensuring that the police have the tools and powers they need to tackle the scourge of knife crime on our streets. We are currently piloting Serious Violence Reduction Orders in the West Midlands which give the police more powers to stop and search convicted knife offenders. We also plan to legislate on banning zombie-style machetes and knives that have no practical use, more powers for police to seize knives that could be used in crimes, and a new offence and higher sentencing to those who sell and possess these dangerous weapons.

Since 2019, West Midlands Police have received over £20m of funding for a Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) (including £4.38m this year) and £19m (including £3.4m this year) for the Grip programme. Collectively, these programmes are providing a multi-agency preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of violence, alongside additional, high visibility patrols and problem-solving tactics in the areas worst affected.