Oral Answers to Questions

Eddie Hughes Excerpts

Monday 1st April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Maggie Throup (Erewash) (Con)]

7. What steps he is taking to divert young people away from violent crime.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

16. What steps he is taking to divert young people away from violent crime.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sajid Javid]

It will certainly help to ease pressures. The £100 million will help police with their immediate response to the rise in serious knife crime, and it will also help to support the violence reduction units. That £100 million is alongside the almost £1 billion increase in total police funding this year.

[Eddie Hughes]

Could more money be made available to excellent groups such as Youth of Walsall and its campaign Real Knives, Real Lives? The campaign seeks to educate those at risk of committing knife crime to understand the impact of their actions.

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this, because the work of Real Knives, Real Lives and of other groups doing similar work is really helping young people to move away from involvement in what could become a life of crime. We have provided significant funding to similar organisations through the early intervention youth fund, and now the new youth endowment fund will also support similar community organisations.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sajid Javid]

Of course resources are very important in fighting knife crime. Alongside the £100 million that the Chancellor announced in his spring statement, which all the forces have told us will make a big difference, we should consider the almost £1 billion increase this year in the entire police system because of the financial settlement.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

T3. I am concerned that the Labour police and crime commissioner in the west midlands is maintaining large reserves to be spent in advance of the PCC elections next year. Is there anything the Government can do to stop this?

[The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service (Mr Nick Hurd)]

The west midlands police and crime commissioner is one of many PCCs who were asking for more public money while, at the same time, putting public money aside to increase their reserves. We have increased the funding to west midlands police, and I hope my hon. Friend will welcome that. However, we also require police and crime commissioners to publish transparent strategies of how they intend to use their reserves. It is public money given by the public for investment in policing.