Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department,with reference to the news article entitled Amber Rudd denies seeing leaked Home Office violent crime report, published by the Guardian on Monday 9 April 2018, for what reason analysis produced by the Home Office on the effect of the reduction in police resources on serious violence was omitted from the Serious Violence Strategy.

As the Home Secretary made clear at the launch of the Serious Violence Strategy on 9 April the Guardian had not shared the leaked document with us and so she was unable to verify if she had seen that particular report. However, she had seen analysis from Home Office officials as the strategy and its underlying evidence developed.

The Strategy sets out the evidence upon which we have based our response. The reasons behind the increase in violent crime are complex and multi-faceted. The Strategy makes clear that the evidence shows that enforcement can play a vital role in tackling these offences, but big shifts in crime trends tend to be driven by factors outside of the police’s control – like drug trends and markets, changes in housing and vehicle security. Available evidence suggests this latest shift in serious violence is no exception. The final analysis is set out in Chapter One of the Strategy.