Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to stop young people becoming involved in crime and violence.

It is vitally important that we prevent young people from being drawn into violent crime. The Government understands the importance of tackling this issue from all angles – whether that is providing support to prevent young people from getting involved in crime, or providing the police with the tools they need to bring knife offenders to justice.

Since 2018, we have invested £105.5m into multi-agency Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in 18 areas most affected by serious violence. The VRUs bring together local partners to deliver an effective, joined up approach to tackling violent crime and its drivers – and they have reached over 100,000 young people in their first year.

We are investing up to £23m this year in new early intervention programmes that will help stop young people from being drawn into violence, and our Creating Opportunities Forum will provide meaningful employment-related opportunities and raise the aspirations of young people at risk of being drawn into serious violence and knife crime.

In addition, our £200m 10 year Youth Endowment Fund is testing what works to divert young people away from serious violence.

This year, we have provided an extra £30m this year for the police forces with the highest rates of serious violence in England and Wales. This funding is supporting the police to deter and disrupt knife crime in areas that need it most.

However, we know there is still more to do. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill includes a duty on public sector bodies to take a joined-up approach to addressing serious violence; the requirement for local agencies to review the circumstances when an adult homicide takes place involving an offensive weapon; and Serious Violence Reduction Orders, which give the police the authority to stop and search known knife and weapons carriers.