Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands on tackling knife crime.

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

The Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands attended a recent Home Secretary visit to Birmingham on 29 June in preparation for the Commonwealth Games.

Home Office officials are in regular contact with police forces and PCCs, including the West Midlands, about their local response to knife crime. For West Midlands, this has included recent detailed examination of local data on violent crime, and police plans to tackle it.

On 2 February 2022, the Government published a total police funding settlement of up to £16.9 billion in 2022/23, an increase of up to £1.1 billion when compared to 2021/22.

It is for Chief Constables, directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Mayors with PCC functions to make operational decisions including how to allocate resources based on their local knowledge and experience.

West Midlands' funding will be up to £695.6m in 2022/23, an increase of up to £40.1m when compared to 2021/22.

In addition, the West Midlands has benefited from a wide range of funding intended to intervene early and divert young people from involvement in violence. Current intervention and prevention programmes were largely initiated from 2018 / 2019 and 12 years of figures are unavailable for these programmes. The funding includes:

• £1.831m between 2018/19 and 2019/20 from the Early Intervention Youth Fund (EIYF). The EIYF was designed to support and prevent young people from becoming involved in violence through positive activities.
• £10.11m between 2019 and 2022 to develop the West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). VRUs bring together key local partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and deliver a coordinated and cohesive response. This includes a range of interventions to support young people at high risk of involvement in serious violence.
• £7m through the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) for a range of projects to reduce serious violence. The YEF is supporting our response to serious violence by identifying what works in diverting children and young people away from involvement in serious violent crime.