Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support schools in Milton Keynes in delivering anti-violence education programmes.

Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission. Driving down youth-related violence across the UK, including in Milton Keynes, will play a key role in meeting this ambition.

Through the Young Futures Programme, the Government will introduce Prevention Partnerships across the country, including in Thames Valley, to intervene earlier and ensure that children and young people vulnerable to being drawn into crime are identified and offered support in a more systematic way.

As we design the Young Futures Programme, we will ensure that it learns from and builds on the work of the Violence Reduction Units (VRUs). VRUs bring together partners, including representatives from local education institutions and from the voluntary and community sector, to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area.

In 2025/26 the Home Office is investing £1.5m in grant funding to Thames Valley VRU, alongside £280k to continue the implementation of the Serious Violence Duty.

This funding will support delivery of a range of early intervention and prevention programmes, which includes continuation of a Focussed Deterrence intervention in Milton Keynes. This project will be targeted at young people who carry knives and providing them with tailored multi-agency support to desist from violence, alongside enforcement measures. Funding will also support the development and roll out of training for parents, schools and community groups in Thames Valley on the signs of criminal exploitation, in order that young people at risk are identified and supported.

Alongside investment in local violence prevention approaches, we are also committed to removing weapons from our streets. Stop and search is a vital tool for tackling crime. Last year 16,066 stop and searches led to offensive weapons or firearms being found and taken off our streets.

On 24 September 2024 we implemented the ban on zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes, and from 1 August 2025 it will also be illegal to sell or own ninja swords. We have announced “Ronan’s Law” a range of measures which will include stricter rules for online sellers of knives including strengthening age verification controls and checks through a two-stage age verification system at the point of purchase and on delivery, and we are also intending to consult later this year on a registration scheme for online sellers of knives.

With measures in the Crime and Policing Bill 2025 we are increasing the penalties for illegal sales of knives, creating a new offence of possessing a knife with the intention to commit unlawful violence and are giving the police a new power to seize knives when they believe they are likely to be used in connection with unlawful violence.