Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Understanding serious violence among young people in London, published by the Greater London Authority in December 2021, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the impact on serious youth violence of (a) area unemployment, (b) area school absence rates, (c) area food insecurity, (d) area deprivation, (e) area youth unemployment and (f) area school suspension rates.

The Government understands the importance of tackling serious violence from all angles and is aware of the multiple risk factors that make a young person more likely to be involved. As a result, we are taking a whole system approach to reducing violence – this means working with a wide range of partners to prevent serious violence, including schools.

Since 2018, we have invested £105.5m into multi-agency Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in the 18 areas most affected by serious violence. This includes London which received £21m to support its VRU. In addition, the Metropolitan Police have been allocated over £43.9m to fund a surge in police operational activity on serious violence.

We know engagement in education is one of the strongest protective factors against serious violence, that is why the Government is investing over £45m in mainstream (over 3 years) and Alternative Provision (AP) schools (over 2 years) in serious violence hotspots including London to support young people at risk of involvement in serious violence to re-engage in education.

This year we are also investing up to £20m in new early intervention programmes that will help stop young people from being drawn into violence, and our Creating Opportunities Forum programme 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 London Croydon, Hackney, Lambeth and your own borough Newham are part of the programme that is already supporting young people to access work-related opportunities.

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

However, we know there is still more to do. That is why we are introducing a duty on public sector bodies to take a joined-up approach to addressing serious violence through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.