Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to treat knife crime as a public health issue; and if such steps are being taken, what funding they have made available to treat that issue as a public health priority.

Tackling serious violence including knife crime is a top priority for the Government and it is clear we must continue to step up the response to stop this violence. The Serious Violence Strategy, published in April 2018 sets out the Government’s approach, which depends also on a multi-agency approach across several sectors and stresses the importance of early intervention to tackle the root causes.

It also sets out a significant programme of work including the following:

• Early Intervention Youth Fund of £22 million
• £1.5 million for the anti-knife crime Community Fund
• £3.6 million we have provided for the establishment of the new
National County Lines Coordination Centre
• £1.4 million to support a new national police capability to tackle gang
related activity on social media
• Support to the #knifefree national knife crime media campaign
• The Offensive Weapons Bill currently passing through Parliament

In addition, we are supporting police forces to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre

On 2 October 2018 the Home Secretary also announced that the Government will: deliver a new £200 million youth endowment fund over 10 years and will support interventions with children and young people at risk of involvement in crime and violence; conduct an independent review of drug misuse, to be conducted by Dame Carole Black, which will ensure law enforcement agencies and policy are targeting and preventing the drug-related causes of violent crime effectively; and consult on a new legal duty to support a multi-agency or ‘public health’ approach to preventing and tackling serious violence.

The consultation will explore different options to make multi-agency working more effective than at present and will seek to identify best practice. The consultation will be launched shortly

Further, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 13 March that an additional £100 million funding in 19/20 will help in the police’s immediate response to the rise in serious knife crime, enabling priority forces to immediately begin planning to put in place the additional capacity they need. The funding will also be invested in Violence Reduction Units, bringing together a range of agencies including health, education, social services and others, to develop a multi-agency approach in preventing knife crime altogether.