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1134697

	registered interest
	date	25/06/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Crime
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide sufficient support for police forces tackling increased rates of knife crime among young people.
	tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
	uin	HL16664
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government is determined to do everything it can to tackle knife crime and break the deadly cycle of violence that devastates the lives of victims, families and communities.</p><p>The police funding settlement provides the police with the biggest increase in funding since 2010, and in addition we are providing the additional £100 million to tackle serious violence announced in the Spring Statement on 13 March, which includes £80m of new funding from the Treasury. £63.4 million of this funding has been allocated to the 18 police forces most affected by serious violence to pay for surge operational activity, including increased patrols. £1.6 million has been invested in improving the quality of data on serious violence to support planning and operations. A full list of the forces and the funding they have received from the serious violence fund is available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/police-granted-funding-boost-for-action-on-serious-violence" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/police-granted-funding-boost-for-action-on-serious-violence</a></p><p>We are also taking wider actions to address knife crime. The £35m of the Serious Violence Fund is being invested in Violence Reduction Units to support multi-agency efforts to tackle serious violence. Through the Offensive Weapons Act we are tightening the law in relation to knives, including making it an offence to possess certain offensive weapons in private. We are also introducing new Knife Crime Prevention Orders, to help to the police address young people who are on the cusp of serious violence, encouraging them make more positive lifestyle choices. We also continue to support the police national weeks of action against knife crime under Operation Sceptre.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 09/07/2019 14:59:30 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

1175351

	registered interest
	date	27/01/2020
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Crime
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what communications have had with (1) the police, and (2) third-sector organisations, about preventative, non-criminal justice approaches to reducing knife crime.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb
	uin	HL800
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2020 answer text <p>The Government is determined to tackle the scourge of knife crime and other serious violence, which is having a devastating effect on too many victims, families and communities. We are providing the police with the resources and powers they need, including recruiting an extra 20,000 officers over the next three years. Through regular dialogue with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and direct with forces themselves, we will continue to support the police and a wide range of other partners about the challenges they face in tackling serious violence.</p><p> </p><p>The Serious Violence Strategy, published in April 2018, put a new emphasis on prevention and early intervention alongside continuing, robust enforcement. We have also worked with voluntary sector organisations via continuous discussions and visits to support delivery under a number of funding streams. These include the Government’s anti-knife crime Community Fund, where we have supported 175 projects in local communities delivered by voluntary sector agencies to tackle knife crime in the three years since 2017/18. They also include the 40 projects under the £22 million Early Intervention Youth Fund, working with children and young people across England and Wales, which have been delivered by the third sector in some areas and local authorities in others and are supported by Police and Crime Commissioners. In addition, we are providing £200m over the next 10 years through a Youth Endowment Fund to focus on those most at risk of youth violence including those displaying signs such as truancy, aggression and involvement in anti-social behaviour in order to steer them away from becoming serious offenders.</p><p> </p><p>We have also invested £35 million from the £100 million Serious Violence Fund in Violence Reduction Units as a key component of our action to tackle the root causes of serious violence. Violence Reduction Units are non-statutory partnerships which offer leadership and strategic coordination of the local response to serious violence by bringing together police, local government, health and education professionals, community leaders and other key partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 10/02/2020 11:10:02 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	4297 label Biography information for Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb

1227744

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2020
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Crime
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the current, and (2) the potential future, role of family hubs in preventing knife crime.
	tabling member printed	Lord Farmer
	uin	HL7132
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/08/2020 answer text <p>This government is investing £70m over two years to support the development of Violence Reduction Units. Some VRUs have commissioned targeted initiatives aimed at parents and families which strengthen family-based decision-making, provide counselling support and support those with incarcerated parents. The impact of VRUs’ work will take time to be seen, and evidence from the Glasgow VRU suggests that the effect will be gradual and will accumulate over time.</p><p>The Home Office has commissioned an independent process evaluation of VRUs during 2019/20 which will be published later this summer. Evaluation of VRUs during 2020/21 will include both process and impact elements allowing us to investigate how and why any initial impact is occurring. The Youth Violence Commission has welcomed the Government’s commitment to VRUs and the package of challenge and support we have put in place for their success.</p><p>Whilst an assessment has not been made of the role of family hubs in preventing knife crime, this government has invested £1.085bn through the Troubled Families programme. The programme, which is delivered by local authorities and their partners, is driving public services to work together to provide effective, coordinated support to our most disadvantaged families. The risk of serious violence is one of the recently added criterion for suitability for the programme.</p><p>Similarly, this government has made early intervention and prevention a priority, investing £200 million in initiatives to support young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund. We are also investing £500 million through the new DCMS Youth Investment Fund over five years, helping to build 60 new youth centres across the country, refurbish around 360 existing youth facilities, and provide over 100 mobile facilities for harder to reach areas. The YIF will also support the provision and coordination of high-quality services for young people, and an investment in the youth workforce.v</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford grouped question UIN HL7131 question first answered 05/08/2020 09:58:39 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	4321 label Biography information for Lord Farmer

1363242

	registered interest
	date	25/10/2021
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Crime
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increase in stabbings in the past four years.
	tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
	uin	HL3402
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/11/2021 answer text <p>The latest police recorded crime figures, published by ONS in July 2021 for the year ending March 2021, show that there was a 15% fall in offences involving knives or sharp instruments recorded by the police to 44,286 compared with the year ending March 2020. This was driven by substantial decreases in periods coinciding with national lockdowns. Figures from 2016 to 2021 show a 19% increase in total offences involving the use of a knife.</p><p>Tackling knife crime is a priority and the Government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.</p><p>We are clear about the inherent seriousness of offences involving knives and are determined to do all we can to protect communities and see that knife crime offenders are brought to justice. The Government remains extremely concerned by knife crime, and the corresponding increase in the number of victims of violent crime. This is why we have committed £176.5 million over two years to prevent serious violence in local communities and bolstering police capacity to respond to serious violent crimes when they do occur.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 08/11/2021 15:03:26 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

1402086

	registered interest
	date	11/01/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Crime
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent steps they have taken to tackle knife crime.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
	uin	HL5338
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2022 answer text <p>Tackling knife crime is a priority and the Government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities.</p><p>We are supporting the police every step of the way in this effort. We have given them more powers and resources to go after criminals and take knives and other dangerous weapons off our streets, including through the recruitment of 20,000 additional officers and increasing police funding.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has made £130.5m available this year to tackle serious violence, including murder and knife crime. This includes: £35.5m for Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) which bring together local partners to deliver a range of early intervention and prevention programmes and tackle the drivers of violence in the 18 areas worst affected by serious violence; £30m to support the police to take targeted action in parts of England and Wales most affected by serious violence through the Grip programme, which uses data to identify violence hotspots and target operational activity in those areas; and £20m for new early intervention programmes that will help stop young people from being drawn into violence, including cognitive behavioural therapy, family therapy, as well as specialist support in crisis moments such as when a person is admitted to A&amp;E with a knife injury.</p><p> </p><p>We have also invested £200m over 10 years for the Youth Endowment Fund, which is funding projects to support children and young people at risk of violence and exploitation and to steer them away from crime.</p><p> </p><p>We acknowledge there is more to do which is why we are bringing forward the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill so the law-abiding majority can be confident they are safe. The Bill includes: Serious Violence Reduction Orders, which will give the police the power to stop and search adults already convicted of knife or offensive weapons offences; the Serious Violence Duty, which will require authorities and bodies delivering public services to collaborate to prevent and reduce serious violence in their areas; and offensive weapons homicide reviews which will be introduced to improve the national and local understanding of causes, patterns, victims and perpetrators of violence and homicide.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We have also prohibited certain particularly dangerous types of knife through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 and have introduced the offence of possessing specified offensive weapons in private. The Act also introduced Knife Crime Prevention Orders which will provide the police with a vital means to steer those most at risk away from serious violence. On 5 July 2021 we introduced a pilot for KCPOs across the Metropolitan Police area.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 25/01/2022 16:50:02 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	4130 label Biography information for Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

1419738

	registered interest
	date	03/02/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Crime
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of knife crime in (1) urban areas, and (2) rural areas; and what steps they will take as a result of that assessment.
	tabling member printed	Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
	uin	HL5918
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2022 answer text <p>Figures provided by the Office of National Statistics for Crime in England and Wales show in the year ending September 2021, knife or sharp instrument offences were more concentrated in urban areas with the three police force areas with the highest volume of knife-enabled crime being the Metropolitan Police, West Midlands and Greater Manchester. These figures are available on gov.uk.</p><p>Tackling knife crime is a priority and the Government is determined to crack down on the scourge of violence devastating our communities. This is why the Government made £130.5m available in 2021 and 2022 to tackle serious violence, including murder and knife crime.</p><p>This includes £35.5m for Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) which bring together local partners to tackle the drivers of violence in the 18 areas across England and Wales most affected by serious violence. VRUs are delivering a range of early intervention and prevention programmes to divert people away from violent crime and reached over 300,000 young people in the first two years alone.</p><p>It also includes £30m in the same period to support the police to take targeted action in parts of England and Wales most affected by serious violence through the Grip programme, which uses data to identify violence hotspots and target operational activity in those areas. Through the Grip pilot in Essex, Southend-on-Sea, there was a 73.5% drop in violent crime in hot spot areas on patrol days.</p><p>The investment includes up to £20m for additional early intervention and prevention programmes to support young people at high risk of involvement in serious violence. We have separately invested £200m over 10 years for the Youth Endowment Fund, which is funding projects to support children and young people at risk of violence and exploitation.</p><p>We acknowledge there is more to do which is why the Government’s 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.</p><p> </p><p>We have also prohibited certain particularly dangerous types of knife through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 and have introduced the offence of possessing specified offensive weapons in private. The Act also introduced Knife Crime Prevention Orders which will provide the police with a vital means to steer those most at risk away from serious violence. On 5 July 2021 we introduced a pilot for KCPOs across the Metropolitan Police area.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 17/02/2022 15:50:38 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
	tabling member	4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

1505671

	registered interest
	date	06/09/2022
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Crime
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce knife crime in London.
	tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
	uin	HL2256
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2022 answer text <p>Whilst the Mayor of London has operational responsibility for policing in the capital, this Government is committed to providing additional resources to the police and their partners to tackle violent crime and make our streets safer.</p><p> </p><p>To support the prevention of violence in London, we have allocated the London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) c.£33.7m since 2019, including a</p><p>c.£12.6m allocation for this financial year (2022/23). The VRU also received an additional investment of £5.5m in 2021/22 to deliver specific, highly targeted interventions to vulnerable young people. The London VRU delivers multiple initiatives that are projected to support over 5,300 young people in the capital next year.</p><p> </p><p>We are also providing additional funding to enable the Metropolitan Police to increase enforcement activity where most violence occurs, through our Grip programme (previously known as Surge). The Metropolitan Police have been allocated approximately £50.9m over the last three years, including £7.9m for this financial year (2022/23) for Grip. Through this programme, the Metropolitan Police are delivering data-driven, targeted visible patrols to suppress violence where it is most concentrated.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst the Mayor of London has operational responsibility for policing in the capital, the Government continues to encourage police forces to undertake a series of coordinated national weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. The latest phase of the operation took place between 16 to 22 May 2022. In the Metropolitan and City Police areas 126 knives were seized during enforcement action with a further 90 being surrendered or seized during sweeps.</p><p> </p><p>The Home Office has invested £200m over 10 years in early intervention and prevention initiatives to help children and young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF). This will support how the Government responds to serious violence by identifying what works in diverting children and young people away from involvement in serious violence. Currently the YEF has invested around £50m on interventions and evaluations around London.</p><p>Grip, VRU &amp; YEF funding are provided in addition to the commitment to increase the number of police officers in England and Wales by 20,000 by March 2023. As of 30 June 2022, the MPS has recruited an additional 2,952 uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 4,557 officers.</p> answering member printed Lord Sharpe of Epsom question first answered 21/09/2022 09:11:02 answering member 4888 label Biography information for Lord Sharpe of Epsom
	tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1247398

	registered interest
	date	30/10/2020
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Crime
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce knife crime in Sussex.
	tabling member constituency	Arundel and South Downs
	tabling member printed	Andrew Griffith
	uin	109776
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/11/2020 answer text <p>This Government is determined to turn the tide on knife crime in all areas, wherever it occurs. Across England and Wales, we are recruiting 20,000 more police officers over the next three years and increasing sentences for violent criminals. We have made it easier for the police to use enhanced stop and search powers and we will introduce a new court order, Serious Violence Reduction Orders, to make it easier for the police to stop and search those who have been convicted of knife crime. In addition, we have legislated through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 to give the police more powers and to ensure knives are less likely to make their way on to the streets and we will introduce new Knife Crime Prevention Orders, a preventative order which will provide an additional tool for police to help steer those most at risk away from serious violence. We will also be introducing new legislation to place a duty on the police, councils and health authorities to work together to prevent and tackle serious violence.</p><p>Over the last 12 months, we have increased police funding, by £1 billion this year and announced that the amount of funding available to the policing system in 2020 to 2021 will increase by more than £1.1 billion. Sussex Police have received £309.9 Million in 2020-21, an increase of 7.6% from 2019-20 and have recruited 114 additional officers under uplift (as at end of June 2020).</p><p>We have also announced a targeted £25 million to tackle county lines drug gangs, given the links between drugs, county lines and serious violence.</p><p>This government has committed £76.5 million in 2020/21 to address the drivers of serious violence at the local level and significantly bolster the police response in the 18 Police Force areas most affected by serious violence across England and Wales. This builds on the £100 million invested in the previous year. Of this, Sussex Police has been allocated £2.2 million over two years to pay for a surge in police operational activity, such as increased patrols in greater numbers for longer periods of times, as well as new equipment and technology, improved intelligence and targeting, and an enhanced investigative response. A further £1.8m from the Fund was invested in developing Sussex Police’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU).</p><p>VRUs will be distributing a further £2.9 million to hundreds of frontline charities working on violence prevention projects which support vulnerable children and young people. More than 300 charities will share in the financial assistance, which is part of the £750 million package of support for charities announced by the Chancellor in April. Sussex VRU received £74,720 and is also supporting 9 charities.</p><p>In addition to the Serious Violence Fund, in 2018 we invested £200 million in early intervention and prevention support initiatives over 10 years to support children and young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF). In Sussex, one project has been offered funding for £93,500 under the Covid grant round.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 09/11/2020 16:31:08 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
	tabling member	4874 label Biography information for Andrew Griffith

1156202

	registered interest
	date	24/10/2019
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Crime
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of knife crime in (a) London and (b) England.
	tabling member constituency	Bexleyheath and Crayford
	tabling member printed	Sir David Evennett
	uin	4942
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2019 answer text <p>Police recorded crime statistics published on 17 October by the Office for National Statistics show that across England and Wales, there has been a 7 per cent increase in offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in the year to June 2019, and a 44 per cent increase since 2010/11. These increases are thought to be partly a genuine increase and partly due to improvements in the police recording of these offences. The latest force data are contained in the Open Data Tables to be found at the following link:</p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/839965/prc-knife-open-data-march2009-onwards-tables.ods" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/839965/prc-knife-open-data-march2009-onwards-tables.ods</a></p><p>The following table shows the number of knife and sharp instrument offences recorded by the police for the financial year 2010/11 and the years ending June 2018 and June 2019, for London and England (excluding Greater Manchester):</p><table><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2"><p>Knife and Sharp instrument offences</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td colspan="2"><p>% change year to June 2019 compared with:</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>Year to June 2018</p></td><td><p>Year to June 2019</p></td><td><p>2010/11</p></td><td><p>Year to June 2018</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>London</p></td><td><p>13,356</p></td><td><p>14,989</p></td><td><p>15,023</p></td><td><p>12</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>England (excl GMP)</p></td><td><p>29,879</p></td><td><p>39,891</p></td><td><p>42,677</p></td><td><p>43</p></td><td><p>7</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>We are taking determined action to tackle knife crime and other serious violence across London and the rest of the country. This includes giving the police the resources and tools they need to keep families, communities and our country safe. We have recently launched a national campaign to begin to recruit 20,000 new police officers over the next three years, and we are making it easier for the police to use stop and search powers. We are also giving police forces an additional £10 million to allow them to increase the number of officers who carry tasers to help protect themselves and the public from harm.</p><p>Police funding is increasing by more than £1 billion this year, including council tax and additional funding through the £100 million Serious Violence Fund. This Fund includes £63.4 million for surge operational activity, £35 million to support Violence Reduction Units, and £1.6 million to help improve the quality of data on serious violence. The Metropolitan Police has been allocated £20.84 million from the Serious Violence Fund for surge police activity and £7 million for the Violence Reduction Unit. In addition, through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, we are providing the police with more powers, and making it more difficult for young people to get hold of knives in the first place. The Act includes Knife Crime Prevention Orders which will give the police an important new tool to help them to work with people to steer them away from serious violence and knife crime.We continue to encourage all police forces to undertake a series of coordinated national weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. The operation includes targeted stop and searches, weapon sweeps, surrender of knives, including through amnesty bins, test purchases of knives from retailers, and educational events. The latest phase of the operation took place from 17 to 22 September.</p><p>We are also addressing the root causes of crime by investing over £220 million in early intervention projects and in the Queens Speech on 14 October, it was announced that we would be bringing forward a new Serious Violence Bill to introduce a new legal duty on public bodies to prevent and tackle serious violence.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse grouped question UIN 4941 question first answered 01/11/2019 12:01:35 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
	tabling member	1198 label Biography information for Sir David Evennett

1169182

	registered interest
	date	07/01/2020
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Knives: Crime
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of knife crime in (a) Bexley, (b) London and (c) the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Bexleyheath and Crayford
	tabling member printed	Sir David Evennett
	uin	949
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2020 answer text <p>Statistics are collected at the Police Force Area level only. Statistics for lower levels of geography (e.g. London Borough level) are not held by the Home Office. The Government takes seriously the concerns that have been expressed about the levels of serious violence in Bexley and other boroughs in London over recent months and has sought an assessment of the current response by the Metropolitan Police.</p><p>The Government is strengthening police numbers over the next three years by putting extra police officers on the streets and increasing sentences for violent criminals. Police will be given more powers to stop and search those who have been convicted of knife crime. 6,000 additional officers will be recruited in England and Wales by March 2021 and their ranks will be increased by 20,000 over the next three years.</p><p>Funding for policing is increasing by £1 billion this year, including council tax and the Serious Violence Fund, through which, we are providing £63.4 million to the 18 police forces worst affected by serious violence to pay for surge operational activity, such as increased patrols, and £1.6 million to help improve the quality of data on serious violence, particularly knife crime, to support planning and operations. This includes an additional £20.8 million of surge funding to the Metropolitan Police. In addition, £35 million of the Serious Violence Fund is being invested in Violence Reduction Units (VRUs), which will form a key component of our action to build capacity in local areas to tackle serious violence.</p><p>The Government will change the law so that police, councils and health authorities are legally required to work together to prevent and tackle serious violence. The Offensive Weapons Act introduces new laws which to give police extra powers to seize dangerous weapons and ensure knives are less likely to make their way onto the streets in the first place.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 15/01/2020 16:53:11 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
	tabling member	1198 label Biography information for Sir David Evennett