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<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>
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