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<p>The Home Secretary and Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire regularly meet with
the Mayor of London and Police and Crime Commissioners to discuss crime and policing
matters.</p><p>Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £43m of funding for a
Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in London which is providing a multi-agency, preventative
response designed to tackle the drivers of serious violence and knife crime in London.
In addition, c.£8.1m has been awarded in 2024/25 to deliver the ‘Hotspot Response’
programme and enable additional, high visibility patrols and problem-solving tactics
in the areas worst affected by serious violence and ASB.</p><p>Additionally, just
under £1.3m has been awarded in 2023/24 to support delivery of the Serious Violence
Duty in London.</p><p>Following a surrender scheme, the manufacture, supply, sale
and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes that are designed to look intimidating
but have no practical purpose will be outlawed from 24 September 2024.</p><p>Additionally,
through the Criminal Justice Bill, we are providing more powers for police to seize
knives held in private that they believe will be used for unlawful violence, increasing
the maximum penalty for the offences of selling prohibited weapons and selling knives
to under 18s and creating a new offence of possessing an article with blade or point
or an offensive weapon with intent to commit unlawful violence.</p><p>We are also
providing £3.5 million into the research, development, and evaluation of new technologies
to reduce knife crime, including knife detection technologies. The Metropolitan Police
has been given £547,863 for further live facial recognition mobile units to be deployed
across their 75 London hotspots.</p>
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