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<p><del class="ministerial">We are taking determined action to tackle knife crime
and other serious violence, including by preventing children and young people from
gaining access to knives in the first place. It is already illegal to sell knives
and certain articles with blade or point to anyone under 18 in England and Wales,
whether face to face or online, and the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 will further strengthen
the law by stopping knives being sent to residential addresses after being bought
online, unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure
that the product will not be delivered to a person under 18. Through the Offensive
Weapons Act, we will also introduce new Knife Crime Prevention Orders which will give
the police an important new tool to help them to work with both young people and adults
at risk of being drawn into knife crime to steer them away from serious violence.</del></p><p><del
class="ministerial">It is vital that the police have the resources and tools they
need to tackle knife crime, including possession of knives on our streets. This is
why we have increased police funding by more than £1 billion this year, including
council tax and the £100 million Serious Violence Fund. Through the Serious Violence
Fund we have provided £63.4 million to the 18 police forces worst affected by serious
violence to pay for surge operational activity, and £1.6 million to help improve the
quality of data on serious violence, particularly knife crime, to support planning
and operations. In addition, £35million of the Serious Violence Fund is being invested
in Violence Reductions Units which will form a key component of our action to build
capacity in local areas to tackle the root causes of serious violence.</del></p><p><del
class="ministerial">We have also 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 their important stop and search powers which is a vital tool
in tackling knife possession on our streets and in our local communities.In addition,
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 latest phase of
the operation took place from 17 to 22 September and included targeted stop and searches,
weapon sweeps, and surrender of knives, including through amnesty bins. The operation
also includes test purchase operations to identify those retailers who flout the law
and sell knives to under 18s. Through our dedicated Prosecution Fund we are supporting
Trading Standards to prosecute rogue retailers who repeatedly fail test purchases.</del></p><p><del
class="ministerial">We are also addressing the root causes of serious violence by
investing over £220 million in early intervention projects, and as announced in the
Queen’s Speech, we are bringing forward a new Bill to introduce a new legal duty on
public bodies to work together to prevent and tackle serious violence.</del></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">Any form of hate crime is completely unacceptable, and this Government
takes hate crime very seriously.That is why the Government published the Hate Crime
Action Plan in 2016, and refreshed it in October 2018.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The
Action Plan includes a number of commitments that address all forms of hate crime.
These include a review of hate crime legislation by the Law Commission which commenced
earlier this year, a public awareness campaign that included specific examples of
disability hate crime to make it clear that it is unacceptable. </ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">Additionally, the Action Plan includes specific plans to tackle
disability hate crime, including increased engagement with disability stakeholders,
hosting two ministerial roundtables with disability groups and social media companies
to help tackle online abuse of disabled people, and providing funding for community
projects that directly tackle disability hate crime.</ins></p><p> </p><p> </p>
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