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<p><ins class="ministerial">It is vitally important that we prevent young people from
being drawn into violent crime, exploitation and abuse. The Government recognises
that high quality youth services can transform the lives of young people.</ins></p><p><ins
class="ministerial">The Government has invested £70m over two years (19/20 – 20/21)
in establishing Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in the 18 police force areas most
affected by serious violence. VRUs bring 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 to them. In addition
to leading and coordinating local responses, VRUs are also delivering interventions
to support those most at risk of involvement in serious violence. In year 1 of their
operation, VRUs applied £23.1m to enable delivery of 175 different interventions,
which reached over 100,000 young people.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">We have
awarded Thames Valley PCC, which includes Slough, £2.32m to develop its multi-agency
Violence Reduction Unit. We have also invested £3.2m in Thames Valley to ‘surge’ the
operational police response to serious violent crimes, which is supporting vital work
to identify and disrupt exploitative county lines operations.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The
Government has invested £200 million in a 10-year Youth Endowment (YEF) Fund to tackle
the drivers behind serious youth violence. An extra £5million has been awarded to
the YEF in 2020 to develop a National Centre of Excellence, which will share knowledge
and expertise with those working with vulnerable children and young people at risk
of involvement in serious youth violence.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">In
July 2020, the YEF offered a total of £6.5m to 129 organisations across England and
Wales as part of its COVID-19 grant round. The funding will help charities, social
enterprises, local authorities and youth organisations to re-connect with young people
at-risk of being drawn into violent crime and tackle any problems to emerge because
of COVID-19.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are significantly increasing
investment in specialist support for county lines victims this year. With investment
of £860k the St Giles Trust will be delivering one-to-one support in London, Merseyside
and the West Midlands (the three largest county lines exporting areas) which will
aim to help over 200 vulnerable children and young people who are criminally exploited
by county lines gangs to exit their involvement.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The
Home Office is also continuing to fund Missing People’s SafeCall service (c.£200k
FY20/21). This specialist 24/7 helpline provides advice and support to children, young
people and their parents/carers who are concerned about county lines, criminal exploitation
and gangs.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">Through the £13.2m Trusted Relationships
Fund we are identifying innovative approaches to tackling vulnerability among children
and young people at risk of exploitation and abuse. The local authority-led projects,
which went live in August 2018, provide support for children and young people identified
as at high risk of child sexual exploitation and abuse, criminal exploitation and
peer-on-peer abuse.</ins></p><p><del class="ministerial">It is vitally important that
we prevent young people from being drawn into violent crime, exploitation and abuse.
The Government recognises that high quality youth services can transform the lives
of young people.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">The Government has invested
£70m over two years (19/20 – 20/21) in establishing Violence Reduction Units (VRUs)
in the 18 police force areas most affected by serious violence. VRUs bring 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 to them. In addition to leading and coordinating local responses, VRUs are
also delivering interventions to support those most at risk of involvement in serious
violence. In year 1 of their operation, VRUs applied £23.1m to enable delivery of
175 different interventions, which reached over 100,000 young people.</del></p><p><del
class="ministerial">We have awarded Thames Valley PCC, which includes Slough, £2.32m
to develop its multi-agency Violence Reduction Unit. We have also invested £3.2m in
Thames Valley to ‘surge’ the operational police response to serious violent crimes,
which is supporting vital work to identify and disrupt exploitative county lines operations.</del></p><p><del
class="ministerial">The Government has invested £200 million in a 10-year Youth Endowment
(YEF) Fund to tackle the drivers behind serious youth violence. An extra £5million
has been awarded to the YEF in 2020 to develop a National Centre of Excellence, which
will share knowledge and expertise with those working with vulnerable children and
young people at risk of involvement in serious youth violence.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">In
July 2020, the YEF offered a total of £6.5m to 129 organisations across England and
Wales as part of its COVID-19 grant round. The funding will help charities, social
enterprises, local authorities and youth organisations to re-connect with young people
at-risk of being drawn into violent crime and tackle any problems to emerge because
of COVID-19.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">We are significantly increasing
investment in specialist support for county lines victims this year. With investment
of £860k the St Giles Trust will be delivering one-to-one support in London, Merseyside
and the West Midlands.</del></p>
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