On 2 October the Home Secretary set out a range of innovative new measures to address violent crime in the UK. The new package of announcements to be taken forward by the Government includes:
- a consultation on new legal duty to underpin a ‘public health’ approach to tackling serious violence;
- a new £200 million youth endowment fund, which will be delivered over 10 years and is aimed at 10 to 14- year -olds;
- an Independent review of drug misuse to ensure law enforcement agencies and policy are targeting and preventing the drug-related causes of violent crime effectively
The Government’s Serious Violence Strategy, published on 9 April, puts greater focus on steering young people away from a life of crime, while continuing to promote a strong law enforcement response. The strategy sets out an ambitious programme of work with 61 commitments for further action including a new £22m Early Intervention Youth Fund and a new £3.6m NPCC/NCA led National County Lines Coordination Centre, which launched on 21 September.
On 20 June we introduced the Offensive Weapons Bill in Parliament. The Bill contains new offences on acid and knives. This includes a new offence on possessing acid and corrosive substances in a public place without good reason; preventing the sale, both in-store and online, to persons under 18 of those substances that are found to be of most harm and commonly used in acid attacks; and to stop the delivery of both bladed products, such as knives, and acid to people’s homes when bought online.
We are supporting 68 local projects through the £1.5m (anti-knife crime) Community Fund and announced a new £1.4m police social media hub to tackle online violence.
We have provided a strong and comprehensive police funding settlement that will increase total investment in policing by over £460m, which includes money raised locally from Council Tax precepts, in 2018-19.
We have invested over £333m through the Police Transformation Fund to 110 projects including transforming the police approach to child sexual exploitation to protect vulnerable children. We are also enhancing our firearms intelligence, detection and enforcement capabilities and policies, internationally, at the UK border and within the UK.
We will be publishing our draft Domestic Abuse Bill which will protect and support victims, recognise the life-long impact domestic abuse can have on children and introduce a Domestic Abuse Commissioner to hold agencies to account. We have pledged £100 million in dedicated funding until 2020 to tackle violence against women and girls.
In July 2017, we published the Drug Strategy, which brings together police, health, community and global partners to tackle the illicit drug trade, protect the most vulnerable and help those with a drug dependency to recover and turn their lives around.