wrans/answers2025-06-06 conversation_157
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-06-06)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-06-06 conversation_157

Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the levels of knife crime in the West Midlands in the last five years. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Halving knife crime over the next decade is a key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission and driving down serious violence across the UK, including in the West Midlands, will play a key role in meeting this ambition.

In the West Midlands, the government has allocated c.£3.7m for the Hotspot Action Fund in 2025-2026 to deliver high visibility patrolling and problem-oriented policing tactics in the areas with the highest densities of knife crime and Anti-Social Behaviour (‘hotspots’).

We routinely monitor police recorded crime data trends for all forces. West Midlands Police recorded 4,664 offences involving a knife or a sharp instrument in the year ending December 2024, a 12% fall compared with the previous year (5,323 offences). The fall was driven by a 14% fall in knife-enabled robbery (from 2,684 to 2,309 offences) and a 11% fall in assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm (from 1,952 to 1,730).

Through our Young Futures Programme, the Government will introduce Prevention Partnerships across the country, including in the West Midlands, to intervene earlier and ensure that children and young people who are vulnerable to being drawn into crime are identified and offered support in a more systematic way.

As we continue to design the Young Futures Programme, we want to ensure that it learns from and builds on the work of the Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in this regard. In 2025/26 we are investing £47m via the Home Office in core grant funding to VRUs, including making over £4.3m available to the West Midlands VRU this year.

This funding will support the delivery of a range of early intervention and prevention programmes such as youth workers in hospital settings (A&E Navigators), social skills training, and tailored support to individuals at risk of involvement in gangs and county lines to divert young people away from crime.

A further £14.3m in grant funding has been made available across all 43 local policing body areas to deliver the Serious Violence Duty with £254k available to the West Midlands.

Additionally, we have launched the Knife Enabled Robbery (‘KER’) Taskforce, focusing on reducing KER in the highest volume police force areas, including the West Midlands. The Taskforce identified school-age KER as a specific operational challenge and has worked with the Department for Education and school leaders to tackle it by developing bespoke “KER school action plans”.

To ensure community leaders, campaign groups, families of those who have tragically lost their lives to knife crime and young people who have been impacted are involved in our plans, the Prime Minister launched the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime in September 2024. The Coalition contributes to policy development in key areas. I (Minister for Crime Prevention and Policing) have attended several coalition meetings since it was founded, chairing its most recent meeting. The Coalition has discussed key policy issues, including the online sale of knives, child criminal exploitation and the banning of ninja swords.

To date, we have implemented a ban on the sale and possession of zombie-style knives and zombie-style machetes and a ban on ninja swords will come into effect from 1 August. We are planning an expanded surrender scheme in July to allow those who currently own dangerous weapons to hand them in safely and securely.

In the Crime and Policing Bill 2025, we are increasing the penalties for illegal sales of knives, creating a new offence of possessing a knife with the intention to commit unlawful violence and are giving the police a new power to seize knives when they believe they are likely to be used in connection with unlawful violence.