Knives: Crime

We have set a clear and ambitious target: to halve knife crime in a decade. We are already seeing results. Since the start of this Parliament, knife crime has fallen by 10% and knife homicides are down 27%, at their lowest level in a decade. In Avon and Somerset, knife-enabled crime offences have fallen by 20% since the June 2024 baseline. Our recently published Halving Knife Crime Plan sets out a fully resourced package of measures, bringing together action across Government and wider society to stop people turning to knife crime, and to ensure that perpetrators are caught and brought to justice. Violence prevention is crucial to achieving our ambition of halving knife crime and making our streets safer. The 26/27 Police Funding Settlement included an allocation of over £66m for Serious Violence Reduction Programmes, of which Avon and Somerset have been awarded over £1.8m. This funding will support the work of their Violence Reduction Unit which brings together local partners to understand and tackle the drivers of serious violence in their area and will also enable the continuation of their promising Young Futures Panel pilots, which are identifying young people at risk of being drawn into crime and intervening earlier with positive, diversionary support. We are also driving efforts to halve knife crime by focusing on tackling the worst affected areas via a Knife Crime Concentrations Fund, directing investment where it will reduce knife crime most effectively, including within Avon and Somerset. This approach is supporting police forces and other relevant partners involved in local crime prevention, to work together in partnership to deploy targeted and responsive interventions to those factors that local analysis identifies as driving knife crime in specific locations in Avon & Somerset. Home Office officials are working closely with partners in Avon & Somerset to confirm the locations in scope and deliver targeted responses within them.