Javid to announce new public health duty

LONDON: A new legal duty on public bodies to help prevent and tackle serious violence, including knife crime, will be announced by the Home Secretary.

As part of the public health duty, to be set out this week by Sajid Javid, services including police forces, local councils and NHS trusts will be required to work together. This will cover the sharing of data, intelligence and knowledge to understand and address the root causes of serious violence, including knife crime, the Home Office said.

Javid said: “Violent crime is a disease that is plaguing our communities and taking too many young lives. It’s crucial that we all work together to understand what causes violent crime in the first place, so we can intervene early and prevent this senseless bloodshed. I’m confident that a public health approach and a new legal requirement that make public agencies work together will create real, lasting long-term change.” The government will also amend the Crime and Disorder Act to ensure serious violence is an explicit priority for community safety partnerships - including local police, fire and probation services — by ensuring there is a strategy in place to tackle it, the Home Office said. Inspections and other existing mechanisms will be used to ensure organisations comply with the duty, with these held to account rather than individual teachers, nurses or other frontline professionals, the government department added.

According to official figures released last month, the number of criminals caught with knives or dangerous weapons has hit its highest level since 2010. More than 22,000 offences of possessing or making threats with blades or offensive weapons resulted in a conviction or caution in England and Wales in 2018-19. One in five of the culprits was aged between 10 and 17, the figures from the Ministry of Justice revealed. On Thursday Javid visited a community football group in north-west London which is part of a national programme run by the Premier League which tries to prevent knife crime.

Speaking to PA, Javid said the increase in youth violence has a lot to do with “the changes in drug markets we are seeing world wide”, adding: “In terms of how we tackle it, I wish there was one single answer, but I think there isn’t. You need action on many fronts”.

On Monday Prime Minister Theresa May will also hold her next ministerial taskforce, which will hear from youngsters on the government’s Youth Advisory Forum about their experiences of serious violence. May said: “Our new legal duty will ensure all agencies work together to share intelligence and identify warning signs, so we can intervene earlier and protect young people.”