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Public health duty on violent crime will bring long-term change, says Sajid Javid UK bodies warn public health duty on violent crime needs extra funding
(about 4 hours later)
A new legal duty on public bodies to help prevent and tackle serious violence, including knife crime, is to be announced by the home secretary. A new legal duty on public health bodies in England to tackle serious violence, including knife crime, must be backed by cash if is to be effective, organisations have warned.
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. The public health duty, requiring bodies to share data, intelligence and knowledge, will be announced by the government this week, following the conclusion of an eight-week consultation.
This will cover the sharing of data, intelligence and knowledge to understand and address the root causes of serious violence, the Home Office said. The obligation, a response to the knife crime crisis, contains a significant change from the plans announced in April, with the government abandoning a proposal for doctors, nurses and teachers to be held accountable if they failed to report children feared to have been caught up in a life of violence.
Javid said: “Violent crime is a disease that is plaguing our communities and taking too many young lives. Geoff Barton, chair of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he was pleased the “particularly problematic” duty on individuals had been removed but added: “There needs to be acknowledgement that some of where we are now is because of austerity. Headteachers will be looking at this thinking this is another example of society thinking teachers can do everything.”
“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. He said teachers had already taken on a greater burden with respect to child protection because of cuts to other services and would need additional resources to do even more.
“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.” John Apter, national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, expressed similar concerns. “The inconvenient truth for some is that austerity has taken money out of the public sector, which equates to over £3m, has contributed in getting us into this situation,” he said.
“You can’t legislate yourself out of this, but we do welcome the new ‘legal duty’ for public bodies to share intelligence to tackle serious crime.”
Patricia Marquis, the Royal College of Nursing director for England, welcomed the removal of the obligation on individuals, which she said would have placed “too great a burden on nursing staff, who are already struggling with severe workforce shortages.”
Javed Khan, CEO of Barnardos, called the duty “a step in the right direction” but said it was vital public bodies got the necessary resources to carry out their responsibilities.
There were 22,041 knife and weapon offences formally dealt with by the criminal justice system in the year ending March 2019, the highest number for nearly a decade, according to Ministry of Justice figures. One in five of the offenders was aged between 10 and 17.
Teenage detectives on the case as police seek knife crime answersTeenage detectives on the case as police seek knife crime answers
The government will also amend the Crime and Disorder Act to make serious violence 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. The public health duty, similar to the approach successfully deployed in Scotland, will cover the police, local councils, local health bodies such as NHS Trusts, education representatives and youth offending services.
Inspections and other existing mechanisms will be used to ensure the duty is complied with. Organisations, rather than individual teachers, nurses or other frontline professionals, will be held to account, the Home Office added. Theresa 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.”
According to official figures released last month, the number of criminals caught with knives or dangerous weapons has hit its highest level since 2010. The government is also to amend the Crime and Disorder Act to ensure serious violence is an explicit priority for community safety partnerships, which include local police, fire and probation services, and that they have a strategy in place to tackle the issue.
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. A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman said tackling serious violence “requires schools, local government, the health service and policing to work together. Early intervention plays a vitally important role.”
One in five of the culprits was aged between 10 and 17, the figures from the Ministry of Justice revealed.
Speaking to the Press Association, Javid said the increase in youth violence had a lot to do with “the changes in drug markets we are seeing worldwide”.
“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,” he added.
This year, amid a series of fatal stabbings, the government granted an extra £100m for police in the areas worst affected by knife crime and serious violence and gave officers increased stop-and-search powers.
On Monday, the 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.”
Reacting to the announcement, Patricia Marquis, the Royal College of Nursing’s director for England, said: “Getting public bodies like NHS trusts, police forces and councils to work together to try to prevent violent crime sounds like a sensible approach.
“Our worry when the home secretary first announced these plans back in April was that they proposed a legal duty for individual nurses to try to identify patients at risk of becoming victims of knife crime – which we felt was placing too great a burden on nursing staff, who are already struggling with severe workforce shortages in trying to provide care.
“We are glad Mr Javid has listened to our concerns and amended his plans.”
The children’s commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, said: “It is right that knife crime is seen as a public health issue,” and added that there was “a duty put on those whose job it is to keep children safe”.
“While this is a step forward, it will not be enough on its own. There must be a commitment from the government and new prime minister to drive this through and put the right resources behind it,” she added.
Knife crimeKnife crime
Sajid JavidSajid Javid
Public services policyPublic services policy
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