Government to impose legal duty on public bodies to tackle serious violence
The Government has announced plans for a new legal duty on public bodies to prevent and tackle serious violence.
A new ‘public health duty’ will cover the police, local councils, local health bodies such as NHS Trusts, education representatives and youth offending services.
The Home Office said: “It will ensure that relevant services work together to share data, intelligence and knowledge to understand and address the root causes of serious violence including knife crime. It will also allow them to target their interventions to prevent and stop violence altogether.”
In addition, the Government will amend the Crime and Disorder Act to ensure that serious violence is an explicit priority for Community Safety Partnerships, which include local police, fire and probation services, by making sure they have a strategy in place to tackle violent crime.
The Home Office said the new duty would hold organisations to account as opposed to individual teachers, nurses or other frontline professionals. “It does not mean burdening them with police work, but is designed to build on existing responsibilities and local arrangements to protect young people by ensuring they work together.”
New guidance will be published in due course to support the legislation.
Prime Minister, Theresa May said: “We all have a role to play to tackle serious violence and stop the needless loss of young lives. Alongside tough law enforcement we also have to stop children being drawn into crime in the first place.
“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.”
Similar public health approaches have been used in Scotland and Wales.
Home Secretary, Sajid 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.”
