Questions & Answers
Q1
Partial Answer
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Context
The question arises from efforts to address the increasing problem of knife crime in Redditch and other constituencies. It references specific actions by a local campaigner, Pete Martin, who is working to educate young people about the dangers of knife crime.
What steps her Department is taking to help tackle knife crime. I thank the Secretary of State for her answer, and for the seriousness with which this Government are tackling the scourge of knife crime in constituencies like mine. In Redditch, the anti-knife-crime campaigner Pete Martin is making a real difference by educating young people in schools about the dangers of knife crime. Will the Secretary of State consider visiting Redditch to see Pete’s work at first hand, and the real difference that it is making in our schools?
Can I pass on my thanks, through my hon. Friend, to the team who are doing such good work in his community? We are certainly keen to know more about that, because he is right about local work preventing young people from being drawn into knife crime. That is why we are setting up the Young Futures prevention programme, and we are introducing a new law on child criminal exploitation to go after the gangs who draw young people into crime.
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Assessment & feedback
The Secretary of State did not commit to visiting Redditch but expressed interest in learning more about local efforts.
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
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Context
The question is prompted by concerns over the prioritisation of police resources and facilities in Eastbourne to better address knife crime in town centres. It specifically highlights a need for investment in community policing infrastructure.
As Sussex police consider how to tackle knife crime in Eastbourne and invest in community policing, I have been urging them to prioritise investment in their Grove Road premises in the town centre, as opposed to their Hammonds Drive industrial estate premises. Does the Secretary of State agree that we should prioritise investment in town centres such in Eastbourne, so that we can better tackle knife crime there?
Obviously, police forces have to make their own operational decisions, but we do believe that town centres need to be a particular focus of neighbourhood policing, and when it comes to preventing youth crime, including knife crime. Sussex police are getting 64 additional neighbourhood police officers and police community support officers under the neighbourhood policing guarantee this year, but we are also focusing on hotspot policing, targeting the areas with the highest knife crime.
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Assessment & feedback
The Secretary of State did not explicitly agree to prioritising town centre investment but acknowledged the focus on town centres in preventing youth crime.
Response accuracy