Press Release - The Home Office: Reducing the risk of violent
crime
21 February 2008
Overall levels of violent crime have fallen by 9.0 per cent
since 2002-03 and the number of serious violent offences recorded
by the police has fallen by 5.9 per cent over the same period. The
Home Office’s actions to encourage local areas to address domestic
violence and alcohol related crime are likely to have made some
contribution to this fall.
However, the Home Office still needs to take further action to
improve the delivery of funding to frontline practitioners, and
also to articulate their long-term strategic approach to tackling
violence. While levels of serious violence have fallen over recent
years, they have done so at a slower rate than overall crime
levels.
In 2006-07, there were an estimated 1.3 million incidents of
violence resulting in injury; the cost of these incidents to the
economy, including both economic and social costs, is estimated to
be around £13 billion annually. Although crime is falling, and
England’s homicide rate is low in international comparison, the
threat of violence remains a significant concern: 17 per cent of
adults say they worry about becoming a victim of violent crime.
The NAO found that the Home Office’s inconsistent delivery of
funding, poor data sharing between local agencies and limited
capacity at a local level to analyse the risks of violent crime are
combining to reduce the effectiveness of wider efforts to reduce
violent crime. Fewer than 30 per cent of Crime and Disorder
Partnerships responding to the NAO’s survey had a written strategy
specifically for tackling violent crime.
In relation to violent crime the Home Office has focused its
work on addressing domestic violence and alcohol related violence
through initiatives which have been well received by Crime and
Disorder Reduction Partnerships. When asked about the changes that
have brought most improvement over the last five years, more than a
quarter of Partnerships highlighted the work done to tackle
domestic violence, such as through the introduction of Multi-Agency
Risk Assessment Conferences.
Almost half of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships viewed
the 2003 Licensing Act as a positive tool for assisting them in
tackling violence, and we saw examples of it being used effectively
during our visits to local communities, most notably in Cardiff and
Birmingham.
The number of 15-17 year olds convicted of carrying a blade in
public nearly doubled between 1998 and 2005 from 455 convictions in
1998 to 894 in 2005 (though this is likely to be at least partly as
a result of increased police activity).
This might not represent the full scale of the problem, as when
police record a crime in which the offender was carrying a knife,
it is not presently mandatory for them to record the presence of
the weapon. Following a pilot since April 2007, from April 2008 the
Home Office will require all police forces to collect data on
serious violence offences involving a knife or sharp
instrument.
A MORI poll conducted for the Youth Justice Board showed that in
2004, 9 per cent of young people in mainstream education and 30 per
cent of young people excluded from mainstream education had carried
a flick-knife in the previous year.
And over the period 1998-99 and 2005-06, recorded crimes
involving a firearm more than doubled from 5,200 to 11,100.
However, since then, it has fallen to 9,700 in 2006-07.
Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office said
today:
“Violent crime is an issue everyone will have read about
and it is something which a fifth of the adult population have said
they worry about. The rise of gun and knife crime is something that
will deeply concern every community and the impacts of this sort of
criminal activity can devastate individuals and destabilise
communities.
“To date, the Home Office has not had a long term,
strategic approach to tackling violent crime. It has this week
published a new Tackling Violence Action Plan which we all hope
will deliver results.”
Notes for Editors:
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website, which is at http://www.nao.org.uk/.
Hard copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702
3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim Burr, is the head of
the National Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He and the
NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 10/07
All enquiries to Mark Anderson, NAO Press Office: Tel: 020 7798
7558
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