Government gives cash to help reduce violence

NETWORK ABLE TO APPLY FOR FUNDING OVER NEXT THREE YEARS

THE government has pledged to support work to prevent people from being drawn into serious violence.

Minister for crime, policing and probation Kit Malthouse told police and crime commissioner Rupert Matthews that the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Violence Reducation Network (VRN) will be eligible to apply for more than £3.5 million to support existing and new programmes over the next three years.

The funding pledge coincided with the publication of independent evaluation of the VRN’s work.

In the city and counties, research by Ipsos MORI commended:

■ Delivery of seven interventions reaching an estimated 5,996 young people as well as 38 community projects supporting violence reduction or prevention reaching a further 2,500 young people;

■ Good engagement with young people and communities through such initiatives as a community leadership programme, feedback from young people and setting up a community panel;

■ Strong multi-agency partnership working and shared vision leading to cultural change, reduced duplication of efforts and resources, a consistent approach and strong UKwide links

■ Work done to establish data sharing, monitoring and evaluation across police, hospital, youth justice, probation and education which enables the VRN to react to emerging issues;

■ Strong focus on learning and evaluation; ■ Strong uptake on programmes including trauma-informed training.

Mr Matthews said: “The partners involved through the Violence Reduction Network and the Home Office all agree it is important that the work already under way in preventing serious violence in our communities needs to be sustainable if it is to have a long-term impact.

“I have been advocating for a longer-term funding settlement and am delighted to have the commitment from the Home Office that the VRN will be eligible to apply for a multi-year grant agreement.

“This is an important step forward to enable the VRN to forge ahead with its robust planning, delivery and evaluation of the programmes that are essential to improving the lives of young people and to making our local communities safer places to live, work and enjoy.”

He said galvanising all parts of the public sector lay at the heart of many of the initiatives to tackle serious violence.

“The VRN adopts this very approach and we’re seeing some extremely encouraging signs of progress,” he said.

“The whole-system approach is part of the longer-term strategy to understand and tackle the root causes of serious violence – not limited to preventing individual occurrences.”

VRN director Grace Strong said: “This funding is fantastic news for the VRN.

“We have a strong and collaborative partnership which has worked hard to design and deliver evidenceinformed strategies and interventions to address the causes of serious violence locally.”