00:00So we are talking with some brilliant kids about their experience of knife crime and we're talking about how to
00:07think through, how to keep yourself safe, how to understand the problem, how to tackle it and what the government
00:13is doing to try and bring those numbers down.
00:16We've set a really ambitious target to half knife crime in 10 years. You can't do that with one easy
00:22measure. There's a whole raft, which is why we're bringing in a knife crime action plan that cuts across all
00:28government departments, that everybody has a role to play in tackling knife crime.
00:32Tell us about the plan. What can you tell us about that plan? What detail can you offer today?
00:36So the element we're talking about here today with the lads in this school is a new scheme to look
00:44really hyper local at where knife crime occurs most and to target interventions to those areas.
00:51So there are 250 schools who are going to get more support through our programme to make sure they know
00:57what to do, how to access support, whether that's mentoring, whether that's therapy, whether that's other interventions, whether that's about
01:04safety in terms of routes in and out of the school.
01:06We know that knife crime is very focused around certain particular areas. Those 250 schools that happen to be in
01:13those areas need that extra support and that's what we'll be delivering today.
01:17They've been looking at virtual reality today. Is this part of the sort of attempts to further educate and further
01:24inform?
01:25Well, sadly, not everybody will listen to what I say. If you're a young person and you see a middle
01:29-aged woman, you don't always pay attention.
01:31We need to think of new and interesting different ways to talk to our kids to make them understand what
01:36the challenges are, what they would do in certain circumstances, and that helps educate them about the problems.
01:41And VR is quite a good way to do that because it's really interactive. You're making decisions about what you
01:48would do in real-life situations, and then it helps to have a conversation.
01:51It's no good on its own. You've got to then have the conversation about actually what did you think, what
01:56did you feel, what should you do, and that helps kids to learn.
02:00OK. And what was it like hearing those stories? You know, you had one young man there whose cousin had
02:05actually died from a knife incident.
02:07How does that inform what you're doing moving forward?
02:10So we heard from quite a lot of the boys that they don't feel safe in their community, and that
02:17is not normal. That is not right.
02:19We should not accept that as part of modern society. Absolutely not, which is why we're going to halve it
02:23in 10 years.
02:25What it makes me think is we need to go further and faster on every single aspect of this.
02:29Policing, really important. Enforcement, really important. But also prevention.
02:34Things for kids to do, places for them to go, youth services. All of the different agencies of government need
02:40to be focused on tackling this, because it's not right that our kids don't feel safe when they're out on
02:46the streets.
02:47They should be out being kids, having fun, like we all want them to do, and that this government is
02:52completely committed to doing everything we can.
02:55It's a half-knife thing in 10 years, which will send a real message that this can be tackled. It's
03:00not normal, and we're going to fix it.
03:02You heard from Martin there. He's obviously... What role has Martin played in helping inform these policies?
03:07Obviously, he's a campaigner. He's lost his own son. How much impact has he had in helping shape the policies
03:13that you're talking about?
03:13Well, when we got into government, we set up a coalition of people like Martin, who have invaluable experience to
03:22tell us, both in terms of the huge impact of their own loss, but also going out and doing amazing
03:27things.
03:28He has talked to thousands and thousands of kids across the country to try and help inform them and educate
03:33them about what they can do and about the perils of life crime.
03:37He has a lived experience that I don't want anybody else to have to go through, and every time I
03:42see him and talk to him, it's really hard-hitting, and I think the impact that he has on the
03:46kids in schools and in prisons, he goes all over the place talking to all kinds of different people.
03:52It's just a really powerful thing because he's been through so much pain, and he's still managing to sort of
03:58campaign to change the world, which is what we're all trying to do here, but he's a really powerful voice
04:03for anti-life crime.
04:05One of the things he wants is part of the curriculum in primary schools. Is that realistic? Is that something
04:11you might consider?
04:12Well, we've changed the curriculum in secondary schools, so there is going to be education about the risks and the
04:18dangers of knife crime, which is one step.
04:21It's certainly true that in primary schools, we need to be identifying and thinking about those kids who might be
04:27more vulnerable and who might be more at risk of getting into crime,
04:30and certainly the Department of Education is very keen that we do that.
04:35Martin has real experience. I'll keep listening to him, and we'll keep pushing to go further and further to get
04:40all of the things done that are going to bring the knife crime numbers down.
04:43Last question. How realistic is it that you're going to halve knife crime in 10 years?
04:48Well, look, violence is not inevitable, and we should never think that it is.
04:52There are things that we know that are evidence-based that work.
04:55Having a focus on knife-enabled robbery in our policing has led to a fall in knife-enabled robbery.
05:02Focusing on prevention, giving kids things to do, trying to get them out of a life of crime, we know
05:07has an impact and works.
05:08We are going to do the things that work, and we are not going to stop until we reach that
05:11target.
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