Mayor calls on Government to take real action on the causes of knife crime and other violent crimes which are rising across the UK
Part of the Mayor’s major package of work to help tackle causes of youth violence and knife crime, while Government continues to cut funding
First £5m of allocations announced to scale up existing projects including support for community sports initiatives, gang exit programmes and projects to train teachers and youth workers in mental health first aid
Local communities, charities and schools to be invited to bid for a share of a further £10m later this spring
Sadiq Khan will meet with the Home Secretary later today to call on the Government to take real action to tackle the causes of knife crime and other violent crimes, which are rising across the UK.
The Mayor has also released the first details of how organisations will be able to benefit from the new £45m fund he has set up to help young people in London at risk of being caught up in crime.
Sadiq created the Young Londoners Fund to support education, sport and cultural activities for young people to help tackle knife crime and youth violence, which has been rising across the country since 2014. In contrast to this investment by the Mayor, central government continues to cut vital services including £22m from London’s youth services since 2011, which have resulted in the closure of some 30 youth centres that had served at least 12,700 young Londoners*.
The Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund will support a wide range of activities to help those aged between 10 and 25, particularly marginalised, low income and Black And Minority Ethnic (BAME) young Londoners who might otherwise be at risk of getting caught up in crime. It will provide aspirational and positive activities to help young people reach their true potential.
Today the Mayor set out how he intends the first £5m of funding to be used to expand projects for Londoners that City Hall are already supporting. These include:
£1m to expand grassroots sports community grants and partnership programmes
£1.15m of additional funds for small voluntary and community projects to tackle knife crime in affected neighbourhoods
£500,000 to support services that help young Londoners to exist gangs – both those involved in youth violence and those who are exploited
£250,000 to expand the Stepping Stones programme which supports vulnerable students moving from primary to secondary school
£200,000 for HeadStart Action - social action pilot projects linking young people to business via employability workshops and work experience
£500,000 for Team London’s volunteering projects for young people affected by mental health issues - such as those within the criminal justice system or young refugees or asylum seekers
£640,000 to extend support for victims of crime, serious violence and sexual exploitation to more Accident and Emergency departments across London
£375,000 to train teachers and youth workers in Mental Health First Aid in every state secondary school across London
· £200,000 for Impact for Youth: support to help local organisations and young people generate and deliver grassroots proposals for the Young Londoners Fund
· £185,000 to support the Mayor’s anti-knife crime campaigning activities
Sadiq has repeatedly called on the Government to meet with him to discuss what more can be done to tackle the rise in knife crime since 2014. At his meeting with the Home Secretary later today the crisis in police funding will be at the top of his agenda.
The Mayor has stepped up to do whatever he can with a comprehensive programme of measures in his knife crime strategy, an unprecedented cash boost of £110m for the police this year, including £15m specifically for the police to tackle knife crime, as well as his new £45m Young Londoners Fund over the next three years.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “I am investing £45 million to tackle the root causes of rising violent crimes like knife attacks – now the Government simply must act on what is clearly a nationwide problem.
“I am doing everything possible in London to be not only tough on knife crime, but tough on the causes of knife crime too.
“Prevention is the most effective tool we have, which is why it is extremely disappointing that the government has repeatedly slashed funding on support and activities for young Londoners over the last eight years.
“I have stepped up where the government is letting our young people down. I am providing unprecedented additional funds to the Met police, driving forward a full and comprehensive Knife Crime Strategy and my new Young Londoners Fund will help countless young people to thrive, prosper and make the right choices to avoid being sucked into a life of crime.
“The Government’s own statistics show that this is a national problem – it’s time the Government started proving national solutions.”
Ashley Watt is a member of City Hall’s Peer Outreach Team, a diverse group of young people aged between 15 and 25 who help to shape the policies that most affect them. She said: “I am really pleased about the new £45 million fund for the young Londoners. We have needed more investment in these projects for some time now and it will allow our communities to do more to help young people regain hope to come off the streets and build brighter futures.”
The Chief Executive of Safer London, Sherry Peck, said: “We are very grateful for the support we receive from the Mayor, which helps to support young people affected by gangs or youth violence. This additional funding will help us reach even more young people.”
Headteacher at Gladesmore Community School in Tottenham, Tony Hartney CBE, said: “I am absolutely delighted that the Stepping Stones project, developed by Gladesmore Community School and piloted by a group of London schools, is to be expanded so that many more vulnerable children moving from primary to secondary school can be supported. This project has proved to be effective in combating disaffection and transforming attitudes to education and learning.”
Young People’s Projects Leader at London Bubble, Marie Vickers, said: “London Bubble Theatre is thrilled to be partnering with HeadStart Action. It’s inspiring to work with likeminded organisations to engage and empower young people in Southwark secondary schools as they explore and interrogate the world around them. We are three sessions in and already impressed by the quality of theatre being made by students at ARK Globe Academy. In fact, we can’t wait to see how the project develops over the next few months.”
Since 2010-11, the Met’s general grant funding from the Government has fallen by more than £700 million, or nearly 40 per cent in real terms, on a like-for-like basis. In recent years, the Met Police have had to find roughly £600m of savings and the Mayor has found a further £150million of savings since he took office.