Warinder Juss

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich (Sarah Coombes) for securing the debate. In 2022-23, the west midlands reported 180 incidents per 100,000 people, giving it the unenviable title of knife-crime capital of the United Kingdom. Knife crime is the leading cause of homicides in England and Wales. Around 11,300 knife crimes occurred in the west midlands between November 2020 and October 2023, and Wolverhampton, where my constituency lies, accounted for 7.6% of those crimes. I am pleased by the action that the Government are taking, and to see that they have launched a coalition to tackle knife crime, working with the actor Idris Elba and the Elba Hope Foundation. I look forward to seeing how that coalition will work to bring together campaign groups, families of people who have tragically lost their lives to knife crime, young people who have been impacted, community leaders, technology companies, sports organisations, partners in the health service, education and the police, and experts, to try to understand and appreciate what causes young people to be dragged into violence and knife crime. I hope that will provide the evidence to drive Government policy. I am also pleased that the Government are committed to strengthening the laws around the online sale of knives, and to see the creation of the Young Futures programme, with the new local prevention partnerships, and particularly the creation of a new network of youth hubs. But we need to do more in the west midlands, with the West Midlands police and community initiatives. We need an increase in neighbourhood teams to carry out specific patrols in knife-crime hotspots at the times of greatest risk. We need to continue the knife amnesty programmes that encourage people to give up their offensive weapons in exchange for avoiding prosecution for possession. In Wolverhampton, 185 weapons were safely deposited, 97 of which were handed in close to the Tabernacle Baptist church in Whitmore Reans in my constituency. The community initiative to reduce violence will be run in the cities of Coventry and Wolverhampton, funded by the Home Office through the Youth Endowment Fund. It is part of a global initiative seeking interventions with young people involved in violence and connecting them to an exit pathway from gangs. I hope that that will be focused throughout the west midlands. I thank the hon. Member for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) for raising the issue of youth clubs, because we must realise the importance of youth clubs and youth services in preventing knife crime. We need to have trusted role models in youth workers, and we need our youth to have activities in a safe, welcoming place where they can exercise their passion and drive and have access to support mechanisms that are provided through proactive strategies. In my constituency, we have the Way Youth Zone, which has had a positive impact on knife crime prevention by providing engaging activities and programmes; building positive relationships; taking safeguarding approaches; bridging the empathy gap by bridging the gap between young people and law enforcement; and having partnership projects with other organisations. We need to have more of that.