London mayor to hand over £1.4m to groups tackling knife violence

LONDON mayor Sadiq Khan's fund will had over £1.4 million to groups working towards tackling knife crimes, it was announced on Tuesday (20).

About 40 projects will receive funding from London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), which tackles knife crime and its causes.

The fund will be used to support various activities for some 25,000 young people in London's high-crime areas.

"The projects, which will be the first to be funded by the VRU, will provide mentoring, counselling, school-based education schemes and community diversionary activities over the course of the next year for young people aged 10-21," Khan's office said in a statement.

The new investment comes as London’s VRU secured £7 million funding from the Home Office to tackle all forms of violence in the capital.

The Mayor of London said: “I am determined to do everything I can to tackle violent crime in our city and that means being tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.

“While I am investing and supporting our hardworking police officers who are targeting violent offenders and removing knives and dangerous weapons from our streets, we know the best time to stop violent crime is before it starts.

“That’s why it’s vital we invest in our communities because they are in the best position to intervene at a critical moment in a young person’s life and the VRU’s funding can help provide positive opportunities and role models.”

Lib Peck, director of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, said: “I am really pleased that we are going to be investing in a number of projects that we know are delivering for young people and are demonstrating the public health approach in action.

“What we have learnt so far is that empowering communities and giving local people the powers and resources is key to making fundamental change in a young person’s life. They will help us make the types of long-lasting interventions that will enable us to challenge the view that violence is inevitable and demonstrate that it is preventable.”