LGA responds to Children’s Commissioner’s report into preventing gang involvement and youth violence

Cllr Nesil Caliskan, Chair of the Local Government Association's Safer and Stronger Communities Board, responds to the Children’s Commissioner’s report that looks at how effectively existing infrastructure within local authorities is being used to deliver a public health approach to preventing gang involvement and youth violence.

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Responding to the Children’s Commissioner’s report that looks at how effectively existing infrastructure within local authorities is being used to deliver a public health approach to preventing gang involvement and youth violence, Cllr Nesil Caliskan, Chair of the Local Government Association's Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said:

“A public health approach to serious youth violence is vital but does not mean one led by council public health teams alone. It is disappointing that this report wrongly focuses solely on public health teams, rather than considering the partnership approach needed to properly tackle the issue.

“We agree that it is important to intervene early to tackle the root causes of serious violence and address the risk factors which we know can lead to a young person becoming involved in violent crime.

“However, this requires multi-agency working across a range of partners, including health, education, local government, the police and voluntary sector, so singling out one area of this co-ordinated effort is not representative of how local authorities are working.

“If we are to reduce youth violence and make a real impact on the lives of those involved or at risk, councils and their partners need to be able to deliver the services young people need. We have called for the reinstatement of the £1.7 billion that has been removed from the Early Intervention Grant to councils since 2010.”