Harrow Serious Violence Duty Strategy

Welcome to the Harrow Serious Violence Duty Strategy engagement page.

London Borough of Harrow's engagement will run for eight weeks from 8 September to 23:59 on 31 October 2023.

Why are we doing this?

As part of the Government's new Serious Violence Duty, LB Harrow is undertaking a survey with young people (under 25) to gather views and perceptions of serious violence in the borough.

We are seeking to understand and identify the kinds of serious violence that young people experience in Harrow and what you feel should be done locally to prevent and tackle violence.

These insights will help inform the preparation, publication and implementation of a Harrow Serious Violence Duty Strategy, which once prepared and published, must be kept under review and, from time to time, revised.

The Harrow Serious Violence engagement will run from 8 September 2023 until 23:59 on 31 October 2023.

Background

Serious violence has a devastating impact on the lives of victims and families and instils fear within communities and is extremely costly to society. Incidents of serious violence have increased in England and Wales since 2014. For example, offences involving knives or sharp instruments increased by 84 per cent between the year to June 2014 and the year to June 2020.

The Serious Violence Duty is a key part of the Government’s programme of work to collaborate and plan to prevent and reduce serious violence: taking a multi-agency approach to understanding the causes and consequences of serious violence, focusing on prevention and early intervention, and being informed by evidence.

In addition to tough law enforcement, we need to understand and address the factors that cause someone to commit violent crime in the first place, this includes where coercion is a factor regarding vulnerable children and adults. The Duty aims to ensure that agencies are focused on their activity to prevent and reduce serious violence whilst also providing sufficient flexibility so that the relevant organisations will engage and work together in the most effective local partnership for any given area.

Read the Serious Violence Duty Statutory Guidance.