Police and Crime Commissioner Darryl Preston will join partners next week to approve the further allocation of extra funding worth nearly £1m to tackle serious violence across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

The PCC is working closely with a multitude of partners including the Police, Probation, location authorities, Youth Offending Teams, the Integrated Care Board and the Fire and Rescue Service to implement the Serious Violence Duty.  

The Duty, introduced by the Government in January 2023 through its Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, requires agencies to share data and information to identify the types of violence that occur locally and to work together to understand the root causes and effectively address them.

Next week, the Commissioner will chair a meeting of the Cambridgeshire Countywide High Harms Board where partners will review proposals from across the county for interventions designed to address risk-taking behaviour among young people, prevent violence and reduce vulnerability to exploitation.

Working closely with the six local Community Safety Partnerships, the PCC and board members have ensured all areas of the county including Fenland, East Cambridgeshire, Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough have been able to access the funding to support prevention work in their areas.

This funding round includes a focus on after school activities to ensure young people can access activities in safe spaces with trusted adults. It also aims to increase the support available for young people to ensure they can deal appropriately with risky situations and make safe life choices.

The Cambridgeshire Countywide High Harms Board was launched by the PCC to bring key partners together to provide direction and leadership and to take a joined-up approach to tackle serious issues relating to drugs, violence and knife crime, violence against women and girls (VAWG) and serious and organised crime.

Ahead of the meeting, Darryl said: “We know that Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are generally safe areas when compared to other parts of the country. However, as recent events have shown, we are not immune to the challenges of knife crime, and this can have fatal consequences.

“As well as the Constabulary’s work to combat knife crime, partner agencies are also crucial in playing their part in early intervention and prevention.

“We have been working hard with our partners to jointly tackle serious violence for some time. The decision to launch a High Harms Board, long before the Serious Violence Duty came into effect, put Cambridgeshire and Peterborough well ahead of the curve. This means we can now advance our plans and ensure funding is directed to the communities and individuals who need help most to deliver the outcomes we all envisage.

“Next week, members of the board will come together to finalise the distribution of this extra investment, to ensure this funding is used to maximum effect.”

Assistant Chief Constable Vicki Evans added:

“Prevention and partnership activity is critical to tackling Serious Violence across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The range of programmes being funded are impressive demonstrating innovation and a shared commitment to make our communities safer, with a breadth of different agencies across the partnership playing their part in reducing crime and harm.

“Whilst Cambridgeshire and Peterborough are relatively safe places to live and work, complacency is not an option. We must do all we can to ensure the causes of serious violence are tackled, with a key focus on young people. Our response to serious violence is built on the strong foundations of our existing partnerships and community relationships. We have been jointly working for some time to embed the Serious Violence Duty ensuring that by working together we provide the greatest protection to our communities.”

Among the projects to be considered is a mentoring programme delivered by youth workers in Fenland which will involve the delivery of awareness-raising sessions, sports activities, and creative arts programmes. 

The programme has been designed following extensive engagement with young people and will support individuals by engaging them in positive activities that improve their resilience to being drawn into or becoming victims of crime or violence.

Earlier this year, the Commissioner and partners published a Serious Violence Strategy formalising how local partners will work together to prevent and reduce serious violence in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Through the plan, agencies will work together to raise awareness of serious violence and the risks it brings to individuals (whether victims, offenders or witnesses), communities, and those delivering services. Work will also focus on early intervention, particularly among young people and those who may be at increased risk.