My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have set out the case for the various amendments in this group. The noble Lord, Lord Coaker, pointed out that certain crimes are up, and he is absolutely right. He asked, rightly, how these strategies will be different. They will work only if they can measurably show something at the end. The noble Lord, Lord Russell of Liverpool, gave us some of the solutions: first, agencies working together in a multiagency approach, as the noble Baroness, Lady Newlove, says. Sharing data trends is one of the suggestions in the draft
guidance: sharing those trends, where the hotspots are and where agencies can have a better focus on the needs of certain areas. Local needs assessment is going to be crucial, but the monitoring and reviewing against those three measures that the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, and, indeed, the Government set out will be the ultimate measure of success or otherwise. He is right to point out that successive Governments have had successive strategies to try to deal with these things—that is because it is just not that easy. If it were, someone would have worked it out by now. I think that is at the heart of what we are talking about this evening.
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Amendment 28 would add a requirement for the specified authorities to consult all NHS bodies in the preparation and implementation of the local serious violence strategy. I am in absolutely no doubt that engagement from the health sector will be key to the success of this duty, but I do not think that the amendment is necessary, because clinical commissioning groups in England and local health boards in Wales are already named as specified authorities for the duty and we think that they are best placed to lead and assure local input to and delivery of local serious violence strategies from the health sector. So, there are existing channels through which engagement with relevant NHS bodies can take place; it is open to the specified authorities to consult other persons and the statutory guidance will be clear on this. To mandate consultation with every and any NHS body would cast the net far too wide. There are many NHS bodies, not all of which can usefully contribute, or would want to contribute, to serious violence strategies.
On engagement with young people and religious groups, the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb, spoke to Amendment 30 behalf of her noble friend, the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett. I completely agree that it will be crucial for specified authorities to engage with young people, as well as local faith and cultural groups, in the development of local strategies. That is why we have included a specific chapter in the draft statutory guidance for the duty which concerns effective engagement with such groups. Given that all specified authorities will be legally required to have due regard to the guidance, I think this is sufficient to ensure that this engagement takes place and therefore do not think it is necessary to include it in the Bill. The guidance will be subject to a public consultation following Royal Assent and we will welcome feedback in advance of and during that consultation to ensure that it reflects the most appropriate advice and guidance on this process. I think the guidance has been so well trailed this evening that we will expect a lot of input into it once it is put out there.
On Amendment 32 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe, on the known drivers of violent crime, again I wholeheartedly agree that to put into effect a multiagency response we need to understand and address the factors that cause someone to commit violent crime, so that we can prevent it happening in the first place. The noble Lord talked about such things as minimum alcohol pricing—we have talked about that and it is certainly something the Government
are keeping under review—and the very obvious links between alcohol and violent crime, which are indisputable, in fact.
That is why the serious violence duty will require specified authorities to work together and share data, as I said earlier, and information, so they can formulate an evidence-based analysis of the problems associated with serious violence in their local area and subsequently produce and implement their strategy, and ultimately make the right interventions in how they respond to those issues. As part of this, the specified authorities will need to identify the kinds of serious violence that occur in their area and, so far as it is possible to do so, their causes, and then prepare and implement a strategy with bespoke local solutions.
I therefore consider the amendment to be unnecessary, given that the work to identify the drivers of violent crime in any given locality will already be required by the legislation. While it is true, as I said, that alcohol and drug misuse are common drivers of many types of serious violence, we cannot be certain that these will be significant factors across all local areas in England and Wales. So I think it is right that the specified authorities for the duty are afforded the opportunity to ascertain the specific drivers of violent crime in their own areas and keep this assessment under review, so that they can develop a strategy with bespoke local solutions.
Amendments 33 and 41, concerning the publication of strategies, were tabled by my noble friend Lord Blencathra in light of the recommendations from the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, which he chairs. First, I was very pleased to know that the Home Office was not the worst culprit of all departments. I also assure my noble friend that it is our intention for all strategies to be published. Regulations to be made under Clauses 7(9) and 8(9) will include further detail on matters concerning the publication and dissemination of local strategies, such as the date by which the first strategies must be published and the method of their publication. We intend to consult on the content of such regulations before they are made.
Given that the core requirement to prepare, review and implement serious violence strategies has been set out in the Bill, I can see that there is a case for the Bill itself to also stipulate the requirement to publish. I will consider the Delegated Powers Committee’s arguments on this issue further, if I may, and I undertake to respond to that committee’s report ahead of the next stage of the Bill—you see what happens when someone praises the Home Office.
Finally, Amendment 53 would require the creation of a statutory national serious violence oversight board, to be appointed and chaired by the Secretary of State. I agree with my noble friend Lady Newlove that we will need to have a means of monitoring progress in relation to the serious violence duty and that this may include a role for the Government. I am not sure it is necessary to include the detail of such arrangements in the Bill. However, we intend to develop options and include detail on the approach in our statutory guidance for the duty, which will be subject to a public consultation following Royal Assent. This will afford specified authorities and those who represent them an opportunity
to contribute their views on this process, including any proposed role for central government in monitoring progress and activity in relation to the requirements of the serious violence duty, before it is established.
To be clear, we intend to provide further detail on monitoring the development and implementation of strategies, providing support to authorities where required and disseminating emerging best practice. It is also worth noting that specified authorities will already be expected to be able to self-monitor their progress through the requirement to keep their strategy under review. The draft statutory guidance, published earlier this year, advises that such reviews should be carried out annually. In carrying out these reviews, specified authorities will be expected to be able to be able to collectively evaluate the impact of the local strategy on levels of violence locally.
Police and crime commissioners and, in London, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Common Council of the City of London will also have a discretionary power to monitor the performance of the specified authorities against their shared objectives. Furthermore, community safety partnerships, which may be the chosen partnership to deliver on the duty in certain areas, already have a statutory requirement to keep the implementation of their strategies under review for the purposes of monitoring effectiveness, make any changes to such strategies where necessary or expedient and publish the outcomes of each review.
In conclusion, I reiterate my commitment to consider further the two amendments in the name of my noble friend Lord Blencathra about the publication of strategies. As for the other amendments, I hope that, in light of my explanations, I have been able to satisfy the Committee and that the noble Lord will be content to withdraw his amendment.