House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Concluding the debate, Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins says she agrees that "we cannot arrest our way out of this".

She adds that she hopes the youth violence grant will be able to "enforce change and tackle the issue of youth violence at an earlier stage".

"The UK is not alone in seeing an increase in serious violent crime," Ms Atkins says, noting that the government is working with other countries to form prevention plans.

She says ministers are determined to see youth violence levels drop.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Summing up the debate, shadow policing minister Louise Haigh says there needs to be a "fast tracked pathway" for trauma counselling.

She echoes Vicky Foxcroft's comments that youth violence needs to be treated as a disease, but also a disease that can be cured.

"We often talk about hard to reach young people - I would suggest it is our services that are hard to reach. We are setting young people up to fail."

"No society can keep its cohesion or its humanity...if it becomes complacent about young people dying on our streets", she says.

"It must be negotiated from the very top, as part of a national mission."

The challenge of youth violence is "truly frightening", she adds, but with the right resources, the right leadership and the political will it can be dealt with.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Lord Sawyer says it is a "growing social phenomenon" for young people to have to work in multiple jobs as they cannot get enough hours.

There is a lack of full time and better paid work, he says.

Most young people are underemployed in their current jobs, he states. He says he knows of a case of one young person who works five jobs in order to sustain his young family life.

Young people also cannot afford rents and mortgages, he adds, and the rise of casual work is "reducing" the opportunities of young people.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

SNP MP Chris Stephens says Scotland has demonstrated that a public health model works in tackling knife crime.

Work needs to be done to "raise young people's hopes", he says, with intervention vital.

"Violence has environmental causes that have to be tackled", he says - adding young people living in households where they witness violence are more likely to be violent themselves.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Conservative peer and university lecturer Lord Norton of Louth says "a real danger is a sense of detachment from our political system".

If young people can feel as though they can influence politics, then the UK will have a more "active citizenry", he states.

"Society benefits from civic participation," he says, so it is a "public good" to educate young people in politics.

He says the teaching of citizenship in schools needs to be "taken seriously".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour MP Ellie Reeves says she has been "heartened" by how communities have come together after incidents of serious youth violence.

She says the rise in youth violence can be linked to "the devastating cuts to our public services since 2010", but that youth violence isn't explicitly linked just to cuts in the numbers of police officers, but also "poverty and lack of opportunities".

Ms Reeves says the government spends less than 1% of the NHS budget on children's mental health, which is not helping "those vulnerable to crime networks".

"Greater investment in prevention services is greatly needed to prevent young people from turning to crime, what is needed is funding and the political will", she concludes.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Another London Labour MP, Chuka Umunna, says: "this is not just an issue of black boys killing other black boys in socially deprived neighbourhoods", it affects everyone.

Parents across London are worried about their children's safety, he says, regardless of their social background.

"We have broken that social contract with our young people", he says, and addressing this has to go to "the root causes".

He quotes a constituent who told him: "if you want to support our kids, you need to support us too because it's a daily struggle".

"When are we going to act?", he asks. "Year in year and year out we are here debating these same issues and we keep seeing blood on our streets. It's a disgrace".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour MP Stella Creasy says her Walthamstow constituency "knows what it is like to be in the grips of this disease".

"Often it is the hospitals rather than the police that know about these problems," she says, listing all the young people who have lost their lives or been victims of serious youth violence in her area.

Ms Creasy says eight years ago, it was about postcodes - and "kids wore their membership as a badge of pride to put fear in others".

That has now changed due to a lack of resources and the rise in drug culture, she adds.

"This disease is gripping us and it's frightening," Ms Creasy says, asking Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins "to give our communities the resources that are needed".

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Bishop of London Sarah Mullally says that young people are not "our future," but are instead "our present".

16-24 year olds experience loneliness more often and more intensely than any other age group, she says.

Youth clubs need to be a place where young people "can find their identity", she adds.

She welcomes the violence reduction unit spending by the Mayor of London, but she states that youth clubs often have to "fight amongst each other" for tight levels of funding.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour's Vicky Foxcroft suggests that if as many people had died in a football stadium or a workplace as have been killed as a result of youth violence, there would have been a public inquiry.

Violence should be treated as a disease, she says, and a public health approach should be taken as result.

She says the data collected by the government on levels of violence and related issues is seriously lacking, adding: "we should be holding this data as a minimum to ensure that the government can successfully deliver on its public health approach".

There is a will for change among young people, she says.

"Lets make sure that we as politicians don't let them down."

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Lib Dem Home Affairs Spokesperson Sir Ed Davey says "this is a serious and pressing issue."

Mr Davey says the fact this is "a crisis" means a "faster response is needed". There has been "a failure to see this for what it really is".

It is estimated that it costs over £1m for every homicide investigation and prosecution, he says, "this is a huge loss of money and resources which could be avoided if we focus more on prevention."

He calls for more support for local initiatives that help families who have lost loved ones to knife crime, and for more Police Community Support Officers on the ground.

"It's about giving our young people the support and guidance they need," he says.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Lord Adonis says that there is a "crisis" in schools in terms of permanent exclusions.

Permanent exclusions have increased in each of the last five years, he states.

He says that this leads to an adult life which is more likely to lead to imprisonment and problems with the police.

He says this is a "social crisis which is truly alarming," and the matter needs "really intensive and urgent examination".

"There is not equality of opportunity at the moment," he says, between those going to university and those going to apprenticeships.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour MP Colleen Fletcher says social conditions lie at the route of youth violence, with cuts to local services exacerbating poverty.

She says it's no coincidence that areas with high deprivation have high rates of knife crime.

In her Coventry constituency she says police, schools, health professionals and charities have all worked together to tackle youth violence, including rolling out youth workers to local A&E departments, intervening at "teachable moments".

She says this isn't enough however, and the responsibility of central government is to "properly fund" a national programme that takes a public health approach to tackling youth violence.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Former health secretary and Conservative peer Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone says that "so many people are obsessed with social media".

She accuses social media of showing friends having a "deliriously happy" time while the user sits at home alone.

Youth unemployment is low in comparison to Europe, she says, while adding that any job, even zero hours, allows young people to contribute to society.

The government has been "relentless in their attacks on inadequate schools" she says.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top opens the next debate in the Lords, on the challenges facing young people.

She says she is pleased that there are "fewer teenage pregnancies than ever before".

"However, there are significant challenges for young people today," she says, adding that "young people's happiness and confidence is at their lowest since they started to measure it".

Young people no longer feel in control of their lives, she states.

"There are additional problems on young people," she says, from "academic pressure," to "social media".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative MP Huw Merriman says that the censorship of "violent" drill music should be looked at as a way to prevent a rise in crime.

Mr Merriman says that streaming services such as YouTube should have a responsibility to take harmful videos down, and calls DJ Tim Westwood "a disgrace".

He adds that he supports the investment in a youth violence model, but it needs to be followed up and the strategy reviewed in future years.

Mr Merriman says more needs to be done about the accessibility of knives on displays in supermarkets, and to ensure the quick detention of individuals carrying knives on the streets.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

International Development Minister Lord Bates says his first job in government was when he was a parliamentary aide to then disabilities minister Nicholas Scott.

He says that the civil service is now "very much focused" on service for people.

He adds that governments around the world "must now work together" in order to achieve a vision of the world where all disabled people can be included.

People with disabilities must be allowed access to economic opportunities, he states.

The government is also committing to help with mental health, which is an area which has been ignored by the international community "for too long", he says.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Shadow international development minister Lord Collins of Highbury says raising awareness of older people with disabilities "requires data" and asks the government how they are working with UN statistics on this.

He says faith groups and trade unions have "an important role" in trying to help injured and disabled people back into work after catastrophic events.

"DfID needs to set out clearly how it will implement the strategy long term" and how it will measure the success of programmes, he states.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

SNP MP Stuart C McDonald says in Scotland, policy to tackle youth violence has moved strongly towards intervention and to understanding and supporting young people.

He adds that these strategies have "improved young people's life chances" and increased employment choices available to them.

The key is taking a public health approach, Mr McDonald says, "which is a solid and effective method", and to ensure that young people feel part of a community.

He encourages the UK government to follow a similar course.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott says the government seems to be in denial about the root causes of the "serious problem" of youth violence.

She says the loss of 20,000 police officers does not "link directly" to rising crime, but has left forces "too overstretched" to deal with a rise in violence.

However she cautions against trying to "arrest ourselves out of this crisis", suggesting instead there should be "consistent intervention and investment".

She says the government's austerity measures have "exacerbated violent crime" and that drill music is not a "cause" of violence, but a "reflection of these young people's lives".

She backs the idea of taking a public health approach to violent crime, adding that it has worked effectively in Scotland.