WIREDGOV

The APCC joint Serious Violence Leads have welcomed the announcement in the chancellors 2024 Budget this week that the very successful Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) model is set to be rolled out across England and Wales.

First announced in 2019, twenty VRUs have now been established, embedding a multi-agency public health approach to understanding the root causes of violence and bringing key organisations together at a local level to develop a coordinated and strategic response to drive down violence.

APCC Serious Violence Leads, Cleveland PCC Steve Turner and West Midlands PCC Simon Foster, recently said:

"As Serious Violence Leads we have long been advocates of the vital work done by Violence Reduction Units to tackle violent crime and are in full support of the plan to roll them out nationally.  Partnership working and preventative activity lie at the core of the PCC role and a wider rollout of VRUs will greatly enhance local capability to divert young people away from serious crime and build our understanding of serious violence at a national level.

“In light of this announcement we would like to firmly reiterate the importance of adequate multi-year funding in order to implement long-term, sustainable solutions to tackle serious violence. We look forward to a national and joined-up effort to integrate established systems and learnings from existing VRUs in the implementation of the new units across England and Wales."