£1.8m to tackle and prevent serious violence in Thames Valley

Yahoo

27-07-2025

A total of £1.8 million will go towards tackling serious violence in the Thames Valley.
The funding, from the Home Office, has been awarded by police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber to support a range of programmes.
Mr Barber said: "There is no single solution to preventing serious violence.
"Its impact on individuals and communities can be devastating and we continue to work collaboratively as part of the Violence Prevention Partnership to try to address root causes and support those most at risk.
Thames Valley police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber (Image: OPCC)
"The funding awarded to partners across the Thames Valley aims to deliver against our shared goal to reduce violence in our communities and stop our young people being drawn into offending.
"Funding will extend the delivery of some existing projects as well as test new approaches.
"I am pleased that the majority of councils have accepted funding to implement new focused diversion activity for young people in their areas, the output and learning from which will be shared across the Thames Valley to help inform future activity."
The funding, which combines the Serious Violence Duty Grant and the Violence Reduction Unit Grant, will be managed by the police and crime commissioner and distributed to partner organisations across the region.
A total of £500,000 will support focused diversion activities aimed at helping young people at risk of becoming involved in serious violence.
This funding has been offered to all upper-tier councils in the Thames Valley, with five out of nine accepting the grant.
Each of the participating councils will receive £100,000 to deliver the programme.
The five councils are Slough Borough Council, Bracknell Forest Council, Wokingham Borough Council, West Berkshire Council, and Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
Operation Deter, a youth-focused scheme delivered by Youth Justice Services, will receive £210,000 to continue operations until March 2026.
The programme works within police custody suites to increase engagement with youth justice services, aiming to disrupt cycles of offending and improve safeguarding for vulnerable children.
Thames Valley Police will also receive £225,000 to run a focused deterrence programme through harm reduction units.
This scheme targets high-risk, habitual knife carriers and employs a range of interventions to encourage behavioural change.
All nine upper-tier councils will each receive £42,000 to strengthen their capacity for coordinating serious violence prevention efforts in line with the Serious Violence Duty.
Around £200,000 will support additional activities through the Violence Prevention Partnership, including training for young people, parents, and professionals, as well as community sports projects delivered in partnership with StreetGames UK.
The remaining funds will be used to improve information sharing among partners and to evaluate the effectiveness of the funded programmes.