Serious Violence Reduction Strategy launched in South Yorkshire

The Serious Violence Duty (SVD) which came into effect last year places an obligation on Specified Authorities in each of the 43 police force areas across England and Wales to cooperate to tackle serious violence.

The Specified Authorities are:

South Yorkshire Police

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

Youth Offending Service

Probation Service

Integrated Care Board

Sheffield City Council

The City of Doncaster Council

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

The Strategy for South Yorkshire has been developed in partnership between these authorities, and sets out the approach to address serious violence over three years.

This builds on work already taking place in South Yorkshire, which since 2019 has had its own Home Office-funded Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), working with partners and community groups to prevent and reduce violence across the county.

Work on the SVRS has been coordinated by the VRU/SVD Executive Board, chaired by South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings.

You can read the Strategy here https://southyorkshireviolencereductionunit.com/serious-violence-duty/.

Dr Billings said: “Serious violence is an important issue, affecting not just victims, perpetrators, and families, but whole communities.

“Any initiatives and funding to tackle this issue must be welcomed, as doing so will make our communities and residents safer.

“I welcome the publication of South Yorkshire’s Serious Violence Reduction Strategy, which has been developed as a collaborative effort over the last twelve months.

“As an area with an existing VRU, the Serious Violence Duty represents an opportunity to strengthen existing work in this area, and build on the work done with partners and community groups over the last four years.”