The Home Office (HO) enacted the new Serious Violence Duty (SVD) on the 31st of January 2023. The duty was brought onto a range of authorities, including Police, Justice, Fire & Rescue, Health and Local Authorities (LAs). The duty is for these services working together to share information, allowing for targeted interventions, where possible through existing partnership structures, to collaborate and plan to prevent and reduce serious violence within their local communities.
The duty holders across Suffolk came together in the Suffolk Serious Violence Partnership, which has worked together and has met regularly since mid-2022.
The partnership commissioned the Suffolk Office of Data & Analytics (SODA) to produce the Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA) for the Suffolk System, which was used to develop the Suffolk Strategy.
The SODA SVD SNA provided an overview of the risk and protective factors around serious violence, set in the context of Suffolk, established the current picture of serious violence in Suffolk, profiled who is at risk of serious violence, and provided case studies on what works in preventing/reducing SV.
SODA is continuing to support the Suffolk SV Partnership by updating the evidence base around risk and protective factors as well as the latest picture of prevalence of SV Crime across the county.
You can find all of SODA’s outputs by clicking on ‘Strategic Needs Assessment’ in the above menu.
Useful information
Home Office papers relating to SVD:
Serious Violence Strategy (2018)
Serious Violence Duty: strategic needs assessment guidance (2021)
Serious Violence Duty Preventing and reducing serious violence Statutory Guidance for responsible authorities (2022)
The evidence base in detail – understanding SV and it’s risk factors, prevention and best practice:
Protecting people Promoting health – A public health approach to violence prevention for England (2012)
Preventing gang and youth violence: A review of risk and protective factors (2015)
Public health approaches to reducing violence (2018)
Realising the potential of early intervention (2018)
A whole-system multi-agency approach to serious violence prevention – a resource for local system leaders in England (2019)
Good practice in youth violence prevention: A mapping and horizon scanning review (2020)
The experiences of black and mixed heritage boys in the youth justice system (2021)
Leading research, driving change– serious violence youth insights and solutions (2022)
Serious Youth Violence and First Time Entrants to the YJS in Newcastle-Upon- Tyne (2022)
Children, violence and vulnerability – A Youth Endowment Fund report into young people’s experiences of violence (2022)
Care not criminalisation: young people’s experiences of serious youth violence (2023)
County Lines Pathfinder Overview and Emerging Youth Justice Practice in Preventing, Identifying and Disrupting County Lines Exploitation (updated March 2023)