In April 2022, the Government announced that 20 police force areas would receive funding to support Violence Reduction Units (VRU’s.)
The Government confirmed that the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland would get a budget of £3.5m.
The budget is for the next three years to establish a Cleveland’s Unit for the Reduction of Violence (known as CURV.)
A range of complementary partnership actions will support the work of CURV.
There will be £1.4m of investment in ‘Grip’ activity to support the police to take additional enforcement activity.
Activity will take place in specific hotspot locations most affected by serious violence.
Serious Violence Duty
In addition to CURV, the Government introduced the Serious Violence Duty.
the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act 2022 introduced the duty.
The legislation places a duty on specific organisations such as the police, the fire service, justice partners, health and local authorities. They must collaborate to prevent and tackle serious violence in their area.
The Duty intends to create the right conditions for authorities to collaborate and communicate regularly. It uses existing partnerships, where possible, to share information and take effective coordinated action locally.
Under the Duty, all statutory partners must work together to develop a strategic needs assessment (SNA.)
The SNA looks at the unique causes of violence in the area and publishes a strategy on how partners will tackle them.
CURV’s core membership, which exceeds that of the specified authorities, recognises the benefits of using CURV’s governance arrangements.
These arrangements can be used as the mechanism through which specified authorities can deliver their statutory obligations under the Serious Violence Duty.
The funding allocated to Cleveland in 2022/23 for the Serious Violence Duty funding was £29,409.93.
The CURV Governance Group agreed, through the specified authorities in their capacity as core members, that this amount would be divided into:
- £17,242.66 – Labour costs, allocated towards analytical spend
- £12,167.27 – Non-labour costs, allocated towards equipment spend (DRF 2022/23-0037 relates)
Night-Time Economy
Members further agreed to use labour costs to commission Crest Advisory to complete a Night-Time Economy (NTE) ‘Problem Profile’.
Research and analysis from the final report will be used to understand the key issues regarding serious violence and the NTE.
This will aid CURV and the wider partnership in commissioning and evaluating any services and interventions.
Work will include a common definition to ensure all stakeholders have a shared understanding of the issue.
This will include the potential positive impacts of improving perceptions of the NTE as well as supporting a consistent approach across Cleveland.
The CURV 2023-2024 budget will supplement the 2022-23 serious violence fund budget.
It will fund full research, which will be delivered in quarter one of the 2023-2024 financial year.
This is in order to maximise the value and impact of the research. It is also in recognition of its alignment with CURV’s strategic priorities,
At a local level, preventing, reducing, and tackling serious violence is a key priority in the PCC’s Police and Crime Plan.
Decision 22/23 – 0040: Serious Violence Duty Night Time Economy Research (application, 175kB)