Overview
Following a public consultation carried out in 2019, the Government announced it would bring forward legislation introducing a new Serious Violence Duty, governing a number of specified authorities. The Duty is intended to ensure relevant services work together to share information and collaborate on interventions to prevent and reduce serious crimes within their local communities.
This Duty has now been brought into law as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (Chapter 1 of Part 2). It came into force on 31 January 2023.
The authorities that are specifically required to work together to prevent and reduce serious violence are:
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police;
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justice;
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health;
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fire and rescue;
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local authorities.
These partners can agree how they want to set up their working arrangement geographically.
The Duty also requires consultation with education, prison and youth custody authorities in the preparation of the strategy.
The statutory guidance can be found on the Serious Violence Duty page published by the Home Office. The expectation is that most areas will spend the initial months after commencement of the Duty familiarising themselves with the new requirements and identifying the partnership under which the Duty will be delivered.
Partnerships will then need to prepare and deliver a strategy to prevent and reduce serious violence in their area. Strategies will need to be published by 31 January 2024.
What does this mean for education providers?
Educational authorities, including primary and secondary schools, academies, multi-academy trusts, alternative provision and further education providers, must be consulted by the specified authorities in the preparation of the strategy. The Home Office states that this is in recognition of the vital role schools and colleges play in safeguarding children and young people.
If requested by the partnership, education authorities must collaborate with other agencies in the preparation and delivery of the strategy to prevent and reduce serious violence in the area. Educational authorities may also choose to collaborate with the partnership in their geographical area, without being requested to do so.
The Duty states that a strategic education representative(s) or representative education group for the local area should be chosen by the partnership. Their role is to provide a link between the specified responsible authorities and individual institutions. More specifically, the role entails:
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representing the voice of education providers in discussions on serious violence locally; and
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assisting the partnership to better understand the education risk factors and vulnerabilities experienced by children and young people.
The partnership and the strategic education representative(s) or representative group should:
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use existing safeguarding structures or other approaches to consult with the wider group of schools and education providers to gain qualitative insight into the impact of serious violence on the education sector more broadly; and
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collectively agree the ways in which the education sector can support the implementation of the strategy to address the local factors that put a child or young person at risk of being either a victim or perpetrator of serious violence or both.
Individual education providers must be consulted by the specified authorities and the strategic education representative(s) or representative group in the preparation of the local strategy. As responsible authorities, they should:
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provide data, as required by existing statutory duties to local authorities. This data will feed into the evidence-based analysis of the risk profile of young people and the causes of serious youth violence for the local serious violence strategy.
Examples of this data include data on school provision, exclusions and persistent absence. Personal, non-anonymised data about a specific child held by schools should only be shared for the purposes of keeping children safe and promoting their welfare. More detail on data sharing in the context of safeguarding can be found in the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance and corresponding Information sharing: advice for safeguarding practitioners;
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engage with the partnership via the strategic education representative(s) or representative group to provide qualitative insight into the impact of serious violence on the education sector;
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engage with the partnership via the strategic education representative(s) to provide insight into the risk factors and vulnerabilities experienced by children and young people in the local area;
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support the development and implementation of the strategy to address the local factors that put a child at risk of being a victim or perpetrator of serious violence; and
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where required, deliver actions at an individual institution level that are specified in the strategy which have been agreed by the partnership in collaboration with the strategic education representative(s) and wider consultation.
Educational authorities may also be required under the Duty to carry out actions specified in a strategy which have been widely consulted on and agreed in collaboration with the strategic education representative(s) or representative group. However, those duties do not apply if the actions:
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are incompatible with any other statutory duties;
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would have an adverse effect on the exercise of the education authority’s functions;
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are disproportionate to the need to prevent and reduce serious violence locally; and
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would mean that the education authority incurred unreasonable costs.
There is a section of the Serious Violence Duty guidance which sets out the detail for education providers.
Delivery in Wales
While crime and justice are not devolved to Wales, key services that help to prevent crime such as health, social care and education are. This changes the legislative context that Welsh crime and justice takes place within.
Specific guidance has been developed for authorities operating in Wales, which reflects the Welsh legislative, policy and operational context. Members in Wales should read this NASUWT briefing which specifically explores the Serious Violence Duty in Wales.
Other notable points
How can education providers get involved?
If an education provider has concerns about serious violence and the impact on the pupils within their setting, they can proactively become involved in developing the local serious violence strategy. Schools are advised to contact the Multi-agency Children’s Safeguarding Partnership or the Community Safety Partnership in their local area.
Some education providers may be contacted by their local authority for consultation or to be a part of a representative education group. The Home Office is encouraging providers to share their views on the role schools and colleges can play in prevention and safeguarding to reduce the number of young people at risk of youth violence in their local area. If you are an area with a SAFE taskforce, the work done as part of that programme will be invaluable in informing the role that education can play in the Serious Violence Duty.
Will there be funding or other support available to education providers?
The local policing body in an area, such as Police and Crime Commissioners and their equivalents, will be awarded grant funding to cover costs incurred through the delivery of the Duty.
The Home Office has written to local policing bodies confirming their revised allocation amounts for 2022/23 as well as sharing indicative amounts for 2023/24 and 2024/25, and they have asked that they share these with the specified and relevant authorities in their area.
The Home Office will invite local policing bodies to apply for funding following the publication of the Government’s response to the consultation on the draft statutory guidance and the final version of the statutory guidance. Specified authorities will not be required to feed into this application. However, the local policing body may wish to engage the specified authorities ahead of commencement if they wish.
The Home Office has awarded a contract to Crest Advisory to deliver the national implementation support offer. Crest will work with and offer support to the 43 local policing body areas in England and Wales to ensure each area has suitable partnership arrangements and plans in place to deliver the Duty. They will also offer tailored support to local areas in delivering the Duty itself in terms of development of each area’s local Strategic Needs Assessment and local strategy.
Next steps
The NASUWT will monitor developments of the Serious Violence Duty and the impact it has on schools and education providers. We will update members on any new information or changes.
NASUWT members should contact the Union if they have particular concerns about the Serious Violence Duty. This includes any requests made to schools and colleges as part of the Duty, which they feel should not apply in line with the mitigations set out in the guidance and shared in this briefing.