Bedfordshire receives £3.5m funding boost to tackle knife crime and child exploitation
It's the longest funding settlement yet for the county’s Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit (VERU).
Bedfordshire’s dedicated partnership unit to tackle knife crime and the exploitation of children has been funded for the next three years with more than £3.5 million.
It marks the longest funding settlement yet for the county’s Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit (VERU), which had been awarded year-on-year funding for its three years of operation so far.
In a further boost for efforts to tackle violent crime in Bedfordshire, local police have also been awarded £521,000 of government funding next year to run targeted patrols in areas with the highest levels of violent incidents in the county.
Established in 2019 with the support of Bedfordshire’s Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), the VERU is one of 20 violence reduction units (VRUs) across the country, but the only one to place an explicit focus on exploitation in its title.
The VERU aims to bring together partners across the county to tackle and prevent serious youth violence, criminal and sexual exploitation amongst vulnerable children and young people.
An independent evaluation of the VERU published last year found people affected by violence and exploitation who had worked with the unit said the service had had a significant impact on improving the support networks around them and their families, by coordinating an effective multi-agency response for those in need.
The VERU’s trauma informed and person centred approach, as well as putting experts by experience at the frontline of its delivery model, were also highlighted by the independent evaluators.
The views of all stakeholders interviewed for the report were described as “uniformly positive”.
Festus Akinbusoye, Bedfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said: "Today's announcement is the culmination of intense lobbying of the government for a longer term, multi-year funding of Bedfordshire's Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit (VERU).
“I am thrilled that our collective effort and the impact of the VERU team in Bedfordshire have been recognised by the Home Office with the three-year funding announcement.
“With this, we will be able to plan a longer-term, evidence led, and community focused, strategy for early intervention and diversion in Bedfordshire. The VERU's work is crucial to the safety of our young and most vulnerable residents.
“I eagerly look forward to working with our statutory partners and other organisations as part of the VERU family to tackle serious youth offending, prevent exploitation, and support our communities."