Consultation outcome

Serious Violence Reduction Orders

From:: Home Office
Published: 14 September 2020
Last updated: 9 August 2021 — See all updates

Read the full outcome

Summary of consultation responses and conclusion (accessible version)

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Summary of consultation responses and conclusion

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Summary of consultation responses and conclusion (Welsh) (accessible version)

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Summary of consultation responses and conclusion (Welsh)

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Detail of outcome

This is the government’s response to the public consultation on Serious Violence Reduction Orders.

We received 549 responses to consultation, with approximately 12% of the responses from organisations and the remainder being from individuals, including practitioners responding in their individual capacity.

The government is grateful to all those who responded and provided further input. Following detailed consideration of the responses and engagement with key stakeholders during the consultation period, the government has developed a number of proposals for Serious Violence Reduction Orders, which will be introduced as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill on the basis of a targeted pilot.

The Bill was introduced into Parliament on 9 March 2020.

Original consultation

Consultation description

Every knife crime is a tragedy, and any victim is one too many. The government is taking action on every level to cut crime and make our streets safer, but we know there is much more to do to protect the public and end the scourge of serious violence.

To save lives and prevent injury we must stop serious violence from happening in the first place. Too many people who carry knives and weapons go on to offend time and time again. Our determination to break this deadly cycle of persistent offending led to our manifesto commitment to introduce Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs).

Front line police have long told us that stop and search is a vital tool to crack down on violent crime; it acts as a deterrent and helps keep knives and weapons off our streets. These SVROs would give the police personalised powers to target those already convicted of certain knife offences – giving them the automatic right to search those who pose the greatest risk. These searches could take place without suspicion so that these known criminals could be stopped at any time.

SVROs would empower the police to stop and challenge those who are known to carry knives. They will help to keep communities safer by giving officers a tool to help tackle the most dangerous offenders. The government hopes that they will also help the police more effectively target their approach.

We are consulting on the design of SVROs and welcome views on how we can ensure these important tools are used appropriately. Anyone with an interest in this important issue is invited to contribute, including those involved in law enforcement, victims of knife crime and their families.

This consultation will help inform our next steps in the fight against serious violence and we look forward to hearing from you.

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