Guidance

Serious Violence Duty: strategic needs assessment guidance

Published 28 May 2021

Applies to England

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose of this guidance

The forthcoming Serious Violence Duty in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021 will include a requirement for local partnerships to complete a strategic needs assessment (SNA) to understand how violence is affecting their communities and to help them develop a response strategy.

This guidance provides information and practical steps on how to carry out an SNA for serious violence and it should be read alongside the Serious Violence Duty: draft guidance.

1.2 The Serious Violence Duty

In April 2018, the government published its Serious Violence Strategy in response to increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide across England. The strategy called for local partners to work together across different sectors including the police, local authorities, health services and the voluntary sector to adopt a multi-agency approach to reduce serious violence in their area.

The government announced in December 2019 that it would to bring forward legislation to create a new Serious Violence Duty. This followed a consultation on the new legal duty. Section 6(1) of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which sets out the strategies that responsible authorities must formulate and implement, will also be amended to explicitly include serious violence.

The Serious Violence Duty is expected to come into effect in 2022 to 2023. The exact date is dependent on the Parliamentary timetable.

There is more information about the Serious Violence Duty in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021: serious violence duty factsheet.

1.3 Requirements of the Serious Violence Duty

The responsible authorities (also known as ‘duty holders’) in the Serious Violence Duty will be:

• the police
• fire and rescue authorities
• justice organisations (youth offending teams and probation services)
• health bodies (clinical commissioning groups)
• local authorities

Local areas will be given the flexibility to determine the geographical extent of their partnership and encouraged to use existing multi-agency partnerships where possible.

Educational institutions, prisons and youth custodial institutions will be under a separate duty to co-operate with duty holders, but they can choose to collaborate voluntarily with the Serious Violence Duty.

Representatives of duty holder authorities will be required to work together to:

• undertake an evidence-based analysis of the causes of serious violence in their area
• develop a strategic needs assessment based on the analysis
• develop and implement a strategy with solutions to prevent and reduce serious violence in their area, which will need to be reviewed every year

The duty will create the conditions for responsible authorities to collaborate and communicate regularly, share information and take effective coordinated action in their local areas. All organisations and agencies subject to the duty will be accountable for their activity and cooperation with each other.

1.4 A public health approach

A multi-agency or partnership approach to local health issues is often called a ‘public health approach’. However, there are 6 guiding principles of public health which use a broader set of skills than just partnership working.

The underlying principles of a public health approach are that it is:

• focused on a defined population, often with a particular health risk in common
• done with and for communities
• not constrained by organisational or professional boundaries
• focused on developing long term as well as short term solutions
• based on data and intelligence to identify the burden on the population, including any inequalities
• rooted in evidence of effectiveness to tackle the problem

The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a 4-step process for implementing a public health approach to violence. These are the 4 steps, as described on the WHO’s Violence Prevention Alliance website.

1. Define the problem by systematically collecting information about the size, scope, characteristics and consequences of violence.
2. Use research to determine the causes of violence, the factors that increase or decrease the risk of violence, and the factors that could be changed through interventions.
3. Find out what works to prevent violence by designing, implementing and evaluating interventions.
4. Implement effective interventions in a wide range of settings, monitor the effects of these interventions on risk factors and the target outcome, and evaluate their impact and cost-effectiveness.

This guidance should be used with the Preventing serious violence: a multi-agency approach resource which provides extensive background information about violence as a public health issue, definitions, risk and protective factors for violence and what is meant by a public health approach.

2. Strategic needs assessments

An SNA is a process where local partner organisations work together to assess the current and future health, care and wellbeing needs of a defined population. This assessment then informs decision making and helps partners agree on priorities and allocate resources.

A serious violence SNA has a specific focus on violence-related needs within a local area. It helps local partners to identify people and groups who are most vulnerable to being or becoming victims or perpetrators of violence. It also increases understanding of the types, distribution and extent of violence in the local area.

The SNA’s findings are used by local partners to collectively form a strategy containing specific recommendations for action.

The Home Office’s interim Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) guidance points out that partnerships will need to share data and intelligence to collaborate effectively. This will mainly mean sharing anonymised aggregated data to inform the response to serious violence in the VRU area.

3. Local partners involved in SNAs

The SNA process will involve a wide range of partners and stakeholders in local health, care, education, employment and justice systems, including the voluntary sector and the local community. These include:

• police and crime commissioners
• senior police officers and police services
• local authorities: chief executives, director of public health, director of children’s services, strategic lead for education, strategic lead for housing, health and wellbeing boards
• existing partnerships and collaborative bodies including community safety partnerships and youth offending teams
• local safeguarding children boards
• local academy head teachers and education networks
• other, non-mandated local multiagency partnerships, such as community multiagency risk assessment conference
• clinical commissioning groups
• NHS England health and justice commissioners
• Public Health England (PHE) centres
• voluntary sector services, including service user and family representatives
• children and young people’s secure estate
• youth offending institute governors
• secure training centre directors
• secure children’s home managers
• youth services

This list includes authorities and organisations that are not subject to the serious violence duty but whose knowledge and intelligence will be an integral part of forming a picture of how violence affects a local area.

4. Framework for doing a strategic needs assessment

The Preventing serious violence: a multi-agency approach resource outlines principles for preventing serious violence, known as the ‘5Cs’, which are:

• collaboration
• co-production
• cooperation in data and intelligence sharing
• counter-narrative
• community consensus

This guidance uses these principles as a framework for advice on how to develop an SNA and the corresponding strategy and delivery plan.

4.1 Collaboration

Local areas should establish a partnership board to oversee the work to complete the SNA and implement its recommendations.

The partnership board should agree on the governance arrangements for the SNA and the corresponding strategy and delivery plan, making sure it is linked in with existing statutory boards.

Important steps and considerations

The Serious Violence Duty enables local areas to determine how they will work together and use existing structures and strategic partnerships to fulfil their responsibilities.

It’s possible that not all relevant agencies are represented through those existing partnerships. So, consider the partners listed in section 3 to make sure there is enough expertise to complete the SNA.

Make sure there is an appropriate person on the partnership board to work on the SNA from each organisation. Refer to the Serious Violence Duty draft guidance for suggestions about appropriate representation.

The SNA partnership should understand and confirm the governance structure for the SNA from the outset. Local areas should establish a permanent oversight group with clear terms of reference responsible for ongoing SNA production and review. This group should meet every 6 to 12 months.

4.2 Co-production

The partnership board should agree on a definition of serious violence, and the geographical area that the SNA will cover.

Recommendations from the SNA should be informed by the multi-agency perspectives of all partners. The recommendations should include a broad range of activities, including:

• public protection
• identifying and supporting vulnerable people
• building personal and community resilience
• achieving a healthy and peaceful community
• prevention and early intervention

Important steps and considerations

The Serious Violence Duty: draft guidance definition of serious violence is the same as the definition used in the government’s Serious Violence Strategy, but with concern about specific types of crime like:

• homicide
• knife crime
• gun crime
• county lines drug dealing

However, local areas can use evidence from their SNA to define their scope of serious violence.

The Serious Violence Duty allows local areas to determine the geographical extent of their collaboration (subject to the minimum specified area).

PHE recognises that serious violence extends to other forms of serious assault and that a significant proportion of violence is linked to either domestic abuse or alcohol. We would encourage partnerships to consider a broader range of violence.

Violence is preventable, not inevitable. Interventions (especially those in early childhood) can stop people from developing a propensity for violence, and improve educational outcomes, employment prospects and long-term health outcomes.

Preventing violence and its root causes can improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities and have wider positive implications for the economy and society. Violence is a major cause of ill health and poor wellbeing and is strongly related to inequalities.

Partnerships should use this guidance with PHE’s Health Equity Assessment Tool (HEAT) if they want to address wider determinants of health.

4.3 Cooperation in data and intelligence sharing

The SNA should incorporate a range of national and local data sources (see section 6).

The partnership should work together to understand what data is available and what its use is, including data available from the voluntary sector.

Partnerships must agree on appropriate data-sharing protocols, which protect personal information but enable population level and aggregate data to be gathered across agencies.

Through a collaborative approach, partners can overcome many of the barriers to effective data and information sharing. They can create a Common Recognised Information Picture (CRIP) that they can use to prepare effective interventions. A CRIP is a strategic overview of a problem that’s developed using a standard template and is intended for briefing to support decision making.

Important steps and considerations

Fully anonymised data, including health data, is not regarded as personal data. Collecting, using and storing anonymised data does not come under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

An example of local data sharing agreements is available in Appendix 2 of the Preventing serious violence: a multi-agency approach resource.

Partnerships should consider the quality of the data and any limitations it has when drawing conclusions and making recommendations based on the information. For example, they can ask themselves:

• how, when and why the data was collected
• if it represents a sample or a population
• if it’s sufficient to answer the question
• if the effects of chance been accounted for and if it includes confidence intervals
• if it has been adjusted or standardised to account for confounding factors

Consider how the data will be presented. Will you use graphs, maps or other interactive technology?

Consider comparing the data with other areas by using benchmarking or standardisation methods to analyse the information.

PHE produces technical guidance on standard methods of data analysis commonly used in public health, which can be found on the Fingertips website.

4.4 Counter-narrative

When mapping existing services and community assets, partnerships should make sure they include activities and interventions that support positive aspirations and promote positive role models.

Through the strategy developed from the SNA, partnerships should commit to creating environments that nurture the protective factors that we know can help prevent violence, for example by preventing school exclusion and creating job opportunities.

The strategy should also create opportunities for personal development and alternatives to criminal activities for young people in their communities, such as activities outside of school.

4.5 Community consensus approach

Communities must be involved throughout the entire SNA process and in developing the response strategy. This will ensure the right data is analysed and the recommendations are based on a community consensus approach. Where possible, existing community organisations should be involved in this process. This is particularly true for capturing insights from children and young adults.

PHE has published the following evidence-based resources on community-centred approaches.

Community-centred public health: taking a whole system approach includes resources to enable local systems to implement and embed community-centred approaches to health and wellbeing at scale.

Health and wellbeing: a guide to community-centred approaches outlines evidence-based community-centred approaches to health and wellbeing.

Health inequalities: place-based approaches to reduce inequalities supports local action on health inequalities.

5. Component parts of a strategic needs assessment

This section details the parts of an SNA and why they are needed.

The SNA does not need to be arranged in the following order and the partnership can agree on the best structure and format for their local area. However, the partnership should consider each part to ensure they have a comprehensive understanding of violence in their area.

5.1 Description of place and population

To assess the current and future health, care and wellbeing needs about violence in a local area, an SNA must first describe the social, demographic and economic characteristics of the population in the area.

It is important to consider the breadth of characteristics that may affect the local population’s physical, social and mental wellbeing, including:

• sex
• age
• ethnicity
• education
• employment
• poverty
• rural or urban residence

The SNA should also include a description of the composition of local government, health and social care services, criminal justice system and governance arrangements within the local system.

5.2 Risk and protective factors

The WHO’s ecological framework for violence prevention considers violence as an outcome of an interaction between many risk factors which can come from 4 levels: individuals, their families, communities or society.

Similarly, at each of these levels, there are protective factors that prevent victimisation or perpetration of violence. Understanding these risk and protective factors in the local area can help to identify opportunities for prevention and early intervention at each level.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on risk and protective factors of youth violence.

Also, the Early Intervention Foundation’s report on preventing gang and youth violence reviews the risk and protective factors practitioners working with children and young adults should look out for when assessing the likelihood of young people becoming involved in youth violence and gangs.

5.3 Violence profile

A violence profile collects local data (including NHS and police data) to present the types, distribution and extent of violence in a local area. It provides the multi-agency partnership with important information to inform local initiatives. It helps to identify contexts, hotspots and population groups where interventions could be targeted.

5.4 Community voice

Community engagement provides more insight into the complex and interconnected risk and protective factors for violence.

For the SNA and the strategy to benefit the local area, the partnership must understand the community’s perception of the causes of violence and the effect it has on the area.

Partnerships should also consider the community’s views about what should be done locally to tackle violence, including what they think will help to prevent violence and what might make efforts to tackle violence difficult.

5.5 Evidence reviews and resources

Partnerships need to understand what might work in their community to prevent violence. This should be based on the existing evidence for effective interventions.

The localised nature of many interventions means that it’s difficult to predict their impact on a community. However, particular elements of interventions have been shown to be consistently useful across a range of settings.

Several high-quality reviews have already been done on this topic and provide valuable information. You can find some of these reviews and other resources below.

The Early Intervention Foundation’s report ‘Adverse childhood experiences: what we know, what we don’t know, and what should happen next’.

The Behavioural Insights Team’s report ‘Violence in London: what we know and how to respond’.

The Local Government Association’s ‘Public health approaches to reducing violence’.

The UK government’s ‘Serious Violence Strategy’.

Kovalenko and others’ study on ‘What works in violence prevention among young people?: a systematic review of reviews’.

The WHO’s ‘Violence Info website’ hosts a global evidence database of violence studies.

The College of Policing’s ‘Crime Reduction Toolkit’ rates the best available evidence on reducing crime.

5.6 Mapping existing services

Before a partnership can come up with evidence-based recommendations about how to address the needs identified through the SNA, they will have to understand the full range of services already commissioned. To do this, they should list all the existing services and also consider:

• what’s missing
• whether the right services are available in the right locations
• what should be continued or expanded in the future
• what should not be continued, creating opportunities for resources to be used elsewhere

A place-based multi-agency approach to violence prevention has community consensus at its heart and the approach should be with and for local communities. When mapping existing services, a partnership needs to use a community-centred approach to recognise all the strengths and resources – natural, human, educational, economic, environmental – available to a community.

6. Using data to inform the strategic needs assessment

The level of detail a partnership can go into will vary by area depending on the data available. There is enough publicly available data for every partnership to start to understand violence and how it affects their communities. However, additional data obtained through partnership working and community and third sector engagement will give them a better understanding of the causes and impacts of violence.

To help local areas get started with their SNA, this section outlines the data that partnerships should consider.

6.1 Place and population data

Public Health Profiles (PHE Fingertips) are publicly available and provide a rich source of data across a range of health and wellbeing themes. The tool allows you to browse indicators at different geographical levels, benchmark against the regional or England average and export data to use locally.

Strategic Health Asset Planning and Evaluation (SHAPE) is an evidence-based application that informs and supports the strategic planning of services and assets. SHAPE links national data sets, clinical analysis, public health, primary care and demographic data with information on healthcare estates performance and facilities location.

Access to SHAPE is restricted to NHS, local authority and PHE professionals with a role in public health or social care, but someone in your multi-agency partnership should have access.

6.2 Risk and protective factors

PHE has brought together nationally available datasets on risk and protective factors and outcomes into one place. You can access indicators on risk factors and indicators on protective factors on the PHE Fingertips website.

You can get more detailed data on risk and protective factors at a local level from the following partner organisations with appropriate data sharing agreements.

Clinical commissioning groups hold data on children’s safeguarding referrals and mental health services provision and use.

Local authorities hold data on:

• the Family Nurse Partnership
• the Troubled Families Programme
• drug and alcohol treatment services
• some school data including numbers of children being home educated
• sexual health services
• school nurses
• adult safeguarding
• youth offending teams

6.3 Violence profile

The Office for National Statistics’ latest report on ‘The nature of violent crime in England and Wales’ has a set of data tables that you can download and use. This dataset includes violent crime numbers, prevalence and location using annual data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, Home Office Data Hub, and police recorded crime. Data is only available at a national level.

Open access police and crime data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland is publicly available. This dataset includes information about street-level crime, outcome, stop and search data, police activity, arrests and 101 call handling. It provides a function to compare with other areas.

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) is available, but restricted. PHE Local Knowledge and Intelligence Services (LKIS) have access, as well as some public health teams in local authorities, or clinical commissioning groups. HES contains details of all inpatient admissions and outpatient appointments at NHS hospitals in England. Hospital admissions data (with an overnight stay of at least one night) is the best quality subset of data within HES. You can use it to understand the number of overnight stays in a hospital because of violence. Hospital admission data includes information on incidents that go unreported to the police.

The Information Sharing to Tackle Violence Minimum Dataset is collected by A&E departments via the Emergency Care Dataset but is restricted.

Access to this data currently requires data sharing agreements with community safety partnerships or VRUs and local hospital emergency departments. You can also access this data via PHE LKIS teams. This data provides information on all A&E attendances due to violence, including those which do not result in admission to hospital. Work is currently ongoing to centralise the collection and dissemination of this data.

You can get more detailed data on the violence profile at a local level from the following partner organisations with appropriate data sharing agreements.

1. Ambulance Trust: the Ambulance Data Set collects injury information (including date and time of injury) and patient demographics. This data can help to identify violence that is not being reported to the police or does not need attendance at A&E.
2. Primary care: information includes Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) services (where these are commissioned), and numbers of patients with domestic violence and abuse recorded on their electronic patient record.
3. Police: local police data can provide information about victims and perpetrators of police-recorded violent crime.
4. Case reviews: information from statutory reviews of homicides and violent incidents can help to identify trends, gaps in service provision and opportunities for the system to improve its response to violence. Due to the sensitive nature of these reviews, partnerships should discuss access to findings directly with local police and local authority colleagues.