To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether all Violence Reduction Units have complete interoperability of data.

Over two financial years the Home Office has invested a total of £70m into the development of 18 Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in the areas worst affected by serious violence. VRUs bring together local partners to identify the drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them, including sharing data to strengthen their understanding. On the 8 February the Home Office announced a further £35.5m investment into VRUs for 21/22.

Our independent evaluation found that in their first year of delivery (19/20) VRUs have made positive progress in embedding a local multi-agency approach including their use and access to data. You can read more of their first year of progress here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/910822/process-evaluation-of-the-violence-reduction-units-horr116.pdf?mc_cid=ec12552fcc&mc_eid=25c35f94a1

Over the past year VRUs have made further progress in gaining access to partners’ data, establishing Memoranda of Understanding and improving the quality of the data collected. We are working closely with VRUs to support further data sharing and have established a VRU data sharing and analysis network to further share best practice.