Community-backed projects in 21 areas across England will each receive a share of £9.5 million to help families who are vulnerable to the devastating effects of knife crime and gang culture, Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP confirmed today (22 February 2019).

The Supporting Families Against Youth Crime fund will enable keyworkers, community groups, teachers and other professionals working with children and young people at risk, to intervene early and help stop them from becoming drawn into gang crime, serious violence and the youth justice system.

A further £300,000 will also be available for local authorities across England to train frontline staff on how to tackle childhood trauma. This follows evidence that many who are vulnerable to serious violence and youth crime have experienced childhood trauma that has affected their mental health and confidence.

Knife crime continues to be a real concern for communities across the country and this government is determined to act and keep our streets safe. These latest preventative measures form part of the government’s ongoing Serious Violence Strategy.

Communities Secretary, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP, said:

Carrying a knife should never be a rite of passage. For too long, it has been normalised behaviour for too many teenagers in our communities.

Every violent incident, every injury, every young life lost is a tragedy that has devastating consequences for all involved.

The early intervention strategies set out by the projects we are funding offer real alternatives to children and young people who may otherwise become involved in gang crime.

This new funding will help enable the voluntary and community sector to intervene earlier to help young people develop the personal resilience to withstand peer pressure and make their own positive life choices.

The areas and projects being funded have expressed both an existing need and or evidence of emerging needs and cover a range of positive interventions.

Some are heavily school focused, working with children before they make the important transition from primary to secondary school. Whilst others will work with smaller groups of young people already at high risk.

The funding will also back more in-depth work with parents, carers and professionals to help them fully understand the risk factors and the dangers of their children being exposed to gang culture.

It is intended that the learning derived from each of the projects will be shared nationally. Guidance will also be produced that can be used to demonstrate how this proven approach can reduce levels of need following intervention.

Tackling the impact of violent crime is an absolute priority for this government and we have taken urgent and unprecedented action.

Today’s announcement continues the work of the ambitious programme of work backed by £220 million of funding which puts greater focus on steering young people away from a life of crime.

This includes a £22 million Early Intervention Youth Fund which will be spent over 2 years and a £1.5 million Anti-Knife Crime Community Fund.

As part of these further measures to intervene early, this spring will also see the launch of the next phase of #knifefree. The campaign, aimed at young people, looks to inspire them to pursue positive alternatives.

The Supporting Families Against Youth Crime Fund (SFAYC) was launched on 20 October 2018.

See more information about the 21 areas set to receive funding: SFAYC successful areas (PDF, 110KB, 2 pages) .

The current Troubled Families Programme was rolled out in England in April 2015 and replaced the first programme which had been in place since 2012. The programme will continue support for disadvantaged families with complex problems and will work with up to 400,000 families by 2020.

The forthcoming introduction of this aircraft forms part of a £1.2 billion investment into fixed-wing aircraft training under the Military Flight Training System (MFTS), the evolving programme that is designed to train and prepare junior pilots for the frontline.

Defence Minister Stuart Andrew said:

It’s crucial that our fighter pilots of the future train on the very best equipment before reaching the front line to protect UK airspace at home and defend our interests abroad.

The introduction of the Texan T1 into one of NATO’s most advanced Fighter Pilot training programmes demonstrates the RAF’s commitment to investing in world-leading technology to maintain a military advantage over our adversaries.

The Texan T1 aircraft, due to replace the Tucano in the fast jet training programme, made history with its first flight at RAF Valley.

The T1 represents a technological step-change from its predecessor, with the ability to simulate missions in both 4th and 5th generation aircraft such as the F35 Lightning and Typhoon fast jets.

Wing Commander Chris Ball, Officer Commanding the Texan Integration Squadron at RAF Valley explains:

Under the Military Flying Training System, fighter pilots will train on world-leading aircraft. They start on the Prefect, move on to the Texan and finish on the Hawk T2, making the training process more efficient and far more representative of the aircraft types they will eventually fly. The Texan is the ideal lead-in trainer to the Hawk T2 advanced jet trainer that they will fly here at Valley.

The first pilot to fly the aircraft in the UK said:

It was a privilege to be the first RAF pilot to fly a Texan T1 from an RAF station today, and to have been part of the team that has brought this excellent training aircraft into service. The Texan is a great aircraft to fly, extremely capable and has the ability to better prepare students for the demands of modern fast jet flying than ever before. With the first flight now complete, the whole Texan team can begin looking forward to teaching students in the very near future.

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The Civil Service Fast Track is currently under review. This is an exciting opportunity for us to evolve the program, but it does mean that for 2019 we will not be open for applications.

We will have more details on the Fast Track soon but in the mean time please have a look at the other opportunists we have for apprenticeships within the Civil Service.

Civil Service Apprentices are involved in some of Government’s most exciting and challenging projects. As an apprentice you help to develop and communicate vital policies that make a difference to the public up and down the UK.

You will have the opportunity to develop specialised skills and many go on to have permanent roles in the Civil Service. These cover a range of areas including cyber security, engineering and overseas diplomacy.

We currently run around 50 departmental and profession apprenticeship schemes across all government departments including economics, communications and customer service. They are open to people of all ages and career backgrounds.

Published 22 February 2019

Data (Northern) Limited was wound up in the public interest on 18 February 2019 in the High Court in Manchester by District Judge Obodai. The Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator of the company.

Stockport-based Data Northern was incorporated in February 2010 and the company was concerned with producing drug awareness booklets for schools.

The colour booklets, ‘Are You on Drugs’, were 40 pages long and provided information around dealing with the effects of a variety of drugs and alcohol. However, the booklets were authored by the director of the company, Ashley Thorley, who had no formal training.

Complaints were received about the operation of the company, which resulted in confidential investigations conducted by the Insolvency Service, on behalf of the Secretary of State.

Following a successful application to have Data Northern placed into provisional liquidation in November 2018, the court while considering the petition heard that the company would target small businesses before persuading them to sponsor drug awareness ‘campaigns’ that were carried out in conjunction with schools.

The campaigns were supposed to see schools receive the drug awareness booklets as an additional resource and in return, the benefactors would receive a ‘certificate of sponsorship’.

The most common sponsorship rate offered was £179 but amounts varied from client to client, anywhere between £50 and in one case, all the way up £13,000.

However, the majority of schools contacted by investigators did not receive the booklets, while those that had been sent the materials felt they were of poor quality and did not use them.

Investigators were also able to demonstrate to the courts that Data Northern falsely implied to the sponsors that the company was running a charitable campaign in conjunction with schools and incorrectly claimed that sponsors had agreed to a rolling programme of sponsorship by issuing multiple invoices.

Approximately 80% of total sponsorship received by Data Northern was based on this type of bogus consent and between April 2015 and April 2018, Data Northern secured more than £880,000 from small businesses

Additionally, Data Northern employed aggressive and misleading debt collection techniques, such as falsely threatening court action or claiming that bailiffs had been instructed. The company also failed to keep adequate accounting records.

Scott Crighton, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

Data Northern targeted small businesses and exploited their generous and benevolent nature, misleading them into believing they were contributing towards a worthy charitable cause. This couldn’t have been further from the truth as our investigations showed that the company was only generating revenue for itself.

The strong actions of the court has prevented further loss to the business community and is a warning to other companies solicited in this way to exercise discretion before agreeing to purchase advertising space.

All public enquiries concerning the affairs of the company should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 2 Floor, 3 Piccadilly Place, London Road, Manchester, M1 3BN or email: piu.north@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk

Data (Northern) Limited – company registration number 07159588– was incorporated on 16 February 2010. The company’s registered office is at: Unit 1 The Business Park, Chichester Road Romiley, Stockport, Cheshire, SK6 4BL.

The petition was presented under s124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 on 13 November 2018. The Official Receiver was appointed as provisional liquidator of the company on 30 November 2018 by HHJ Halliwell, a Judge of the High Court.

Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Further information about live company investigations is available here.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available here.

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