Wiltshire and Swindon published their first Serious Violence Strategy in January 2024, available to view and download from the Health and Wellbeing Strategies page. It outlines the local response of the two Local Authority areas of Wiltshire and Swindon to the Serious Violence Duty, and our efforts to reduce Serious Violence across the Wiltshire Police Force Area. The strategy is based on a systems approach which embeds the public health principles of long-term solutions.
Our overarching aim is to reduce serious violence incidents in the Wiltshire Police Force Area and enable people to access help and support. This increases resilience, promotes better life choices, makes best use of the resources available, and empowers residents to take more ownership of their neighbourhoods.
Since the publication of the UK Government’s Serious Violence Strategy in 2018, an ambitious set of programmes has been delivered nationally to tackle serious violence across England and Wales. To reinforce this work, the Serious Violence Duty was introduced through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act 2022 and came into effect on 31 January 2023.
Although overall crime rates in Wiltshire and Swindon are well below the national and regional average, the Serious Violence Duty places a legal obligation on specific organisations – police, local government, integrated health boards, youth justice service, probation services and fire and rescue authorities – to plan and collaborate to prevent and reduce serious violence.
The Serious Violence needs assessment is also available to view and download from the Health Needs Assessments page.