Government news and campaigns

Britain takes decisive action to ban ‘zombie drug’ xylazine

Legislation has been laid in Parliament to ban xylazine and 21 other dangerous drugs as part of the government’s action to prevent drug deaths and crack down on drug dealing gangs.

Read more on this here.


Nationwide call to surrender all zombie-style knives and machetes

A nationwide call to hand over zombie-style knives and machetes has been launched by the government, before these dangerous weapons are banned from our streets.

Ahead of the new ban coming into force, anyone who has one of these weapons is being urged to hand them over – safely and legally.

This scheme will be run at police stations across England and Wales for four weeks between 26 August and 23 September, without repercussions for surrendering these potentially dangerous knives safely.

Please read more on this here, and find the full guidance here.

New measures to strengthen border security

New measures to boost Britain’s border security have been set out by the Home Secretary, including the immediate recruitment of up to 100 new specialist intelligence and investigation officers at the National Crime Agency (NCA) to target, dismantle and disrupt organised immigration crime networks.

Yvette Cooper has also today announced a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity, to make sure that immigration and asylum rules are respected and enforced, along with a new intelligence-driven illegal working programme to target, investigate and take down unscrupulous employers who illegally employ those with no right to work here.

Read more on this here.

Government pledges new support to prepare for EU border checks

Ahead of upcoming changes at the border being implemented by the EU, the government has announced £10.5 million to support preparations at the Port of Dover, Eurostar and Eurotunnel.

This autumn, the EU will introduce the Entry/Exit System (EES) – a new digital border system. Travellers from the UK and other non-EU countries will have to register at the border by having their fingerprints and photograph taken.

In order to reduce the risk of queuing and disruption, the government is taking action with this funding to help ports to install the necessary EES technology and complete work to get their sites ready for the checks coming into force.

Each port will receive a £3.5 million funding boost.

Read more on this here.

Crackdown to halt rise in phone thefts

The government has pledged to crack down on ‘snatch thefts’ after this criminality soared by more than 150 per cent in the last year. An estimated 78,000 people had phones or bags grabbed from them on the streets, with policing intelligence suggesting that this is being driven by increased demand for second hand smartphones, both in the UK and overseas. To tackle this challenge head on, tech companies and manufacturers will be called to attend a Home Office summit on the issue, looking at the new innovations that could take on the illegal market. This will build on anti-theft smartphone features that some tech firms have already rolled out to protect their customers.

Read more on this here.

Stakeholder campaigns   Baby’s Sake Trust

The For Baby’s Sake Trust has unveiled alarming new data suggesting that over 185,000 babies are present at police call outs for domestic abuse incidents each year in England. This figure stems from a comprehensive Freedom of Information Request sent to 39 police forces across England, using responses from 15 forces who combine to serve approximately a third of England’s population.  Read more here.

Neighbourhood Crime Campaign
Crimestoppers have launched their Neighbourhood Crime campaign on speaking up about neighbourhood crime such as robbery, theft and burglary. The campaign focuses on three strands: Defining the crimes of theft, robbery and burglary, The impact of these crimes on victims, The long-term harms on communities. You can read more here.

Women’s Aid service for professionals

Women’s Aid is running a dedicated service for professionals who are currently working with survivors of domestic abuse, seeking refuge accommodation and support. This could include housing officers, police officers, social workers, health workers, probation officers and those working in education or the voluntary sector. We understand that it can be difficult to support survivors of domestic abuse without the ability to access specialist resources. The professionals’ service can provide dedicated support, information about safety planning, referral pathways or up-to-date refuge vacancies in a certain area, or other local specialist support, such as outreach, drop-ins, counselling services and advocacy projects. 

Find more information here.

Guide to Meaningful Survivor Engagement 

 
Women’s Aid Federations and Imkaan have launched a joint best practice guide on survivor engagement. Whilst there can be no ‘one size fits all’ approach to this critical work, they hope this guide will help others to listen to the experiences of survivors, hear their voices and understand their perspectives in a deeper and more meaningful way. This follows three years of work spent developing their approach to enabling diverse survivors of domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) to have increased opportunities to influence local practice, policy and national decision-making.

The guide is intended for anyone in the VAWG sector who would like to begin or develop adult survivor engagement in their work, and we hope you find it useful. Please find the guide here: – Final: A guide to meaningful survivor engagement (womensaid.org.uk) 

Upcoming campaigns

Cross-sector workshop – 12 September

Young Minds are convening a meeting with relevant stakeholders from across the mental health, education and youth sectors on 12 September, to work towards building consensus and engaging more constructively and efficiently with the relevant Ministers, advisers and civil servants regarding the Young Futures campaign. Contact: [email protected]

If your organisation has any upcoming surveys or campaigns that you would like us to highlight in our newsletter, please get in touch with the External Affairs team at [email protected]