A cross-party group of MPs has called for police to be based in schools in response to the "social emergency" caused by rising levels of youth violence.
In its Serious Youth Violence report, the parliamentary home affairs committee concludes the government's response to youth violence has been "completely inadequate", criticising its focus on developing a "public health" approach to tackling it.
It says knife offences have increased by more than 70 per cent in the past five years and highlights a rise of more than a third in the number of under-18s admitted to hospital with knife-related injuries between 2017 and 2018.
As part of an increased investment in neighbourhood policing, the committee recommends that a dedicated school police officer be placed in every school in areas with an above-average risk of serious youth violence. This should happen by next April, it says.
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