Swinney to chair youth violence summit after stabbings and classroom violence

John Swinney is set to chair a summit on youth violence as he attempts to clamp down on knife crime among young people.

The cross-party meeting follows the deaths of two teenagers in Scotland this year from separate stabbings.

It also comes as teachers report rising levels of classroom violence and misogynistic behaviour among pupils.

Thursday’s summit will hear from the justice and education secretaries, ministers for children and for victims, along with cross-party MSPs, youth workers and those delivering violence reduction in Scotland.

It follows discussions led by Mr Swinney to hear young people’s and families’ experiences and ideas on possible solutions, and will focus on education and community engagement with young people and possible strategies preventing them from turning to anti-social behaviour or carrying a weapon.

Angela Constance, the Justice Secretary, has admitted that “more needs to be done” to clamp down on violence.

Earlier this month, the Scottish Government pledged that funding for the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit will rise by 7% to £1.217 million, which reversed earlier plans to cut its budget.

Despite several high-profile recent murders among teenagers, Police Scotland said that serious assaults by those aged 11 to 18 fell by 27% between 2019/20 and 2024/25, from 428 to 313.

Ahead of the meeting, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton called for greater investment in youth work.

Mr Cole-Hamilton, who was a youth worker before becoming an MSP, accused the SNP of presiding over the “quiet death” of youth work.

He said: “For the best part of 20 years, I was a youth worker, helping some of the most disengaged young people get their lives back on track.

“That experience taught me that no child is inherently bad. Most of the time, they are just in need of some direction, a need that has only been fuelled by the isolating impact of lockdown.

“That’s where youth work comes in: it provides young people with the direction they need and gives them a positive adult role model who is neither a teacher nor a parent.

“It teaches teenagers to come out of their comfort zone, helps them rebuild their sense of self-worth and fosters a whole host of key life skills.

“Since the pandemic, however, the SNP have presided over the quiet death of youth work. Budgets have been squeezed, services have struggled to survive, just when we need them the most.

“While acts of violence require a strong response, punishing predominantly law-abiding young people cannot be our broader solution. We need youth work to pre-empt and prevent those acts of violence, to properly engage young people in society and lay the foundations for them to succeed in life.”

The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.