Part 2: Prevention, investigation and prosecution of crime Chapter 1: Functions relating to serious violence Section 20: Amendments of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998
Section 20 amends the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (the "1998 Act"). The 1998 Act introduced Community Safety Partnerships ("CSPs") (formerly known as Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships) to help tackle crime and reduce offending. This Section amends the 1998 Act to ensure preventing and reducing serious violence is a priority for CSPs.
	Subsection (2) amends section 5A of the 1998 Act (combination agreements: further provision). Under the 1998 Act, members of a CSP are referred to as "responsible authorities". Responsible authorities for two or more local government areas may agree to combine their work by entering into a combination agreement. This means that CSPs for multiple local government areas in the same city, county or region may agree to enter into a combination agreement to create common plans and strategies. Under section 5A(2) of the 1998 Act, combination agreements may be entered for one or more of three statutory purposes. These are where the relevant a local policing body or bodies consider that to do so would be in the interests of: (a) reducing crime and disorder; (b) reducing re-offending; or (c) combatting the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances. Subsection (2) adds two further statutory purposes, namely: (d) preventing people from becoming involved in serious violence (as defined in section 18 of the 1998 Act as amended by subsection (12)); and (e) reducing instances of serious violence.
	Subsections (3) to (7) amend section 6 of the 1998 Act. Subsection 6(1) of the 1998 Act requires responsible authorities – again, the members of the CSP – to formulate and implement strategies for: (a) the reduction of crime and disorder in the area (including anti-social behaviour adversely affecting the local environment); (b) combatting the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in the area; and (c) the reduction of re-offending in the area. Subsection 6(2) of the 1998 Act creates a power for the "appropriate national authority" to make regulations in connection with the formulation and implementation of strategies made under section 6(1). Section 6(3)(e) provides that such regulations may include provision in respect of the objectives to be addressed in a strategy and performance targets in respect of those objectives, while section 6(6) provides that regulations made under section 6(3)(e) may require a strategy to be formulated so as to address (in particular) two things: (a) the reduction of crime or disorder of a particular description; and (b) the combatting of a particular description of misuse of drugs, alcohol or other substances. The "appropriate national authority" is defined at section 6(9) as the Secretary of State in England, Welsh Ministers in relation to strategies for combatting the misuse of misuse of drugs, alcohol or other substances in areas in Wales; and the Secretary and State and Welsh Ministers acting jointly, in relation to strategies for combatting crime and disorder or re-offending in Wales.
	Subsection (4) amends section 6(1) of the 1998 Act to require the crime and disorder reduction strategies prepared by responsible authorities to address two further matters, namely preventing people from becoming involved in serious violence in the area; and reducing instances of serious violence in the area.
	Subsection (5) amends section 6(6) of the 1998 Act so that regulations made under section 6(3)(e) may in addition require a strategy to be formulated so as to address (c) the prevention of people from becoming involved in serious violence of a particular description; and (d) the reduction of instances of serious violence of a particular description. Subsection (6) makes a consequential amendment to the definition of the appropriate national authority in section 6(9) to provide that the Secretary of State is the appropriate national authority for the purposes of making such regulations.
	Subsection (7) inserts a new subsections (10) and (11) into section 6 of the 1998 Act. New section 6(10) requires the Secretary of State to consult the Welsh Ministers before making regulations under section 6 which relate to a strategy for preventing people from becoming involved in serious violence in the area; and reducing instances of serious violence in the area, if and to the extent that such provision applies in relation to a devolved Welsh authority within the meaning of section 157A of the Government of Wales Act 2006. New section 6(11) includes provision relating to the interpretation of the term serious violence (when read with the amendments to section 18 of the 1998 Act made by subsection (12)).
	Subsections (8) to (11) amend section 17 of the 1998 Act. Section 17 imposes on specified public authorities a duty to consider crime and disorder implications when exercising their functions. The authorities in question include: local authorities; fire and rescue authorities; local policing bodies; national park authorities; the Broads Authority; the Greater London Authority and Transport for London. Each of these authorities must exercise their various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all that they can reasonably do, to prevent: (a) crime and disorder in its area (including anti-social and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment); (b) the misuse of drug, alcohol and other substances in its area; and (c) re-offending in its area. Subsections (9) to (11) add a fourth requirement on these bodies to exercise their various functions with due regard to the likely effect of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all that they can reasonably do, to prevent and reduce serious violence in their areas.