out is that there is a 93% rise, a doubling as reported earlier, in five years in the number of young people under the age of 18 who have been stabbed, a terrifying statistic, together with the fact that we have seen so many young people losing their lives. something has to change. sir bernard hogan—howe. home office minister victoria atkins defended government efforts to tackle knife crime, saying the government already has a plan in place. we can't begin to imagine the pain that their parents are going through, but we have been working 110w through, but we have been working now for the last year on tackling serious violence, and we have both short—term and long—term measures to tackle this. but what it is important to realise is that this is not simply about arresting a way out of this, we need to stop young people from carrying knives in the first place, and stop them from causing this terrible, terrible harm. victoria atkins.