00:00The Southport Inquiry has heard the plans to strengthen the response to extreme violence were not taken forward because of
00:07funding constraints.
00:09The proposals were developed by a Home Office unit examining how to manage people described as being fixated on violence
00:16following the murders of three girls at the Taylor Swift dance class in July 2024.
00:21The inquiry was told that a report prepared ahead of a meeting with the Cabinet Secretary in June 2025 identified
00:28several major challenges.
00:30There was limited evidence about the scale of non-ideological extreme violence and existing systems for different agencies to work
00:36together were considered inadequate.
00:38Officials also highlighted uncertainty about which interventions were effective.
00:43The Home Office unit proposed four ambitious responses.
00:46These included sustained efforts to reduce risks online, local partnerships, a national gateway to help agencies coordinate and strengthening the
00:54PREVENT programme.
00:55However, the report said all four proposals would require additional funding.
00:59The inquiry heard that ahead of the spending review, the department instead focused on improvements that could be made without
01:04extra costs in the short term.
01:06Counsel to the inquiry, Nicholas Moss Casey, asked whether the ambitious proposals had deliberately been put on hold because of
01:12funding limits.
01:13Home Office official Jonathan Emmett agreed they had.
01:16He said officials also understood the inquiry would make its own strategic recommendations.
01:20A separate Home Office review in May 2025 had found a confused picture with inconsistent approaches and limited understanding of
01:27the people involved.
