David Jamieson to address Prime Minister's violent crime summit

David Jamieson will address the summit, which will include senior politicians and high-ranking police officials, when he travels to the capital on Monday.

The PCC, who is a former headteacher, has been asked to share his expertise on how education and good quality care can help.

The summit has been called as the government struggles to suppress levels of violence across the country. In The West Midlands knife crime has risen 85% since 2012 and gun crime is up by a third over the same period.

Mr Jamieson has repeatedly raised concerns about increasing numbers of pupils being excluded from schools. Studies have shown that those young people are more likely to go on and commit crime than students who remain in mainstream education.

The West Midlands has followed a national trend which is seeing an increasing number of pupils being permanently excluded. The number of excluded children has nearly doubled from 440 in 2010 to 727 in 2017. Across England the number of exclusions has risen from 5,740 to 7,720 during the same period.

Mr Jamieson said: “At the summit I will call on the government to put measures in place to stop schools from 'off-rolling'.

“I have proposed that schools should face a substantial financial penalty if they are found to be trying to force children – with low predicted grades – out. That money should be used for the ongoing education of that pupil.”

As well as raising his concerns over the current state of education, including fears that schools are resorting to off-rolling in a bid to protect or raise their league table position, Mr Jamieson will also reiterate his call for more funding.

He believes West Midlands Police should receive between £15 million and £20 million from the government’s £100 million pot it has made available to fight knife crime in the country’s worst affected areas.