Maybe parents whose children have suffered from knife attacks should bring a class action legal case against government ministers, says Richard Lawson , while Matt Griffiths calls for a halt in the under-investment in young people’s services

The government’s primary responsibility is to protect its citizens from harm (Ministers accused of dereliction of duty over youth crime ‘emergency’, 31 July). It is clear that government cuts to police, youth work and education have contributed to the upsurge in knife crime. It is also clear that it is still failing to meet its responsibility at every level, from offering help with parenting skills, to providing adequate well-funded schooling, to making sure that children who are excluded from regular classes do not just wander the streets, to providing employment for all 16- to 24-year-olds who need it, to correcting the inequality that pervades British society.

Maybe it is time that parents whose children have suffered from knife attacks should bring a class action legal case against government ministers for failing to discharge its responsibilities.

Dr Richard Lawson

Churchill, Somerset

• We’ve all become too familiar with the devastating impact youth crime has on young people, their families and society, and so we welcome the home affairs committee’s call to tackle youth crime through investment in youth services. Youth Music knows first-hand that safe environments for young people to develop their skills and potential are vital, giving them a support system away from the hard-pressing challenges that today’s world throws at them.

Yet Youth Music can currently only invest in 40% of the projects that apply to us for funding. Further major investment in local youth services will mean the organisations we support can give young people the power to change their lives. Let’s finally halt the severe under-investment in young people’s services, and reform government strategy so that we have a society that equips young people with the skills they need to make sense of the tough world they are growing up in, rather than failing them again and again.

Matt Griffiths

CEO of Youth Music

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