Knife offenders will be treated like would-be jihadists under measures announced on Monday by Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, to crack down on violent crime.

Under a statutory “public health duty”, police, hospitals, schools and other public bodies would be required to report those at risk of being drawn into knife crime.

Staff would have to alert other agencies if they thought a young person was in danger – such as turning up at A&E with a suspicious injury, absenteeism or worrying behaviour at school or problems at home.

Children would be offered support to stop them going on to commit serious violence or being groomed by gangs, similar to the way the Government’s Prevent programme identifies and targets children at risk of being drawn into extremism.

The multi-agency “public health duty” is designed to hold public bodies accountable for preventing as well as tackling serious and violent crime and will be subject to inspections, with those failing named and shamed.

Writing in the Daily Mail the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary have said that knife crime must me treated like an infectious disease that is killing our children.