OXFORD city council is aiming to work with those most at-risk of becoming involved in knife crime and guide them towards education or employment.

The council's Youth Ambition Team is one of those being funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner and will receive £50,000.

It will run a 12 month pilot project starting in April particularly aimed at supporting those who have been excluded from school.

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Youth workers will provide one-to-one guidance and support, helping them to explore opportunities available, depending on their interests.

They will also visit schools and carry out a non-formal educational programme about the dangers of knife crime using art, music or sport activities.

The project aims to help 60 young people and work with five city secondary schools over the course of the next year.

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Tom Hayes, executive board member for crime, said: “I welcome this extra funding – it will start to take on the exclusion and social inequality that’s leading our young people to pick up a knife.

"Oxford needs to move beyond the blade and end the drugs slavery facing children."