Lib was appointed as Director of the first Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in England and Wales in 2019, established by the Mayor of London to lead a public health approach to tackling violence. Under Lib’s leadership, prevention and early intervention is now embedded in London’s approach to tackling violence affecting young people. Figures show that when the VRU was set up, the number of homicides of young people was three times higher than today; and hospital admissions for knife injuries has halved over the same seven-year period. The strength of the VRU is strong partnership with the voluntary sector, NHS, London’s 32 councils, education system and police, alongside investment in more than half a million interventions for children and young people. Lib has championed the participation of young people and youth workers; developed the first London Inclusion Charter as a city-wide campaign around educational transformation; and co-created the award-winning community, neighbourhood programme, MyEnds.

Increasingly online harm has become a key feature of young people’s lives. The VRU is delivering targeted online and healthy relationship training, investing in mentors and young fathers, and publishing groundbreaking research on the relationship between online and offline violence to determine future opportunities to intervene. Lib is well established in local government. Prior to the VRU, she was Lambeth’s elected leader for seven years, and the first female leader for 20 years. She was vice-chair of London Councils and the Local Government Association. Lib is also a trustee of the Institute for Public Policy & Research, a leading UK thinktank.