WORKERS at a social enterprise food truck were visited by a UK-wide commission that aims to end youth violence.

The Street and Arrow truck moored in Mansfield Park welcomed the UK Youth Violence Commission as part of their visit to the city.

The truck is part of a social enterprise run by the Violence Reduction Unit’s Braveheart Industries programme.

Its staff include former offenders who are being mentored and given skills in cooking and hospitality with the aim of getting them into work.

Chris Stephens MP, who is part of the cross-party Youth Violence Commission, showed the group around various youth violence initiatives, including Street and Arrow, in the city.

He said: “The Youth Violence Commission has been visiting the likes of Police Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit and Bowclair Academy to learn more about our youth violence policies.

“I hope they can take away the good practice from here in Scotland and see how organisations have dealt with youth engagement, getting people into employment and keeping them out of crime.

“Street and Arrow, like many charities, are doing great work with young people and allowing them to express themselves.

“We can always do better in everything we do but Scotland have good approaches and I think they could be replicated in other parts of Britain.”

Leroy Logan MBE, chair of London board advising the UK Youth Violence Commission, added: “I’m a retired operational police officer, I know about the work the government does through years of work.

“We’ve been on this journey for three years where we’ve worked with people at the centre and as a result of that, young people put in a very strong presentation to MPs at the House of Commons and as a result of that, a commission was developed around youth violence.

“It’s hopefully going to help all parties to know what the causes of violence are and how to prevent things from happening and problem solve.

“We decided to visit the Violence Reduction Unit in Glasgow first to absorb the learning and understand the whole look and feel of the public health model rather than the crime enforcement model.

“We wanted to speak to individuals who lead the project and speak to people who are the effects of violence.

“At Street and Narrow, we spoke to people whose lives have been turned around.

“The complexity of London and the scale makes it different to Glasgow.

“In an ideal world I would love to have a London VRU. We want to ensure that the learning goes into the commission, into what it’s doing and that it reinforces the mandate which we believe we have.

“We have experts across the city that want to see a more holistic and healthy approach to reducing crime.”

Braveheart Industries took home the commendation prize at the Glasgow North West Community Champion Awards for their work with former prisoners.