Rates of gang and youth violence in Waltham Forest dropped between 2012-13 and 2011-12, figures show.

Published yesterday by the London Probation Trust, Home Office data shows wounding and grievous bodily harm offences committed by youths aged between 10 and 19 decreased respectively from 48 to 26 and 38 to 15.

The trust, which is the largest in the UK and manages over 40,000 offenders at any one time, says a £10million Home Office campaign targeting at-risk areas for gang culture across London contributed to the drop.

The campaign included improving information sharing between criminal justice agencies and a better referral system for youths identified as being at risk of homelessness or mental health problems.

The figures show that rates of wounding and GBH have dropped since the London riots in 2011 but that the only period of decline was in 2012-13.

Rates of wounding in 2010-11 and 2011-12 stayed at 48 while in the same period incidents of GBH rose from 16 to 38.

The rate of decline from 2010-2013 is 22 for wounding and one for GBH.