Jack Straw has met representatives of the mobile phone industry to find ways of improving security as part of a crackdown on violent crime.

On Wednesday the home secretary cited the latest British Crime Survey showing that crime fell by 10 per cent between 1997 and the end of 1999, and violent crime fell by four per cent. The survey also showed an increase of 14 per cent over the same period in street robberies with a significant number involving mobile phones. Many were committed by children on children in and around school.

Jack Straw said: "The purpose of the meeting I have called is to devise a course of action which will help us identify the true scale of the problem and to develop practical strategies to combat this."

On the same day Straw unveiled a new strategy for tackling violent crime, "Fighting violent crime together: an action plan" and published the Crime Reduction "Robbery Toolkit". The latest initiative is aimed at improving support for victims, better policing and more effective punishment using a "partnership approach".

Straw said: "Violence damages lives. And, although it represents a relatively small proportion of total crime, it is insidious when it occurs and can have a disproportionate impact on people's lives. The government is determined to see violent crime reduced on all fronts - whether it is in the home, in a pub or on the streets."