§ Lord Gordon of Strathblaneasked Her Majesty's Government:
How they will allocate the additional money being made available to Crime and Disorder Partnerships in England and Wales for the Communities Against Drugs initiative, and how much each partnership will receive. [HL1947]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton)My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in the Budget Statement that an additional £220 million would be made available over the next three years to Crime and Disorder Partnerships as part of the Communities Against Drugs initiative. This money, which is to be spent in agreement with local police commanders and Drug Action Teams, will be used to disrupt local drug markets, and tackle drug related crime. All partnerships will benefit from this funding, but those with the largest populations and most serious problems will benefit most.
My right honourable friend the Home Secretary is now able to announce the allocation of the funding for 2001–02. It is important that partnerships know their allocation for this financial year quickly in order to plan its use. In order to let them know this important information in good time, we have used a simple and straightforward allocation formula based on relevant and readily available information. The formula shares 20 per cent of funds across all partnerships in England and in Wales, allocates 50 per cent on the basis of certain recorded crimes which are often linked with drug abuse (burglary, robbery, theft and theft of and from a vehicle) and 30 per cent on the basis of population levels. Each partnership will receive at least the same allocation of money in the following two years. The final allocations for 2002–03 and 2003–04 will be announced by the end of July.
A new Communities Against Drugs Toolkit is now available on the Crime Reduction website, www.crimereduction.gov.uk, and Crime and Disorder Partnerships will find this a valuable tool in helping them use this funding.
A paper showing the detailed allocations to each partnership, and further information about the funding formula, has been placed in the Library, and my honourable friend the Minister of State at the Home Office, Mr Clarke, will write to honourable members for constitutuences in England and Wales with the same information.