West Yorkshire Police Authority (Hansard, 20 February 1992)

§ 9. Mr. Riddick
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to make a decision relating to West Yorkshire police authority's application for a £3.6 million grant from the urban crime fund.

§ Mr. Peter Lloyd
We expect to receive details of applications from all those eligible, including West Yorkshire, later this month, and to make decisions by the end of March.

§ Mr. Riddick
Is my hon. Friend aware that the residents of West Yorkshire will be pleased to know that a decision on the matter is not too far off? I am sure that every one of them would want that extra money to come to West Yorkshire, as I do. Is not the extra £3.6 million further evidence of the Government's clear commitment to fighting crime? Does not that contrast sharply with the complete mess that the Government inherited from the Labour party in 1979, when there was low police morale, low police pay and the police were way under strength?

§ Mr. Lloyd
My hon. Friend is right. We expect the authorities to come up with imaginative schemes, designed to tackle specific local crime problems, such as kerb crawling, mugging and burglary. If they do, they will certainly bring great benefits to the public in their district.

§ Mr. Lofthouse
I am sure that West Yorkshire will welcome any assistance that the schemes can give, and will also appreciate that its rate support grant has increased by 16 per cent., but that does not mean that it can bring its force up to the required standard. Has the Minister any plans to assist the West Yorkshire police authority to enable it to bring its police forces up to the required standard?

§ Mr. Lloyd
Although spending nationally on the police has risen 73 per cent. during this Government's life, in West Yorkshire the figure is 83 per cent. Therefore, the spending in that police authority area is higher than elsewhere, so it does have the resources to police to strength and it will receive additional resources under the arrangements.

§ Sir Donald Thompson
Is my hon. Friend aware of the fact that we welcome the £3.6 million in West Yorkshire? Will he ensure that the money is spent throughout the county?

§ Mr. Lloyd
It will be spent throughout the police area, except in those regions that do not come within the urban crime catchment area—

§ Sir Donald Thompson
That is the wrong answer.

§ Mr. Lloyd
I am giving my hon. Friend the correct answer; if he has asked the wrong question, that is his problem.
The area does not include Wakefield and Calderdale, but if the police authority has good sense, it will arrange its spending so that the benefit will also be felt outside the immediate area to which the money applies.

§ Mr. Sheerman
Conservative Central Office does not seem to have got its questions and answers right today. At a time when crime has doubled in this country and is increasing at a rate of 28 per cent. per annum in West Yorkshire, how can a Minister stand in the House and say that it will keep West Yorkshire 154 police officers under strength this year and next year?

§ Mr. Lloyd
If the hon. Gentleman had listened the last time we had Home Office questions he would know perfectly well that the standard spending assessment has been set in West Yorkshire to enable it to employ police 456 officers up to the full establishment. The problem in West Yorkshire is that it costs more there to put a police man on the beat, and the authority spends more per head of the population. If its cost effectiveness was equal to that of the average police authority, it would be able to recruit up to full establishment.