HC Deb 20 February 1996 vol 272 cc273-80

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Knapman.]

10.16 pm
Mr. Graham Riddick (Colne Valley)

As we all know, Adjournment debates provide hon. Members with excellent opportunities to raise matters of local concern. The fight against crime is a national problem, but it emphasises the everyday concerns of many of my constituents. Only yesterday, I received a report from the co-ordinator of the neighbourhood watch scheme in Golcar, detailing a catalogue of burglaries, car thefts and other crimes in the village in recent months. Crime and the fear of crime probably feature in my constituency post bag more than any other issue. Tonight, I want to talk about what can be done to make my constituents feel safer in their homes and neighbourhoods.

I am delighted that the Minister who is to respond is my close neighbour and hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, North-East (Mr. Kirkhope). He is an assiduous constituency Member as well as a first-class Minister, and, like me, he wants firm action to be taken against crime.

It is not inevitable that crime will increase. Indeed, we should take some encouragement from the fact that, over the past two to three years, crime has been falling. My constituency is in the Huddersfield division of the West Yorkshire police area. The total number of crimes committed in that division fell from 25,435 in 1993 to 22,014 in 1995; that is a decrease of 13.4 per cent., and compares to a 10 per cent. fall across the country in the same period and an 8 per cent. fall in West Yorkshire as a whole.

Huddersfield's reduction in crime has been better than that in the rest of the country. One reason for that could be the success of the so-called Biting Back campaign, in which the police have targeted individuals in households who have already been victims of crime and who, according to research, are much more likely to be victims in future. During the trial's first nine months, the targeting of repeat crime led to a fall in domestic burglaries of 24 per cent. compared with a fall in West Yorkshire of only 4 per cent. Clearly, therefore, the scheme needs to be extended throughout the county and the country.

Since 1979, the Government have increased spending on the police enormously so that, today, national expenditure is £6.8 billion. Spending on the police in West Yorkshire has increased by 98 per cent. in real terms after inflation during that period. Much of that extra money has resulted in more officers being available at the sharp end. Considering the coming financial year, I am especially pleased that, in a tight spending round, the Government have been able to make an extra £9 million available for West Yorkshire police. In a press release last Friday, West Yorkshire police authority said that the force intended to deploy an extra 50 police officers in the coming financial year. That comes on top of an increase of more than 100 officers in 1995.

I pay tribute to the chief constable of West Yorkshire, Mr. Keith Hellawell, whose excellent management of the force has made it possible to appoint more police officers. That has been achieved by reducing the number of retirements on the ground of ill health, by lower sickness levels and by a reduction in the number of middle-management posts.

In January 1992, there were 90 West Yorkshire officers holding the ranks of superintendent and chief superintendent. Today, there are only 50. That has saved more than £2 million annually in salary alone. Those savings have been used to appoint extra police officers. That is an excellent example for all forces to follow.

I quote with total approval the comments of the Labour chairman of West Yorkshire police authority, councillor Tom Brennan. In last Friday's press release, he said: The public is constantly telling us that they want to see more police on our streets—we can promise them that. We have sufficient funds this year to let the Chief Constable continue the substantial recruitment programme. It is the best news that I have been able to give to West Yorkshire on the policing front since I became Chairman six years ago. The chief constable deserves the plaudits but so do the Government, to whom I am most grateful for making more money available for the police. The authority's press release also pointed out that the on-going civilianisation programme could ultimately release another 100 experienced officers on to the streets.

I wish even greater efforts to be made in the recruitment of special constables in particular. Their use is a relatively inexpensive but extremely effective way of increasing police presence and of helping to deter crime. I have one excellent example in my constituency. In the village of Meltham, which is right in the centre of constituency, a small number of special constables, under the excellent leadership of community constable Ian Oxley, has helped to reduce crime and vandalism levels by 50 per cent.

I should dearly love more specials to undertake similar work in other villages in my constituency where we have difficulties with youngsters involved in vandalism, burglary and car theft. I hope that the Government and the West Yorkshire force will redouble their efforts on that front so that more special constables are recruited. I put to my hon. Friend the Minister the thought that it may be sensible to pay more meaningful allowances to attract more candidates.

My hon. Friend might be interested to know that closed circuit television has played a role in the reduction of crime in Meltham. Last Friday, I attended a meeting in the village of Slaithwaite, from where I frequently receive complaints about vandalism and more serious crime, and where some people want to explore the possibility of having CCTV installed. There are numerous examples of places where CCTV has had a beneficial effect, and chief constables all over the country have been singing its praises. I am delighted that the Government have made available £15 million for CCTV schemes in the coming year. I should like to register at this early stage in the bidding process my support for proposed schemes in the Holme and Colne valleys in my constituency which I am sure will be submitted to my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary.

Only so much can be done at a local level to fight crime. It is crucial that the Government's policies help the police to fight crime and give the courts the powers to deal with criminals properly. I am therefore extremely pleased that at long last, after 30 years of liberal penal policy, we have a Home Secretary who is giving the police the tools that they need to fight crime, who is tough on crime, and, most importantly, who is tough on criminals.

We have changed the law to stop suspects abusing the right to silence. The over-emphasis on the use of cautions has been stopped and my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary has taken action to reduce the level of offending by those out on bail.

Mrs. Elizabeth Peacock (Batley and Spen)

My hon. Friend will be aware of the great welcome that has been given in the whole of West Yorkshire, especially in his area and in constituencies such as mine, to the fact that we have at last a tough Home Secretary who is encouraging everyone to be tough on criminals. We all believe that that is the best way forward. My postbag certainly tells me that that is what the great majority of the public in West Yorkshire want.

Mr. Riddick

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is no surprise that our right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary is the subject of so many attacks from people in the liberal establishment. They know that he is at long last turning the tide and having an effect. We must give him our full support in his battles.

The new national DNA database is a world first and will prove a formidable extra weapon in the fight against crime. Since 1979, the Government have given the courts powers to hand out tougher sentences to a range of criminals. It is more than two years since a police officer in my constituency told me that he had noticed that the courts were handing out stiffer sentences to criminals in response to the then new Home Secretary's tougher rhetoric. That has undoubtedly played its part in the reduction in crime, because while those who commit burglary and other crimes are in prison, they cannot go about their dastardly deeds at the expense of our constituents.

More needs to be done, and my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary and my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary have my full support for their proposals to toughen up and modernise sentences available to courts. It seems absolutely right that persistent burglars and drug dealers should face stiff minimum prison sentences if they continue offending. I have no doubt that my constituents, unlike some judges, will welcome the proposal that those convicted for a second time of a serious, violent or sexual offence should receive an automatic life sentence. They would then be released only when they no longer posed a risk to the public. I hope that the Government will stand resolute in the face of criticism from the liberal legal establishment.

However, the Government need to do more in one respect. The lives of many of my constituents are made a misery by the actions of a number of disrespectful, out of control teenagers who commit a range of crimes from petty vandalism to burglary. The police feel powerless to take action and if such people go before the courts, the courts often do very little. Even if the youngsters are sent to local authority secure units, in practice they can walk out almost at will and return to causing mayhem. Something must be done about it. It is time that secure units meant exactly that. The security should be such that youngsters cannot escape from where the courts want them to be.

When youngsters initially get into trouble, the system should do what it can to ensure that those people do not re-offend, and we should take an understanding approach.

As we know, 85 per cent. of those who receive a first caution do not come to the attention of the police again. However, we should come down like a ton of bricks on those who offend persistently.

I have two things to say about the Crown Prosecution Service. First, I find it difficult to understand why it takes so long for the CPS to bring cases to court, and I believe that the police should be allowed to bring straightforward minor offences to court as soon as possible—in some cases, if the defendant pleads guilty, the day after the offence was committed.

Secondly, I am not happy about certain prosecutions that have been brought against people who have simply been defending themselves against the perpetrators of criminal acts. I can think of one particular incident in my constituency, but I believe that it may be sub judice at the moment, so I would be out of order if I referred to it or mentioned any names. I believe that in such cases the benefit of the doubt should be given to those who are being threatened or attacked.

I have said nothing about Labour's approach to law and order, because Labour is an irrelevance in the fight against crime, having no concrete proposals of its own. Or at least, Labour would be an irrelevance, were it not for the fact that it aspires to form the next Government. So it is necessary to remind our constituents that Labour failed to support us when we introduced the tough, hard-hitting measures of recent years.

Labour voted against the Public Order Act 1986 and the Criminal Justice Acts of 1988 and 1991. Labour votes against the renewal of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act every time, and, during the passage of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Labour refused to support us on several of its key elements. The truth is that Labour is soft on crime, and makes excuses for the causes of crime. As for the Liberals, they usually traipse into the same Lobby as the Labour party.

In summary, the positive news is that crime in Huddersfield has fallen by 13.4 per cent. over the past two years. Over the year 1995–96, the chief constable will have recruited at least an additional 150 officers for front-line duties. However, there is more still to do. More special constables should be recruited, to increase police presence on the ground. I whole-heartedly support the Home Secretary's tough sentencing proposals, and I want more action to be taken to stop some teenagers intimidating communities.

I finish by quoting from a letter that I received from a senior police officer in West Yorkshire, which provides a suitably positive note on which to conclude my speech: Overall the force understands that there is still much to be achieved, and that there are many areas in which we will attempt to improve our performance. However the staff are confident, well equipped and relatively well protected for the rigours of the duties they will be forced to undertake.

10.32 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Timothy Kirkhope)

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley (Mr. Riddick) for his excellent and informative speech on the action taking place in West Yorkshire to tackle the problems of crime. I welcome to the debate my hon. Friends the Members for Batley and Spen (Mrs. Peacock) and for Keighley (Mr. Waller) and the Government Whip, my silent hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Knapman), who is none the less interested in such matters.

Because of my connections with West Yorkshire, as well as my Home Office responsibilities in connection with such matters, I am proud to be able to reply to the debate. West Yorkshire deserves our congratulations on its real success in the fight against crime. My hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley has given the House some specific examples of its achievements, and I hope that I shall be able to add to the list.

My message to West Yorkshire's criminals—for they are entitled to a message from the debate—and indeed, to criminals throughout the country, is that they had better watch out. As a society, we shall simply not tolerate crime, and as a society we can act together to fight it.

In September last year, my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary—as my hon. Friend the Member for Colne Valley said, an excellent Home Secretary—was able to announce the biggest fall in recorded crime in our history. Between June 1993 and June 1995, 572,000 fewer crimes were recorded than in the preceding two years. As my hon. Friend said, the West Yorkshire area was no exception. Recorded crime fell there by 6 per cent. in the 12 months to June 1995. Vehicle crime and burglary fell, and crime in the county is now at its lowest level for five years.

The figures are extremely encouraging, and West Yorkshire police—under its excellent chief constable Keith Hellawell—deserves much credit for them. Of course, crime is still with us and we must not underestimate the misery it brings. For the victims, crime is not simply a statistic or something one reads about or sees on television, it is only too real—and it hurts.

The police are in the front line in the fight against crime. That is why we have increased spending on West Yorkshire police by such a large amount—98 per cent.—in real terms since we took office. Next year, spending can increase by £11.3 million, or 4.5 per cent. In addition, West Yorkshire police will once again not have to pay for common police services—such as the police national computer—that cost it £2 million in 1994–95. The number of police officers has risen by 383 since 1979, and this year the chief constable has said that he hopes to recruit an extra 135 officers.

Last year, at Blackpool, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced that we would provide the extra resources to pay for 5,000 more police officers in the next three years. West Yorkshire's share of this additional funding in the first year, 1996–97, will be £800,000. That should be sufficient, as my hon. Friend said, to recruit a great number of extra constables if the chief constable chooses to do so. I am encouraged to hear that he wants to do so. Based on a similar distribution mechanism, the initiative could provide the force with an extra 202 constables after three years.

There are other ways in which police forces can increase the number of officers on operational duty. My hon. Friend referred to special constables. I should like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of them on the work that they do. I would particularly like to join my hon. Friend in congratulating constable Ian Oxley and all those who work in the West Yorkshire area for the benefit of the public and the community. They do a wonderful job, and sensible chief constables are making use of them more and more.

The pressure to reduce unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy is being kept up. The Government are pressing forward with the implementation of an efficiency scrutiny on administrative burdens on the police that should produce annual savings of £30 million. Police authorities will also continue to be encouraged to release officers from tasks where their powers and training are not required and which can be undertaken by civilian support staff. Since 1983, 8,300 officers have been released nationwide for operational duty in this way. West Yorkshire police has increased its civilian support staff by 69 per cent. since 1979, totalling 819 civilians. I am sure that West Yorkshire will be examining what other posts can be civilianised to make the sharp end even sharper.

The Government have also been determined to help police fight crime at a local level. The Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 has given chief officers the freedom to set their own budgets in the light of local priorities. My right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary now specifies national objectives for the police, but it is up to individual police authorities to set their own local targets to meet the national objectives. In future, police activities will be more clearly focused on the public's priorities. In turn, the public will be kept informed about the service that they can expect and how well their force has performed.

An excellent practical example of that is the Bradford city challenge, which provided West Yorkshire with £145,000 to put two additional police officers on streets in the Bierley area. Bierley was identified as having a high crime rate, particularly for domestic burglary. The officers are briefed to target certain offenders, advise on crime prevention and improve links with residents. The aim is to cut burglaries by no less than 20 per cent. in the next two years.

Burglary is one of the crimes that people fear the most. Increasing the number of detections for burglaries and targeting and preventing crimes that are a particular local problem are key objectives that have been set for the police. Throughout the country, police forces have taken action to tackle such crime by, for example, targeting persistent and known criminals.

In the Toiler lane crime project in Bradford, for example, investigative procedures have been completely revised since January 1994 to create a joint CID and uniform team to tackle local crime problems, especially burglary. The team relies heavily on intelligence from informants and observations to target active criminals and remove them from the community. Detection rates for the team have been significantly higher than average.

I am sure that my hon. Friends will be aware of last December's Operation Christmas Cracker, in which the West Yorkshire force participated. It was the largest anti-burglary operation that the country has ever seen—12,000 officers from 40 forces in England and Wales took part. In all, 3,327 people were arrested and £1.8 million-worth of stolen property was recovered.

In West Yorkshire, 143 premises were raided, 105 people were arrested and more than £30,000-worth of property was recovered. I heartily congratulate the police on their success, but they cannot fight crime on their own. Local communities have a central role to play.

Throughout the country, business, community groups, local authorities and the public are working with the police to reduce and prevent crime in their areas. Local knowledge and expertise is being used to solve local crime problems. The help that my hon. Friend and other hon. Members have given that attack on crime is also well recognised.

Businesses have helped in many different ways—from offering discounts on home security products to neighbourhood watch members, to direct and often substantial contributions towards the cost of security cameras. In West Yorkshire, for example, representatives from British Gas, the electricity board, the water board, British Telecom and others have formed a working group to deal with the problem of bogus callers.

My hon. Friend referred to closed circuit television. We welcome the introduction of new technology in the fight against crime. Closed circuit television can help cut crime substantially—it cut overall crime by 40 per cent. in Newport and violent crime by 80 per cent. in Gloucester city centre.

Chief constables from all over the country have expressed their support for the use of that new technology. The chief constable of Northumbria said: We are leading the world in CCTV technology and its use. In every case where cameras are installed, crime has dropped and the number of arrests increased. The truth is that the innocent have nothing to hide; the guilty plenty to fear.

My hon. Friend alluded to the fact that CCTV systems are operational in Huddersfield town centre and Bradford city centre. There were two successful bids under the CCTV challenge competition 1994–95—Keighley town centre, as my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley (Mr. Waller) knows, and Outwood Grange school, Wakefield.

We recently announced that £15 million had been made available for a further competition. I hope that local partnerships make every effort to consider how best to use CCTV.

Mr. Riddick

My hon. Friend mentioned Bradford city challenge. Will he confirm that the Government would be happy for the Huddersfield challenge to devote some of its funds to crime-fighting measures in Huddersfield?

Mr. Kirkhope

That is an interesting suggestion and I am sure that it will be considered in a positive light.

I was going to mention a number of other matters, but I think that time will probably prevent me from doing so. I must touch on neighbourhood watch schemes, which are extremely valuable in crime prevention. I know that my hon. Friend agrees.

Street watch builds on neighbourhood watch. It is becoming an organised and co-ordinated approach that actively uses local knowledge to keep an eye out for crime when walking a chosen route.

The safer cities programme is helping to cut crime too. The 20 projects under phase I will be followed by a further wave of projects in new areas—32 have so far been selected. The Batley and Bradford safer cities projects have brought together the expertise of the public and private sectors to try to reduce crime.

I agree that parents have a role to play in preventing crime by teaching their children the difference between right and wrong at an early age. If only all parents behaved responsibly, we would be able to make a real impact on the amount of crime committed by young people.

We are determined to make the punishment fit the crime. Since taking office, we have given the Attorney-General the right to appeal against lenient sentences, increased the maximum sentence for dealing in hard drugs to life and increased the maximum penalty for cruelty to children from two years to 10 years in prison.

The Opposition may talk tough all of a sudden, but where are they tonight? The empty Opposition Benches appear to show that they care little about this important subject. They vote soft, too. They opposed each and every one of the measures to punish serious and dangerous criminals to which my hon. Friend referred. When, last October, my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary set out a series of radical sentencing proposals designed to protect the public, Labour did not have a word to say. Our forthcoming White Paper on crime will smoke it out, if I may put it that way, and we shall see where it stands—or at least we hope that we will.

We have a packed agenda designed to protect ordinary people and uphold the rule of law. We shall support the excellent work carried out by the police and anything that promotes crime prevention and sends a message to the criminal that we shall not allow the lives of ordinary people to be blighted by the fear of crime. My hon. Friend and I share the same resolve, as do the Government as a whole. Curbing crime is our priority in West Yorkshire and, indeed, across the country.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at fourteen minutes to Eleven o'clock.