§ 8. Mr. SheermanWhat measures he will take to enhance the role of local authorities in tackling crime. [24619]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Ms Joyce Quin)The Crime and Disorder Bill will substantially improve the ability of local authorities to contribute to the fight against crime. The Bill includes measures that will require local authorities and the police service to conduct an audit of local crime and disorder problems, to draw up a strategy to tackle them and to publish targets for delivering the strategy. That process must be conducted on the basis of full consultation with local people and a wide range of other key partners. Local authorities will be 709 empowered to apply new orders to protect the community and required to establish multi-agency youth offending teams.
This is a substantial package of proposals which will put local authorities at the heart of action to combat criminal and anti-social behaviour. I am glad that local authorities have warmly welcomed them.
§ Mr. SheermanI welcome my hon. Friend's comments. Bringing the local community together in partnership in the fight against crime has been close to the hearts of Labour Members for a long time.
Did my hon. Friend listen to Professor Richard Sparks this morning on BBC Radio 4, and to his pessimistic view of what will happen in towns and cities over the next 10 or 15 years? Will she ensure that our community groups and the local authorities that lead them have targets for crime reduction year on year so that we can measure our success?
§ Ms QuinThere is an important reason for targets, as my hon. Friend has described. I am afraid that I did not hear the interview to which he refers—I may have been on a train at the time—but I am sure that the information will be taken into consideration. There have already been many successful examples of partnership, and it is on those that we want to build in the Bill.
§ Sir Brian MawhinneyDid the hon. Lady notice what the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mr. Bradley) said about the excellent work that he tells us is being done in his area without any statutory obligation? What is her estimate of the extra costs that would fall to local authorities in implementing their statutory duties under the Crime and Disorder Bill? Why should the country believe that she and the Home Secretary are serious when the Government are reducing social services budgets throughout the land?
§ Ms QuinThe right hon. Gentleman makes a valid point about some of the partnerships that exist, but the Government want to ensure that those experiences and lessons are learnt throughout the country. That is why we want a statutory duty along the lines that we have included in the Crime and Disorder Bill—we believe that it will help to tackle crime throughout the country.
I should point out that the police and local authorities warmly welcome the proposals that we have placed before the House, on which we consulted widely in the past few months.
We estimate that the cost is likely to be about £130 million, but that does not take into account some of the savings that we believe can be made by reducing offending, and by such measures as the home detention curfew which my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced to the House at the end of last year.
§ Mr. Barry JonesSenior citizens in my constituency tell me bitterly of their anxiety about young offenders who are involved in drug abuse, vandalism and, indeed, more serious crimes on the larger housing estates. Would it help local authorities if police authorities could recruit more special constables, thus freeing experienced officers to tackle the root of the problems, early rather than late?
§ Ms QuinA strong partnership is developing which involves special constables, but we believe that the 710 problems described by my hon. Friend will be tackled effectively in the Bill. Although it is called the Crime and Disorder Bill, in many respects, the emphasis is on crime prevention and early intervention, which we think will help to stop such problems developing.