§ 11. Mr. Keith Vaz (Leicester, East)What plans he has to make closed circuit television more widely available. [53518]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Alun Michael)We shall be funding 175 closed circuit television schemes this financial year. By the end of March, more than 580 schemes will have benefited from the successive rounds of the challenge competitions. We will certainly encourage the lessons from those schemes to be applied to problems elsewhere.
§ Mr. VazMay I welcome the Government's commitment to the extension of CCTV and invite the Minister to visit my constituency to compare two estates: Northfields, which was visited by the Home Secretary last year, where there has been a massive reduction in crime because of CCTV; and Thurnby Lodge, where there is tremendous demand from local people for such services? Does my hon. Friend agree that this is one area of policy that can foster, in a most dramatic way, public and private partnerships?
§ Mr. MichaelMy hon. Friend failed to mention that it was raining when my right hon. Friend visited that estate. We have to be careful in relation to cause and effect: was it the CCTV or the visit of my right hon. Friend that led to the reduction in crime? To come to my hon. Friend's serious point, I should of course be happy to consider the comparison with him. It is important that, where success has been gained, it is learned from in other areas. The police, the local authority and the private sector in the area should look at opportunities to transfer the lessons learned in one place by considering financing schemes in the other estate.
§ Mr. Edward Garnier (Harborough)On his way to Leicester, East, will the Minister please call in at Market 14 Harborough, where he will find that, thanks to the Conservative Government, a good CCTV scheme is in action which has already directly caused a reduction in crime in that town? On his way from Market Harborough to Leicester, East, will he call in on the borough of Oadby and Wigston, which is run by the Liberal Democrats? Despite my encouragements—and, no doubt, encouragements from his right hon. and hon. Friends—the inane Liberal Democrat council refuses to apply to the Home Office for funding for CCTV, which is greatly needed. Will he make a point, even if he does not come to Market Harborough or to Leicester, of going to Oadby and Wigston and shaking that council?
§ Mr. MichaelIf we allow these questions to go on much longer, I shall be making a tour of the whole country.
The hon. and learned Gentleman makes his point; may I make a serious one? CCTV is at its most effective when it is linked in with other measures to cut crime. The partnership approach, which my right hon. Friend has introduced in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, will give the context for the reduction of crime in every area and consideration of whether CCTV is appropriate to fit in with that local partnership approach. It is appropriate for all areas to consider that point. The answer may be local, based on the local facts of crime.