§ 14. Miss Anne McIntosh (Vale of York) (Con)If he will make a statement on the level of burglaries in the Vale of York in (a) January 1997, (b) January 2000 and (c) January 2004. [178166]
§ The Minister for Crime Reduction, Policing and Community Safety (Ms Hazel Blears)Recorded crime figures at local area level are available centrally only for domestic burglary and from the financial year 1999–2000. The Vale of York falls across both Central and Eastern North Yorkshire police force divisions. In these areas combined, there were 3,702 domestic burglaries recorded in 1999–2000, rising to 3,750 in 2001–02. I am delighted to say that in 2002–03 the number decreased to 3,690. Figures for 2003–04 will be published in July.
§ Miss McIntoshCan the Minister explain why the number of burglaries went up and why the number of 518 detected and reported burglaries is going up, but the number of successful prosecutions is going down, according to her own figures?
§ Ms BlearsAs I said in my answer, the number of burglaries went up in 2001–02 and is now coming down. That reflects the national trend, where burglary is down almost 40 per cent. since 1997. Much work is going on to bring offenders to justice and to increase detection. The hon. Lady has recently been pressing me to give her area more community support officers. I am delighted to say that in our third round of funding, more will indeed be available, but if she wants more police officers—there have been 11,000 more under this Government—and more community support officers to tackle burglary, her party will have to pay for them.