§ Jean CorstonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Bristol, East constituency, the effects on Bristol of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [150559]
§ Mr. StrawThe Home Office is working to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained. Detailed information on the impact of Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in Home Office annual reports. A copy of the most recent report, Home Office Annual Report 1999–2000, is available in the Library. Information on recorded crime and policing is also published. 'Recorded Crime England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000' and 'Police Service Strength England and Wales, 30 September 2000' can be found in the House of Commons Library. The Recorded Crime Statistics includes information on recorded crime by Basic Command Unit and Crime and Disorder Partnership.
The impact of Home Office policies and actions is not normally examined by constituency and the statistics which the Department collects, such as recorded crime, cannot be matched in the way requested although set out are examples relating to the Bristol, East constituency or the immediate locality:
Targeted Policing
One scheme, awarded £1,050,000 under round two of the Targeted Policing Initiative, proposes to tackle robbery and fear of crime in the Central Bristol area.An Avon and Somerset forcewide project was awarded £27,500 under round two, increasing the numbers and effectiveness of confiscations imposed by the courts.Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
One bid for a CCTV scheme in Brislington, which proposes to modernise an existing car park system, has been submitted under 467W round two of the CCTV Initiative. The bid is under consideration, along with others from the region.Reducing Burglary Initiative
One project submitted under round two of the Reducing Burglary Initiative was awarded £34,200. The scheme proposes to tackle burglary in Upper Easton using the following interventions: Concentrated policing; target hardening; locks and alarms; inter agency work; information newsletters; neighbourhood watch and drug referrals.Three projects, total capital of £930,400 have been received under round three of the Reducing Burglary Initiative, and are currently under consideration.The Bristol Youth Offending Team (YOT) during 2000–01 has worked with 2,200 young offenders and supervised 330 young people on community-based orders. The YOT has prepared more than 450 court reports and its appropriate adult volunteers have attended 350 interviews with young people at police stations. The YOT has established offender-victim mediation services and are providing intervention programmes to confront young offenders with the views of their victims. The YOT is also working to deliver the Government's Pledge to halve the average time taken from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders, from 142 to 71 days. The most recent figure for Bristol is 89 days.Bristol is also receiving funding from the Youth Justice Board's development fund of £1,044,505 over three years for a bail supervision scheme and five intervention programmes.Funding is also being provided by the Youth Justice Board from the inter-departmental Youth Inclusion Programme for a project at Barton Hill in the Bristol, East area. The Programme seeks to reduce offending, truancy and exclusion in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Each project receives annually £75,000 from local partnerships and £75,000 from the Youth Justice Board.More generally, all of the policies of the Home Office will impact on the residents of Bristol East to a greater or lesser extent. For example:
376 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships have been established;racial harassment and racially motivated crimes have been made criminal offences by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998;the asylum backlog has been cut from 103,495 at the end of January 2000 to 66,195 by the end of December 2000;good progress is being made in reducing the incidence of fire deaths in England and Wales. They have dropped from 605 in 1997 to 534 in 1999.Information on the Home Office and its policies is also published on its website (www.homeoffice.gov.uk).