§ Harry CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms exist for(a) monitoring performance and effectiveness and (b) disseminating best practice in community/police partnerships; and if he will make a statement. [33378]
§ Mr. DenhamThe Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires that crime and disorder reduction strategies are kept under review to monitor their effectiveness. Proposals currently in the Police Reform Bill will require responsible authorities to publish such reviews on an annual basis. A performance template is currently under development to assist partnerships in assessing and monitoring progress. Crime reduction directors located in the Government offices in the regions and the National Assembly for Wales monitor the performance of the partnerships and the effectiveness of projects in their area under the crime reduction programme. In addition, annual recorded crime figures are published twice yearly at crime and disorder reduction partnerships' level. The crime reduction toolkits provide comprehensive web-based guidance dealing with the key areas of crime and criminality for partnerships and provide a problem-solving approach with details on research, evaluation and examples of good practice. The toolkits are available on http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/toolkits.