§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to provide funding to local retail crime prevention initiatives in town shopping centres and secondary shopping areas. [77977]
§ Mr. DenhamI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Mr. Lepper) on 14 May 2002,Official Report, column 605W.
§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment he has made of the correlation between retail crime and drug abuse; [78129]
(2) what assessment he has made of the correlation between retail crime and street crime. [78135]
§ Mr. DenhamI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Mr. Lepper) on 19 September 2002,Official Report, column 19W.
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§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of retail crime was to(a) business, (b) local authorities and (c) the police in each of the past three years; and what information he has on the amount spent by the retail sector on crime prevention measures in each of the last three years. [78131]
§ Mr. DenhamThe Home Office does not collect information about the cost of retail crime. The British Retail Consortium conducts an annual retail crime survey and the most recent, published in June 2002, estimated total retail crime losses in the United Kingdom at £2.4 billion in 2001, down from an estimated £2.5 billion in 2000. The survey of crimes affecting retailers and manufacturers announced by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on 23 April 2002, the results of which should be available next spring, will provide information on the amount spent by the retail sector on crime prevention measures over the past year. The British Retail Consortium is assisting us with our survey.
§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much of the money allocated to his Department in this year's Budget will be used to tackle retail crime. [78133]
§ Mr. DenhamIt is not possible to provide an overall figure for the amount of money allocated to the Home Office in this year's budget, which will be used to tackle retail crime. Chief officers of police forces and individual crime and disorder reduction partnerships decide on the priorities for their local areas, and a proportion of their mainstream expenditure or their Home Office funding may be spent on tackling retail crime. Many of the measures taken to reduce particular crimes, such as juvenile crime, street crime and drug-related crime, and anti-social behaviour, are also likely to have a beneficial impact on reducing retail crime.
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Table 1: Specials Numbers Police force September March 1977 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Avon and Somerset 629 584 482 416 391 364 Bedfordshire 186 175 148 134 119 118 Cambridgeshire 336 308 293 214 197 207 Cheshire 491 416 358 307 233 191 Cleveland 157 136 108 122 98 85 Cumbria 184 210 193 167 125 102 Derbyshire 414 355 303 286 263 260 Devon and Cornwall 1,079 916 908 836 780 689 Dorset 325 303 287 278 258 253 Durham 178 159 169 155 146 134 Essex 641 590 528 478 413 381 Gloucestershire 287 245 221 197 153 154 Greater Manchester 657 567 498 408 355 338 Hampshire 681 747 720 500 444 444 Hertfordshire 306 267 232 214 177 206 Humberside 348 289 263 198 207 207 Kent 588 565 484 416 366 327 Lancashire 500 465 397 362 325 363 Leicestershire 402 350 303 202 155 143 Lincolnshire 273 233 218 179 160 155
§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures his Department is taking to tackle retail crime. [78136]
§ Mr. DenhamI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink) on 16 May 2002,Official Report, column 846W.
§ Mr. WatsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to make retail crime a best value indicator for police force performance. [78137]
§ Mr. DenhamI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink) on 24 July 2002,Official Report, column 1493W.