§ Mr. Batisteasked the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on progress arising from the latest crime prevention seminar which she held at No. 10 Downing street and the progress and achievements made in the field of crime prevention under her Administration.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Government have placed crime prevention to the forefront of their strategy against crime. I met the participants at the second Downing street seminar on crime prevention on Monday. They reported substantial progress on the wide range of important action points agreed at the seminar I chaired in January. 1 heard, for example, of discounts being offered by a number of insurance companies to those who make their homes more secure; of the progress on a British standard for car security to be published later this year; and of the wealth of locally based activity throughout the United Kingdom. It is a sign of progress that crime prevention now comes high on the agenda of so many public, private and voluntary sector organisations.
The Government are devoting considerable financial resources to crime prevention related activity, including: an estimated £20 million from the urban housing renewal unit's resources to be devoted to the security of run down local authority housing estates; resources to provide over 5,000 places under the community programme devoted to crime prevention work (some £22.5 million); £2.5 million on Home Office crime prevention publicity.
The number of neighbourhood watch schemes in England and Wales has increased to over 14,500.