HC Deb 19 October 1988 vol 138 cc881-2W
Mr. Redmond

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, for each south Yorkshire police division(a) the date on which the first neighbourhood watch schemes were established, (b) the crime rate on that date and (c) the crime rate on the most recent available date.

Mr. John Patten

I understand the first neighbourhood watch schemes were established in each South Yorkshire police division are as follows:

Division Date Location
Rotherham January 1984 Firbeck Village
West Bar (Central Sheffield) August 1984 Arbourthorne Estate
Barnsley April 1985 Greenmoor Village
Doncaster June 1985 Clayton Village
South Sheffield October 1985 Alderson Place
North Sheffield June 1986 Phenistone Road

I regret that information about crime rates on particular dates cannot be provided.

Mr. Redmond

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many neighbourhood watch schemes there are in each South Yorkshire police division; and by what percentage the crime rate has fallen or risen since these schemes began.

Mr. John Patten

[pursuant to his reply, 20 July 1988 c. 642]: I regret that my answer was incomplete. The full text of the reply is as follows:

I understand from the chief constable of South Yorkshire that the first neighbourhood watch schemes in his police force area was established in January 1984 and that by the end of June 1988 the total number of schemes had increased to 718. The following table shows the number of schemes in each police division:—

Division Number of Neighbourhood Watch Schemes
Doncaster 152
Barnsley 76
Rotherham 63
West Bar 44
South Sheffield 241
North Sheffield 142
Total 718

Each of these schemes was established at different times between January 1984 and 1988 and it is not possible to state by what percentage the crime rate has fallen or risen since each scheme began.

However, we welcome the fact that total recorded crime in the South Yorkshire police force area in the first six months of this year has fallen by 4.8 per cent, and residential burglaries by 10.2 per cent, compared with the same period in 1987.