§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment has been made of whether police schemes for providing young people with purposeful activity of a sporting nature during their leisure time or vacation provided any evidence of a reduction in criminal referrals; how many such schemes are in operation; and what assessment has been made as to the costs of these schemes compared with the cost of referrals.
§ Mr. John PattenThere are no central records of schemes of this kind, although we are aware of many being run throughout the country, most of which draw local sponsorship and voluntary effort. It is for chief officers to decide whether to establish such schemes and to assess their value within the general cost-effective management of each force. One scheme, the Staffordshire police activity and community enterprise programme, (SPACE) in Staffordshire, has been the subject of a Home Office crime prevention unit paper which concluded that there was a possible link between SPACE and changes in the local crime pattern, but that other factors could also be involved. In Avon and Somerset, police schools liaison officers run over 100 different schemes and activities.