§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he intends to take to increase the resources available to social services authorities in Wales to divert young people from criminal activity.
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§ Mr. Nicholas BennettThe local authority financial settlement for 1991–92 allows for an 8 per cent. increase in local authorities' revenue expenditure over their budgets for 1990–91. Within the total for 1991–92, the notional amount available for social services is £224 million, an increase of 9 per cent. over the amount local authorities are planning to spend in the current year. The constituent element for diverting young people from crime is not separately identified.
Additional resources are being provided, mainly under the urban programme, as grants for specific projects which directly or indirectly have the effect of diverting young people from criminal activity. The package for 1991–92 includes provision of £2.6 million for social schemes including holiday projects, community leisure and recreation facilities, youth education opportunities, crime prevention and miscellaneous self-help initiatives. Many of these projects will assist by helping to improve the environment in which young people grow up, and by giving them greater opportunities to pursue worthwhile activities; in so doing they will help to divert them away from any interest they might otherwise develop in criminal activity.
As part of the funding for the voluntary sector, the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders is currently receiving a grant of over £50,000 per year for a juvenile crime prevention unit. This works with local authorities and other agencies in south-east Wales to develop crime prevention strategies, which are to a large extent aimed at ensuring that young people are diverted away from crime.
The responsibility for cultivating socially acceptable behaviour in young people is shared by many parts of society, with a particularly important role for parents and the family. Schools have a part to play in putting young people on the right road, and education support grants are being made available to local education authorities to support programmes with a wide range of activities within schools and the youth service which seek to reduce juvenile delinquency in schools, improve school attendance and promote social responsibility among young people. In 1990–91 this amounted to some £160,000 with a provision set for 1991–92 of £274,000.
Finally, initiatives are being pursued to divert young people and others from drug and alcohol abuse. Some of these are funded from the central initiatives to combat drug and alcohol misuse where the provision for 1990–91 is £1.8 million and £150,000 respectively.