HC Deb 13 November 1991 vol 198 cc535-6W
Ms. Walley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he will give to funding crime prevention measures, including improved street lighting, to help reverse the increased level of burglary in Stoke-on-Trent, North constituency; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. John Patten

Grants for specific crime prevention projects are made under the Home Office safer cities programme and the Department of the Environment's estate action and urban programme schemes. These are targeted largely at inner city areas where crime rates are generally higher than elsewhere. Staffordshire police are taking action to tackle the incidence of burglary in Stoke-on-Trent. Measures such as the development of neighbourhood watch schemes and encouraging householders to take steps, often at little or no cost, to secure their property can be simple but effective. Recent research for the Home Office has shown, however, that while good street lighting can help to reduce the fear of crime, it has little effect on crime itself.