§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable on the locations in South Yorkshire, where potential high-risk crime victims have been issued with free mobile telephones by the South Yorkshire police force; and if he will show in his answer how many have been distributed per location.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThis pioneering scheme, called Safelink, has been devised by the South Yorkshire police50W and is sponsored by Vodafone Ltd., which is providing 16 portable pre-programmed mobile telephones free of charge on a one-year trial basis. Fifteen of the telephones are currently issued to high-risk victims of crime so that they can contact the police quickly if they feel threatened; seven are located in Sheffield, three in Doncaster, two in Barnsley and one each in Bolton-on-Dearne, Rotherham and Stocksbridge.