Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the total amount of public money spent annually on crime prevention in England and Wales; and what percentage this represents of the cost of policing.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe information available is as follows. Estimated expenditure on crime prevention in its widest sense across Government Departments in England and Wales in 1992–93 was £200 million. That figure is separate from and additional to public expenditure on the police which was £5.9 billion in 1992–93 and £6.2 billion in 1993–94, an increase of 87 per cent. in real terms since 1978–79. The prevention of crime is one of the key functions of the police. Local authorities also spend money on crime prevention, but information on this is not held centrally.