§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what(a) amount and (b) percentage of his Department's expenditure, in (i) the current and (ii) the next financial year, will be spent on crime prevention.[16540]
§ Mr. MichaelHome Office expenditure specifically allocated to crime prevention in 1997–98 is £19.3 million. That figure is additional to £7.2 billion public expenditure on the police service. The prevention of crime is one of the key functions of the police service and the Government are committed to encouraging a partnership approach to crime prevention.
It is not possible to identify the level of public expenditure on the police service or other programmes within the Home Office budget which is devoted to crime prevention. Therefore, it is not possible to provide a percentage of the overall budget devoted to crime prevention.
Detailed expenditure plans for 1998–99 have yet to be finalised.