§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
What consideration is being given to the use of part of the additional resources to be made available under both European Union and national regional policies in order to reduce crime and nuisance and to protect persons and property. [HL3563]
§ Lord Williams of MostynThere are many sources of funding available to local communities to help them improve community safety. These include: the urban European Community initiative programmes which operate in the United Kingdom and provide measures to improve security provisions and prevent crime in eligible areas in order to encourage economic development; the Single Regeneration Budget which provides resources to support regeneration initiatives in England (the scheme it supports can have a mix of objectives, including tackling crime, the prevention of drug abuse and improvements to community safety); the new deal for Communities which was launched in September 1998 and which earmarked £800 million over three years to help the most deprived communities to tackle their problems in an intensive and co-ordinated way (tackling crime in their neighbourhoods will be one of a number of key issues to be addressed by the partnerships established under the programme); and the80WA Crime Reduction Programme which was announced by my right honourable friend the Home Secretary last year and which is providing £400 million for community safety initiatives in England and Wales.