§ Mr. Bob RussellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he intends taking to increase public confidence in, and awareness of, the Crimestoppers system of reporting suspected criminals; and if he will publish a copy of his reply to the Director of the Crimestoppers Trust in response to the Trust's offer to help any Government initiative to raise the profile of Crimestoppers. [82888]
§ Mr. StrawThe Government fully recognise the great value of Crimestoppers. Ministers attend Crimestoppers Trust events to support its work as other commitments allow. I have recently written to the Director of Crimestoppers Trust to outline my support for exploring further the idea that the Home Office and Crimestoppers Trust might work together to raise the profile of Crimestoppers Trust to encourage the use of Crimestoppers by members of the public. Officials will shortly be meeting the Director of Crimestoppers to take matters forward.
The text of the letter was:
464WDear Mr. CarterThank you for your letter of 2 March outlining your idea that Crimestoppers and the Home Office might work together on a campaign to encourage people, particularly from minority ethnic communities, to report crime anonymously using the Crimestoppers telephone number.Clearly, we want to do all we can to involve minority ethnic communities in the fight against crime. I know that was the reasoning behind the lunch that I attended last October to promote Crimestoppers to the Asian community. I would be interested in looking in more detail at how such a campaign might work. I have asked officials to contact you to discuss the idea further.Once again I would like to reiterate my support for the work that Crimestoppers does throughout Britain to help in the fight against crime and I look forward to hearing how this idea develops.The Home Secretary.
§ Mr. Bob RussellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money was allocated by the Government to fund Crimestoppers in each of the last five financial years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.[82887]
§ Mr. StrawCrimestoppers has not sought core Government funding and none has been allocated to it by the Government.
§ Mr. Bob RussellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been arrested in each of the last five years for which figures are available as a result of information supplied to Crimestoppers.[82886]
§ Mr. StrawI understand from Crimestoppers Trust that the number of people arrested and charged for each of the last five years as a result of information supplied to Crimestoppers was as follows:
Year Arrested and charged 1994 2,943 1995 3,355 1996 4,347 1997 4,726 1998 5,169 These figures can be broken down into the following categories for 1998:
Crime Total arrested and charged Murder 30 Attempted murder 12 Rape 14 Robbery 206 Assault 135 Burglary 396 Firearms 53 Drugs 2,400 Arson 22 Theft 430 Vehicle Crime 505 Sexual Assault 14 Fraud 179 Other crimes 570 Total 5,169 The total number of people arrested and charged as a result of information supplied to Crimestoppers for the period 1 January 1999–end March 1999 is 1,211.