§ Mr. Edward DaveyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will estimate the cost of graffiti to public and private property owners over the past four years; what plans he has to tackle the problem of graffiti on public and private property; and what recent guidance he has given to paint spray manufacturers and retailers concerning age limits on the sale of their products. [109249]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeGraffiti is a form of criminal damage, which is recorded in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin—Notifiable Offences. According to the Recorded Crime Statistics covering England and Wales from October 1998 to September 1999, there were 908,585 offences of criminal damage. There is no sub-total for graffiti and it is not, therefore, possible to estimate the costs of graffiti over the past four years.
The Government take all forms of criminal damage seriously. Under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, where the value of the damage is more than £2,000, the 147W maximum penalty is ten years imprisonment for those over 18 and over, and up to two years detention in a Young Offender Institution for those aged 15–17.
The Home Office recognise that the most effective way to tackle vandalism is through co-ordinated preventive action at the local level involving all of the relevant agencies, such as the police, local authorities and schools. That is why the police and local authorities now have a statutory duty under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to develop crime reduction partnerships.
Regarding guidance for paint spray manufactures and retailers, I understand the attraction of introducing a ban on the sale of aerosol paint. To introduce a blanket ban on the sale of aerosol paint, however, would penalise young people who have a legitimate reason for their purchase. Such a ban would prevent the determined graffiti "artists" from obtaining aerosol paint and continuing their criminal activity. Retailers should, as a matter of course, give consideration to whom they sell such products. There are no plans to issue guidance on this; nor do we have any present plans to legislate against the sale of spray paints. The matter will be kept under review.