§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the constituency, the effect on the Great Grimsby constituency of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [156246]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe Home Office is working to build a safe, just and tolerant society in which the rights and responsibilities of individuals, families and communities are properly balanced, and the protection and security of the public are maintained. Detailed information on the impact of Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in Home Office Annual Reports. A copy of the most recent report, Home Office Annual Report 2000–01, is available in the Library. Information on recorded crime and policing is also published. "Recorded Crime England and Wales, 12 months to September 2000" and "Police Service Strength England and Wales, 30 September 2000" can be found in the Library. The recorded crime statistics include information on recorded crime by Basic Command Unit and Crime and Disorder partnerships.
The impact of Home Office policies and actions is not normally examined by constituency and the statistics which the Department collects, such as recorded crime, cannot be matched in the way requested although set out are examples relating to the Great Grimsby constituency or the immediate locality:
Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI)
Humberside police in partnership with North East Lincolnshire council were awarded approximately £545,000 for a scheme in Grimsby. Main interventions proposed include: reduction of repeat victimisation; target hardening; property marking; cooling hotspots; disruption of main offender access routes and a co-ordinated police, probation and Young Offending Team (YOT) partnership to work on prolific young offenders. DNA analysis and crime scene matching will also be used to increase detection potential of offences and quality life improvement measures.
Youth Offending
Great Grimsby is covered by North East Lincolnshire YOT, which also covers Cleethorpes and Immingham. The YOT is a multi-agency team working closely together with a variety of partners. One project, established with Government funding from the Reducing Burglary initiative, is known as the Burglary Understanding and Reduction Partnership. Part of this is the Targeted Offender Programme involving staff members from police, probation and the YOT. They are based at the police station and target their work on known burglars, combining and exchanging intelligence, surveillance and intensive interventions.
In 2000, a Summer Splash project was run, funded largely through concentrating Government money and focusing on the children and young people living in the highest crime areas of North East Lincolnshire. Around 500 children made use of the various activities in the 146W project and the police reported a reduction in juvenile crime and anti-social behaviour in the area over that period. 2001 will see not only a repeat of this work but an expansion so than these opportunities and benefits can be enjoyed for more than just the school holiday periods. This Youth Activities Project will be mainly SRB (Social Regeneration Budget) funded and is expected to work with 1,600 children and young people during the coming year. In the year 2000–01 the rate of re-offending on bail was 10 per cent. lower than in the previous year.
More generally, all of the policies of the Home Office will impact on the residents of Great Grimsby to a greater or lesser extent. For example:
376 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships have been established;racial harassment am racially motivated crimes have been made criminal offences by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998;the asylum backlog has been cut from 103,495 at the end of January 2000 to 49,690 by the end of February 2001; andgood progress is being made in reducing the incidence of fire deaths in England and Wales. They have dropped from 605 in 1997 to 534 in 1999.Information on the Home Office and its policies is also published on its website www.homeoffice.gov.uk.