HC Deb 26 April 2001 vol 367 cc372-4W
Mr. Bercow

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the constituency, the effects on the Dulwich and West Norwood constituency of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [158860]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The 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 Dulwich and West Norwood constituency or the immediate locality:

Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI)

Under round 1 of the RBI, £65,000 was awarded to the West Camberwell area to fund a lock-fitting service to target-harden burglary victims and vulnerable properties and the establishment of a detached youth project. The funding is also being used to improve quality of service to victims. £65,000 was also awarded to a project in Parkside Plus to correct physical vulnerability of vulnerable estates in the target area and develop new ways of working with offenders.

Under round 2 of the initiative, the Metropolitan police in partnership with the London borough of Southwark were awarded £27,000 for a project covering Herne Hill and Croxted Road to tackle situational vulnerability and unmarked property.

Targeted Policing Initiative

The Metropolitan police, in partnership with the London boroughs of Islington, Camden and Southwark, have been awarded £570,000 for a project targeting autocrime through Operation Arrow, which is aimed at 'hotspots' in the three boroughs. The Metropolitan police have been awarded £688,000 for a project in Southwark to tackle hate crime. Methods used will include the creation of self-help groups defined by cultural, ethnic or lifestyle profile and supported by a dedicated co-ordinator.

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

The Crystal Palace Partnership was awarded approximately £1.4 million for a scheme covering the London boroughs of Bromley, Croydon and Lambeth. The scheme will allow for 34 new cameras, designed to help reduce incidents of street crime, commercial robbery, violent offences, drugs offences, criminal damage and vehicle crime.

Youth Offending

Dulwich and West Norwood is served by Lambeth Youth Offending Team (YOT), Southwark YOT and Croydon YOT. All three YOTs have several intervention schemes and bail supervision schemes operating. These schemes receive funding towards these projects from the Youth Justice Board (YJB). The YOTs are multi-agency teams consisting of staff from: Social Services; Police; Probation; Department for Health and Department for Education and Employment as well as youth justice workers. The YOTs work in partnerships with other organisations to tackle problems of substance abuse, persistent offending, social exclusion and truancy and other problems that may cause young people to offend. Croydon YOT is currently running two intervention schemes in conjunction with the Prince's Trust. These projects aim to focus on mentoring and education and team-building, values and attitudes.

Other projects being run include: Croydon '55' Drug Project, to provide specialist resources to young people whose offending is drug related; Croydon Community Partnership with and for Young People, the key objective of which is the diversion of young people from criminal activities by using a programme of social education; Restorative Justice Conferencing Project, the YOT works with Southwark Mediation Centre to provide direct and indirect victim-offender mediation and family group conferencing services; Positive Parenting and Behavioural Change Programme, this includes the assessment of cognitive abilities, direct work from the psychologist or Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN). There are bail support schemes being run which aim to provide support and supervision to young people on remand to avoid them having to be removed from home because of their offending and to reduce offending while on bail and reduce delays caused by non-appearance in court.

More generally, all of the policies of the Home Office will impact on the residents of Dulwich and West Norwood to a greater or lesser extent. For example: 376 crime and disorder reduction partnerships have been established; racial harassment and 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; and good 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.