§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he is taking to reduce the level of street robbery in Romford. [21013]
§ Mr. DenhamWe are determined to reduce the number of robberies across the country as a whole. That is why we have given the five metropolitan forces, including the Metropolitan police, an additional £20 million specifically to assist their efforts in tackling robbery, and have set them the challenging target of a 14 per cent, reduction of robbery in our principal cities by March 2005. We are working with those forces, as well as progressing an extensive robbery research programme, to enable us to identify good practice in tackling robbery which we will ensure is disseminated to all forces.
We have launched a national initiative with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the mobile phone industry to crack down on robbery of mobile phones. We have also published a Robbery Toolkit which is available 487W to all forces and those involved in crime reduction and community safety and will help them to work as effectively as possible in tackling robbery.