§ Huw Irranca-DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what Government support is 175W available to police authorities that are considering introducing community support officers or accredited community safety organisations; [89479]
(2) how many accredited community safety organisations have been established in England and Wales, broken down by local authority area. [89481]
§ Mr. DenhamOn 23 September 2002 my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, announced a fund of £19 million for the recruitment of more than 1,000 community support officers (CSOs) in England and Wales this financial year. All 27 forces who made bids for this funding were successful. We are committed to the development of CSOs throughout England and Wales and continue to work with all interested parties to drive forward this important strand of the police reform programme. General guidance on issues relating to CSOs, including the powers available to these officers, was placed on the police reform website on 2 December last year.
Police forces who recruit CSOs under this year's funding initiative will receive full salary and direct on costs from the Home Office during the next financial year and substantial assistance for the following two years. We are also planning to invite all forces to bid for a share of a further tranche of CSO funding available in the next financial year as the next step towards reaching our target of 4,000 CSOs by the end of 2005.
Under Section 40 of the Police Reform Act 2002, the Chief Officer of any police force may establish a community safety accreditation scheme in their force area for the purpose of accrediting suitable individuals with certain low level police powers to deal with antisocial behaviour and environmental problems in the local communities in which they work.
No accreditation schemes have been established yet but we have commenced discussions with individual forces and the Association of Chief Police Officers to take this forward.