§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the level of crime associated with the theft of blue badge disabled parking permits; what steps his Department is taking to deal with such crime; and if he will make a statement. [132085]
§ Mr. McNultyVehicle crime is a matter that the Government continues to take very seriously and many initiatives are being taken forward to reduce levels of crime and theft in particular. Indeed, in recent years there has been a fall in such crime and we are on track to meet our target to reduce vehicle crime (thefts of and theft from vehicles) by 30% by March 2004.
Theft of Blue Badges and abuse of the Blue Badge Scheme is of concern to the Department. These are issues that were considered during a recent comprehensive review of the Scheme, which concluded with 47 recommendations (including a number of enforcement measures) from our statutory advisers, the Disabled Persons' Transport Advisory Committee. These have been accepted by the Government and are being taken forward. The enforcement measures include an important power for the police, traffic wardens and local authority parking enforcement officers to inspect badges to check details and the photograph of the badge holder. We are also looking at the feasibility of establishing a national database of badge holders; the introduction of smartcard technology; increasing penalties for abuse and misuse of the Scheme.
The power to inspect, and a number of other measures, will need to be introduced through primary legislation and we are looking for a suitable legislative opportunity to do so. We aim to implement the changes at the earliest opportunity.
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