Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Geoffrey Lofthouse): In the 60 minutes available before the Front Bench winding-up speeches, four hon. Members hope to catch my eye. With a little co-operation, it should be possible for all of them to speak.
Mrs. Bridget Prentice (Lewisham, East): May I say at the outset, if my voice will last for the short time that I intend to speak, that I apologise for not being present for the opening speeches? I submitted a note to Madam Speaker explaining that I would be at a constituency event that I could not miss. In fact, the event had some bearing on today's debate, which is part of the reason why I was very keen to return to make some comments.
I suspect that, throughout today's debate, the Government expect to hear some sort of congratulations on the fact that there have--apparently--been some reductions in the crime figures. I shall make two points about that. First, can we be absolutely sure that crime figures have fallen? Secondly, who is responsible for the fall?
A number of Labour Members have already said--and we will continue to repeat the fact--that crime has gone through the roof since 1979. While there might appear to
have been some reduction in the past year, which indeed must be welcomed, the Government cannot be complacent about their record.
What do we understand from the crime figures? One of my great concerns--it affects many of my constituents-- is the fear of crime, especially among women and the elderly, and increasingly among young people. Much credit for reductions in crime must go not to the Government but to the police. In London, of course, we have seen remarkable changes and a reduction in burglary rates as a result of targeted attempts such us Operation Bumblebee. That must be welcomed and commended, and credit must be given to the Metropolitan police.
Some of the apparent drop in crime is, however, due to the fear of women and elderly people. They are afraid to go out at night or to travel on trains or the tube because of the possibility of crime, and they avoid areas where they fear they might become victims. It is for that reason that prevention of crime is so important. I shall cite a number of examples of such prevention to show just how effective it has been.
I and a number of my colleagues in south-east London have been working over the years with British Rail-- or Railtrack, or whatever it is called now, given that the Government keep slicing it up like pieces of bread-- to make our stations safer. It is to the credit of Network SouthEast, for example, that, in collaboration with Lewisham council, a station very close to my home-- in Hither Green--has been cleaned up, brightened up and made much more safe and pleasant to use.
As Crime Concern has said, we should be giving much more weight to the effect of the crime prevention measures that have been adopted by many local authorities in co-operation and in partnership with their local police forces.
In my constituency today, I spoke to a number of people including people from other local authority areas. I make no excuse for talking exclusively about south-east London because everyone recognises that south-east London has had a reputation, which has not always been justified, of being a high-crime area. It is an area where the councils and the police have worked together closely, not just to reduce crime, but to change the reputation.
In Greenwich, for example, the Labour council is working closely with the university of Greenwich to monitor and study areas where people feel unsafe. The university is carrying out a survey of its students close to the halls of residence to see what measures can be taken to make them feel safe. As I said earlier, even young people are fearful about going out at night nowadays. The university is studying improving street lighting and moving bus stops, if necessary, to make the area better. Those are practical, simple measures, but they will make a considerable difference to the quality of life of the community in Greenwich.
Since I was a councillor, I have always said that I have never understood why, when we have street lighting, we put the emphasis on lighting for cars and not for people. It is high time that we put the emphasis not only on the car on the road, but on the passer-by on the pavement.
In Croydon, the police are doing something rather dangerous. The council has invited young people to meet the local police and to tell them exactly what they think of them. It is brave of the local police to have taken that on board. They recognise that a number of young people,
for whatever reason, distrust their local police. The mayor of Croydon said that at least people are now talking and beginning to break down the barriers between the police and young people. That too has been done by a Labour council in Croydon, which is working in partnership with the local police force.
Lewisham borough council has, for some time, been working in partnership with the local police and businesses to prevent crime. A community safety strategy was recently launched there by the Metropolitan commissioner, Paul Condon, and by my good friend the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw). At the time, we expected the controversy to surround Paul Condon's comments about targeting young people who were felt to be involved in street crime, which is an important issue in Lewisham. As it happened, the controversy surrounded my hon. Friend's remarks about sorting out crime on the streets. I put on record the fact that, having listened to his speech, I can say that it was nothing like the interpretation that was put on it by some of the more so-called liberal newspapers. It was extremely well received by all the community leaders in Lewisham and I hope that the key measures my hon. Friend proposed will be put in place.
Like a few other councils, Lewisham has incorporated in its core responsibilities a duty of crime prevention. The Morgan report recommended such a measure to the Home Secretary and I am disappointed that he has seen fit to shelve the report. I hope that the Minister will tell us that the Government are rethinking their views on the Morgan report and that they will give local authorities the duty of crime prevention. Certainly the next Labour Government will do just that.
Lewisham has an assistant director in each of its directorates who has responsibility for that core duty. That is why tenants are getting stronger doors, better locks and locks on windows, and why their estates are being refurbished. At minimal cost, a Lewisham direct team is installing security lights for tenants and other residents who ask for them.
The Government have been loud in their commendation of closed circuit television and about all the money that they are putting into it. We are all well aware of the effectiveness of CCTV in our town centres. Lewisham has three town centres which can benefit from it, but the sums so far provided have been minuscule. I hope that the Government will think seriously about increasing the funding in view of the enormous preventive effect that CCTV has had where it has been installed.
I want to make a special plea on behalf of Lewisham, because it is now able--uniquely--to download information about an incident in any of its three town centres to the police computer-aided dispatch room. There is nobody between the police and the incident--no one has to interpret the seriousness of the incident or the kind of response needed. That decision is left entirely to the police in the police station--the professionals. I hope that, when the Government next dole out the pennies for closed circuit television, they will agree that the unique experiment in Lewisham deserves at least as much support from the Government as is being given by the council and others.
The council and the local police are doing more than that. Through the curriculum, they are also tackling the causes of crime. Last week, I had a most interesting experience at Launcelot school, in my constituency, where primary school children were being taught about drugs through drama and workshops led by a theatre group based in Deptford and Lewisham, Theatre Adad. They learnt not only about the health hazards, but about how drugs draw young people into criminal activity.
After the children have worked with the theatre group, the local police do follow-up work with them. We should all support and encourage such initiatives, but there is only a tiny amount in school budgets for it, and enormous cuts have been made in Government funding for the youth service. Unless the work with youngsters in primary schools can be developed through the youth service and in other ways, it might fall by the wayside. The Government cannot take credit with one hand and cut innovative schemes and partnerships with the other.
If we are to instil a conscience in young people about what is right and wrong, and about the hurt that they can cause by some of their actions, we must help them to understand that they live in a community and have responsibilities to others as well as receiving support from them. We can do that only through co-operation and partnership between the police and local authorities.
Mr. Matthew Banks (Southport):
I am sorry that the hon. and learned Member for Montgomery (Mr. Carlile) is not in the Chamber, because he refused to allow me to intervene in his speech to question him about his party conference's support for the legalisation of cannabis a couple of years ago. I am not surprised that he did not allow me to intervene; I think that he must have taken fright. I also deplore the way in which he dealt with my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Lady Olga Maitland)--but lack of time prevents me from pursuing that matter now. Never mind whether the Liberal Democrats support a royal commission or whatever--the fact is that the party conference voted to liberalise the drugs regime. I deplore that policy, and the fact that the party leadership took no action whatsoever in 1995 to rectify the decision made in 1994.
Next Section
| Index | Home Page |