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1.41 pm
Lady Olga Maitland (Sutton and Cheam): I congratulate the Government on their enormous commitment to reducing crime, which they have demonstrated by increasing resources and showing tremendous will and determination. It seems ironic that, despite being an increasingly prosperous society, many people are still drawn to crime.
I take a strong line against those who try to link people in the lowest bracket of the economy to crime and to say that poverty breeds criminal records. That is not true. It is an insult to those who may be at the bottom of the economic pile but who are highly law-abiding. We should consider the reasons for crime and its role in society as a whole.
We must consider the stability of the family. There is much evidence drawn from various quarters to show that broken families create a climate in which children turn to crime. Homes where parents are not married and do not have a commitment to each other or to their children do not provide the stability and security in which children can blossom and flourish. Instead, the children often become the victims of parental chaos and, ultimately, they become young criminals.
We should carefully consider the way in which we convey the moral ethos of society in our schools. It is vital that young people should be taught clearly the difference between right and wrong; they should be taught to respect those in authority--not only their teachers and headteachers, but the police. I welcome the fact that many schools are generous in giving the police time to come and talk to the young people, but I regret that there are blackspots where there is still considerable hostility to inviting police into schools.
I pay great tribute to the police. Their work in the community has been magnificent and they deserve all our respect and support.
May I digress for a moment to pay a special tribute to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, which paid a heavy price during the troubles, when 297 police officers were killed and 7,300 were injured? It has carried on undaunted, with total dedication and commitment. It is a salutary fact that now, after a year of the ceasefire, people in the Roman Catholic community are beginning to join the police force, which they never dared to do in the past.
I commend the fact that the Government are committed to providing extra resources to pay for 5,000 more police officers, in addition to the thousands who have already been brought on stream. There will be 4,000 more prison places to support our "tough on crime" policies and we are providing resources for 10,000 more closed circuit television cameras. I also commend the Government for increasing spending on combating crime by £238 million for England and Wales. That is a 4 per cent. increase, so nobody can accuse the Government of being half-hearted.
It is not just a matter of being tough on crime. We must ensure that we are effective in combating crime. I can speak from the experience in my constituency of Sutton. As a result of the enormously wide-ranging measures that have been introduced, crime is down in all parts of my constituency. Burglary and car crime are down and high-street crime has been reduced by the introduction of closed circuit television.
The people of Sutton can walk in our high streets morning, noon and night knowing that they will not be assaulted. There has been an enormous increase in confidence. Crime has fallen by 35 per cent., which is greatly to the credit of the police force.
Closed circuit television is providing an effective deterrent. As the cameras are linked to the police stations 24 hours a day, an intruder, burglar or miscreant can be spotted immediately. The local police station can be telephoned in a jiffy and the police are on the spot right away. That is how we have managed to clear out the thuggery of recent years. Burglars now know that Sutton is not a soft touch and they move elsewhere.
Closed circuit televisions have not only pushed the burglars out of town but have given local businesses tremendous confidence. Businesses now report increased trade. With CCTV monitoring the shops and streets, requests have been made for their installation in non-commercial sites such as bus stops, outside the local post office or in the pedestrian underpass, where people feel vulnerable. Overall, I admire the Government's determination in putting such a deterrent in place.
As we approach Christmas, it is wise and right that the public should be put on the alert to protect their homes. Christmas is when burglars are out. They know that families stock up their homes with precious parcels, and that can be an attraction. Therefore, it is important that people are scrupulous in their domestic security measures.
Other steps can be taken. For instance, retailers could mark goods--particularly those that are highly attractive to burglars such as videos, televisions and mobile telephones--with the local post code. If that is done, whenever property is recovered by the police, they can return it to its rightful owners. We should encourage the photographing of personal jewellery, antiques and pictures. Photographs can be matched by computer, which makes it more likely than ever before that the public will be able to regain property that they thought had been lost for ever.
Juvenile crime hits every area of the country. Sutton has achieved a degree of notoriety because of the Sutton burglar posse--an active group of youngsters who have become lawless and persistent offenders. It seemed that nothing could be done to bring them under control. The Government have taken on board the importance of combating juvenile crime and have made a commitment to provide more secure places for young offenders. I hope that the Minister will be able to make a progress report on the building of secure training centres. In the interregnum, the country will be short of secure places for juveniles. While that continues, lawless youngsters will be put back into foster care or children's homes, or returned to their own homes, only to go out and reoffend. I urge the Government to maintain the momentum. What steps are they taking to make more secure places for juveniles available in the meantime?
The good news is that the focus on juvenile crime has prompted a much greater rapport between the law enforcement agencies and social services. Traditionally, there was a stand-off. Social services felt that every child was innocent and just needed gentle rehabilitation, and others felt that they were hostile to co-operating. As realism has set in, there is genuine co-operation in trying to tackle an intractable problem.
Drugs are a menace to society. I congratulate the Government on their determination to tackle that difficult issue. I am full of admiration for the parents of Leah Betts, who bravely went public about their daughter's tragedy. We must build on that. Drug education has a crucial part to play in combating the curse of drug-ridden societies, not just in this country but throughout the developed world. I congratulate the Government on spending £500 million on drug education programmes. I have seen the success of the youth awareness programme in my constituency, which is now run in all local schools. That is a step in the right direction and society will ultimately benefit.
I offer one word of caution to Opposition Members who like to experiment with wild and extreme ideas, such as the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms Short), who said that she was in favour of decriminalising drugs, and Liberal Democrats who have adopted the same position. That is deeply dangerous, because it gives drug abuse credibility when young people need guidance and a firm steer in developing their lives--and that is not down the road of drugs.
When I leave the Chamber, I will visit Downview prison, which has the most successful drug rehabilitation programme in the country. I am pleased to announce that it is the first prison in the United Kingdom that is entirely drug free. That has been achieved with the support of the Government, who have poured thousands of pounds into the programme, which is now showing its benefits. It means that prisoners coming out of gaol will be freed of the terrible curse of a craving for drugs and a craving to go out and commit more crimes. They will now be able to return to society as human beings with respect, and will, I hope, be able to provide for others.
Ms Janet Anderson (Rossendale and Darwen):
I remind the House, and the Minister in particular, that the subject of the debate is the Government's record on crime. We must ask ourselves, if that record is as successful as Conservative Members have been implying, why there is the need for another crime Bill.
The hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Mr. Evans), in a rather predictable speech, reaffirmed his commitment to castration and hanging. He admitted that his constituents looked to the Government to provide security for them and that they were scared of crime--no wonder, because in his constituency recorded crime alone has increased by 44 per cent. since 1979.
The hon. and Member for Gainsborough and Horncastle (Mr. Leigh) spoke about crime in his constituency, especially rural crime. The House will be
interested to know that the charity, Action with Communities in Rural England, recently found that rural crime is rising, while the number of village police officers and regular patrols is declining. The paper concluded that
"the apparent absence of visible police protection in many communities adds to the fear of crime".
Again, in the hon. Gentleman constituency, recorded crime has risen by a staggering 165 per cent. since 1979.
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