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Computer-related Expenditure

Mr Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of total departmental expenditure on computer-related current and capital work for (a) 1995-96, (b) 1996-97, (c) 1997-98, (d) 1998-99 and (e) 1999-2000; and if he will make a statement. [11390]

Mr. Straw [holding answer 29 July 1997]: The information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Victim Support

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much financial support, at current prices, the Government have given to the voluntary organisation, Victim Support, in each year since 1979. [11353]

Mr. Michael [holding answer 29 July 1997]: In the following table, the annual Home Office grant to Victim Support has been revalued to 1997-98 prices using the gross domestic product deflator.

Financial year	Grant £million
1979-80	0.014
1980-81	0.023
1981-82	0.038
1982-83	0.031
1983-84	0.071
1984-85	0.110
1985-86	0.212
1986-87	0.466
1987-88	2.730
1988-89	3.977
1989-90	5.305
1990-91	5.948
1991-92	6.695
1992-93	8.227
1993-94	9.223
1994-95	10.866
1995-96	11.421
1996-97	12.003
1997-98	12.682

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 268

The previous Government froze the grant to Victim Support at £11.7 million and made it clear that no more money would be forthcoming. However, support for victims is a top priority for us and, in furtherance of that aim, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced on Friday 13 June that the Home Office was increasing its grant to Victim Support by £1 million a year, taking it to £12.7 million.

Closed Circuit Television

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money at current prices has been invested by the Government in closed circuit television in each year since it was introduced. [11351]

Mr. Michael [holding answer 29 July 1997]: Home Office funding for closed circuit television has been provided through three rounds of the CCTV challenge competition--held in 1994-95, 1996-97 and 1997-98. Some £5 million was awarded to local crime prevention partnerships in round 1; £17.1 million in round 2; and £15 million in round 3. The funds awarded in 1994-95 and 1996-97 are worth £5.4 million and £17.6 million, respectively, at current prices.

Awards made in round 1 of the competition have all been paid in full. Awards under rounds 2 and 3 are being paid on a basis of need as projects proceed towards implementation. Actual expenditure in 1996-97 was £9.2 million--£9.5 million at current prices.

Funding for CCTV is available through other programmes such as the single regeneration budget. However, expenditure on CCTV is not identified separately on such programmes.

Crime Statistics

Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the level of recorded crime in each police area in England and Wales in each year since 1992. [11163]

Mr. Michael [holding answer 29 July 1997]: Information by police force area on the levels of crime in terms of numbers and percentages since 1992 is given in the table.

Notifiable offences recorded by the police by police force area England and Wales 1992-96

Police force area	Number of offences					Percentage change
	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96
Avon and Somerset	175,404	175,946	167,975	152,886	156,557	0	-5	-9	2
Bedfordshire	59,436	58,847	52,501	51,104	52,005	-1	-11	-3	2
Cambridgeshire	66,339	65,807	61,732	67,652	69,532	-1	-6	+10	3
Cheshire	79,491	80,156	74,926	73,202	66,214	+1	-7	-2	-10
Cleveland	84,312	78,279	81,732	79,719	78,608	-7	+4	-2	-1
Cumbria	45,336	43,744	42,492	41,230	39,739	-4	-3	-3	-4
Derbyshire	88,449	91,454	85,915	82,380	78,896	+3	-6	-4	-4
Devon and Cornwall	114,675	121,026	109,396	102,193	103,121	+6	-10	-7	1
Dorset	52,238	52,091	55,415	54,582	49,731	0	+6	-2	-9
Durham	67,315	67,180	65,029	57,817	51,849	0	-3	-11	-10
Essex	115,062	114,435	105,995	98,097	100,758	-1	-7	-7	3
Gloucestershire	60,601	60,985	60,371	55,448	53,675	+1	-1	-8	-3
Greater Manchester	395,195	364,858	338,110	327,994	327,976	-8	-7	-3	0
Hampshire	153,256	147,074	141,272	134,319	135,915	-4	-4	-5	1
Hertfordshire	59,129	56,868	54,887	55,891	54,441	-4	-3	+2	-3
Humberside	128,743	140,988	135,826	128,393	126,932	+10	-4	-5	-1
Kent	159,881	161,787	155,344	155,251	147,980	+1	-4	0	-5
Lancashire	132,138	134,581	127,300	124,921	122,487	+2	-5	-2	-2
Leicestershire	97,468	99,863	99,150	93,607	94,125	+2	-1	-6	1
Lincolnshire	49,306	52,664	47,767	48,015	47,077	+7	-9	+1	-2
London, City of	6,768	5,620	5,272	5,727	4,831	-17	-6	+9	-16
Merseyside	149,672	142,325	136,825	153,385	145,956	-5	-4	+12	-5
Metropolitan Police	942,876	910,209	853,478	817,082	841,784	-3	-6	-4	3
Norfolk	66,996	64,319	56,075	51,716	55,314	-4	-13	-8	7
Northamptonshire	59,550	59,850	57,607	56,524	57,378	+1	-4	-2	2
Northumbria	224,442	213,936	204,057	194,141	169,656	-5	-5	-5	-13
North Yorkshire	54,816	57,967	62,153	63,539	56,919	+6	+7	+2	-10
Nottinghamshire	164,417	158,960	152,592	151,371	141,307	-3	-4	-1	-7
South Yorkshire	137,336	157,229	157,089	154,293	151,577	+14	+0	-2	-2
Staffordshire	97,536	98,421	93,757	91,495	92,155	+1	-5	-2	1
Suffolk	44,721	43,138	39,393	38,233	37,094	-4	-9	-3	-3
Surrey	53,468	52,504	46,783	44,313	42,014	-2	-11	-5	-5
Sussex	119,364	111,876	107,105	110,300	118,086	-6	-4	+3	7
Thames Valley	197,799	200,356	186,268	178,702	172,194	+1	-7	-4	-4
Warwickshire	44,996	45,522	42,592	38,906	38,926	+1	-6	-9	0
West Mercia	79,175	82,832	83,949	80,013	82,254	+5	+1	-5	3
West Midlands	329,260	330,091	315,755	318,087	317,892	0	-4	+1	0
West Yorkshire	305,264	301,838	289,716	283,938	268,716	-1	-4	-2	-5
Wiltshire	42,229	41,611	38,147	36,428	35,911	-1	-8	-5	-1
England	5,304,459	5,247,237	4,991,748	4,852,894	4,787,582	-1	-5	-3	-1
Dyfed-Powys	28,539	24,743	21,602	19,419	19,072	-13	-13	-10	-2
Gwent	40,961	40,008	38,431	33,034	44,572	-2	-4	-14	35
North Wales	49,204	48,102	43,451	41,645	41,024	-2	-10	-4	-1
South Wales	168,554	166,165	157,748	153,249	141,578	-1	-5	-3	-8
Wales	287,258	279,018	261,232	247,347	246,246	-3	-6	-5	0
England and Wales	5,591,717	5,526,255	5,252,980	5,100,241	5,033,828	-1	-5	-3	-1

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30 Jul 1997 : Column: 269

Alcohol-related Crime

Mr. Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the estimated cost to the police of alcohol-related incidents and offences in the last year for which figures are available. [11372]

Mr. Michael [holding answer 29 July 1997]: This information is not collected centrally. The cost to the police of responding to incidents and dealing with offences is a matter for individual chief constables.

Senior police officers have expressed concern about the level of drink-related incidents and the Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Knowsley, North and Sefton, East (Mr. Howarth) has recently announced that we will be bringing in a range of measures to tackle the particular problem of young people and alcohol, including a new offence of buying alcohol for unsupervised under

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 270

18-year-olds and clarification of the position on test purchases. The Government will also implement on 1 August the Confiscation of Alcohol Act 1997 which will give the police a discretionary power to confiscate alcohol, or what appears to be alcohol, from under-age drinkers in any public place, or any other place to which the young person had unlawfully gained access.

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