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Parenting Orders
4. Mr. Syd Rapson (Portsmouth, North): How many parenting orders have been imposed under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998; and how many are being processed. [137447]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Paul Boateng): Information from the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales indicates that between 30 September 1998 and 31 March 2000, some 284 parenting orders were made in the pilot areas. Information on the number of parenting orders currently being considered is not available centrally, but the order became available nationally on 1 June 2000.
Mr. Rapson: I recognise the success of the parenting orders in the pilot areas, but does my right hon. Friend share my concern about the reluctance--certainly in Portsmouth--of local authorities and police to take up anti-social behaviour orders? Can the Government do anything to encourage organisations to get together to use a facility that will reduce crime and the causes of crime?
Mr. Boateng: Fortunately, reluctance is being overcome--some 130 ASBOs have been successfully obtained and are making a real difference. It is to be hoped that the same degree of perseverance and focus that was shown by my hon. Friend's local authority and by the police covering the Wessex youth offender team, if applied to anti-social behaviour, will have the same success. They were successful with the YOT and with parenting orders; they can do it with the ASBOs, and we look forward to their doing so.
Mr. Michael Fallon (Sevenoaks): If only about100 ASBOs have been obtained in a year and a half, can the Minister really say that Labour legislation is working properly?
Mr. Boateng: Certainly that is the experience both of the police and of local authorities and also of those neighbours and fellow citizens who have seen peace and tranquillity return to their neighbourhoods as a result of the ASBOs.
Miss Ann Widdecombe (Maidstone and The Weald): How many?
Mr. Boateng: One hundred and thirty. It would help if Conservative Members, who constantly bewail the so-called failure of ASBOs, did not call for them to be torn up--their helpful contribution to the debate. The Conservatives let down honest, decent people who seek a quiet and tranquil life; ASBOs meet the needs of those people--it is time that the Opposition woke up to that fact.
Mr. Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston): In the spring, the chief constable of Gloucester said that at last we had a Government who understand the causes of youth crime. We have put measures in place, but,
as my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth, North(Mr. Rapson) pointed out, they need to be expanded rapidly. In my constituency, there are estates where elderly people in particular look forward to the early implementation of such orders. Will my right hon. Friend encourage chief constables to look again at the application of such orders?
Mr. Boateng: I was in Gloucester yesterday; the measures certainly have made a difference there. Chief constables are responding positively to the most recent guidance issued by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. All the signs are that it is beginning to make a difference. Regional crime directors are now in place in order to get the message home. The difference is becoming apparent on the ground. We want efforts to be redoubled to ensure that we take forward that important initiative.
Metropolitan Police (Allowances)
5. Mr. Simon Burns (West Chelmsford): If he will make a statement on the level of allowances made to Metropolitan police officers and the effect on recruitment of officers from other forces. [137449]
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Jack Straw): I increased the London allowance for Metropolitan police officers who joined after 1 September 1994 by around £3,300, bringing it to £6,051, with effect from July 2000. That and other changes now appear to be easing that force's recruitment.
During the current financial year, 21 officers have transferred to the Metropolitan police service and197 officers have transferred from the MPS to other forces. Because of the recruitment difficulties of home counties forces, as I have already mentioned to the House, the employers offered to increase the allowance for officers in those forces working within a 30-mile radius of London by £2,000, and in the 30 to 40-mile band by £1,000, with effect--if it is agreed--from 1 September 2000.
Mr. Burns: I am grateful to the Home Secretary for that reply. Is he aware that in the county of Essex, the number of police officers is 129 below the funded establishment, and that part of the problem in the current recruitment campaign is the distorting effect of the London allowance? May I press the right hon. Gentleman on two points? First, is the 30-mile band realistic? A town such as Chelmsford--a major commuting area--will be outside that band; £1,000 will not be an attractive enough sum to stop people seeking a career in the Met rather than in Essex.
Secondly, as the matter has dragged on for so long, what more can the Home Secretary do to ensure that a decision is reached before Christmas rather than in February? He urgently needs to address the recruitment problems experienced in Essex and other home counties.
Mr. Straw: We think that the 30-mile band is realistic, but obviously we are open to argument about the overall amount of money that has been allocated.
On the hon. Gentleman's second point, I want to see progress made in the Police Negotiating Board. Under the constitution of that body I have no power even to order it to meet, but, because of his question, I have said that I want it to meet as quickly as possible. Not everybody will be happy with the final outcome, but I believe that that type of increase in that type of band will help to overcome the recruitment problems--which I recognise--of the home counties forces. We allocated quite a lot of extra money to Essex to ensure that if the police can attract the recruits, their numbers rise significantly above the March 1997 levels--hopefully rising to record levels after that. Even now, the MPS is a net exporter of officers, not a net importer.
Mr. John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington): Officers in my constituency have welcomed the increase in allowances, but recruitment is still affected by the supply of affordable housing. Will my right hon. Friend continue to liaise with his colleagues in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions to promote the potential for local authorities to introduce a requirement for key worker housing in planning applications for housing developments above a certain scale? Will he report to the House on that as soon as possible?
Mr. Straw: My hon. Friend raises an important point. He has my support, and I shall report to the House and to him about it.
Dr. Vincent Cable (Twickenham): Does the Home Secretary accept that, despite the very welcome increase in allowances, the monthly figures for recruitment suggest that they are insufficient to prevent a further decline in Metropolitan police numbers? What further measures does he have under consideration to alleviate a position that is no longer just a problem, but is becoming a critical emergency in many parts of London?
Mr. Straw: I do not accept the hon. Gentleman's point. All the evidence now suggests that overall police numbers--including, we hope, in the Metropolitan police area--are beginning to bottom out, although there are inevitably lags in terms of getting recruits into the system. He will have seen reports in the newspapers from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis showing the relative success of recruitment inside the Metropolitan police. In addition to improving recruitment and increasing the speed of getting recruits into the training schools, which has been a big problem in the past, the Commissioner of Police is putting much effort into dealing with the problem of retaining officers in the service. The combination of those measures and the additional funds that we have provided will ensure that police numbers start to rise.
Police Numbers (Sussex)
6. Mr. Nigel Waterson (Eastbourne): What recent representations he has received about police numbers in Sussex. [137450]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Charles Clarke): I have received a number of representations in recent months from residents of Sussex about police
numbers, including a petition from the Memorial Square residents action group. The hon. Gentleman also wrote to me on 27 July about the petition and the policing of Eastbourne, and I replied fairly fully in August.
Mr. Waterson: Does the Minister accept that the more than 15,000 people who signed the petition are angry? Despite pre-election promises, there are 150 fewer police officers in Sussex than there were at the time of the last election. Those people are sick and tired of excuses from the Home Office, so will he commit himself to ensuring that, by the time of the next election, we will have at least as many police officers on the beat in Sussex as we did in 1997?
Mr. Clarke: I made three points clear in my letter to the hon. Gentleman. First, there has been a 3.7 per cent. increase in spending in Sussex in the past year; secondly, we have allocated through the crime fighting fund an extra 206 officers for Sussex over that period; and, thirdly, Sussex police anticipate an increase in police numbers of between 70 and 76 next year. As the hon. Gentleman will understand, it is a matter for the chief constable to decide where he allocates officers within his police authority area, and neither he nor I would want to second-guess him on that. The Government have a strong record of which we can be proud.
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