| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
24 Mar 2003 : Column 14—continued
Crime Detection
9. Mr. David Amess (Southend, West): If he will make a statement on the crime detection rate. [104115]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Bob Ainsworth): The Government have taken a number of measures to improve the detection rate. These include the creation of the police standards unit, which has a fundamental remit to increase detections; the increased use of technology, including automatic number plate recognition and video identification parades; a major expansion of resources for forensic science; and the rolling out of the national intelligence model. These measures should deliver a significant improvement in detection rates, and force performance is being tracked nationally by means of the police performance monitors launched last month by my right hon. Friend the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Denham).
Mr. Amess : I congratulate policemen and women throughout Southend and Essex on their magnificent attempts to detect crime, but is the Minister aware of the increasing feeling among the general public that it is a complete waste of time to send Members of Parliament to this place to legislate when the laws that we make are increasingly not being enforced and when crimes are not being detected? Will the Minister tell the House what advice he would give to senior officers as to how they should deploy their scarce resources, in terms of striking a balance between detecting a huge number of less serious crimes and detecting those that are serious?
Sir Patrick Cormack (South Staffordshire): Answer.
Mr. Ainsworth: I am unable to answer for why people in the constituency of the hon. Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) feel that it is a waste of time sending Members to the House. He had probably best answer that for himself. To be serious, he should know that detection rates are not what they should be, so it is important that we seek to improve them, although that
is not the only responsibility for the police. They have to provide reassurance and visibility if we are to reduce the fear of crime in the same way that we have reduced most categories of crime, but there are important opportunities in terms of the use of technology, which can substantially bear on detection rates.The facility of video identification parades is massively more efficient in terms of quickly providing identities of suspects than the old system, and the gains have real potential. I hope that the hon. Gentleman continues to be interested as we try to roll out all those initiatives, which are designed to improve the detection rate and the confidence that his constituents have.
Caroline Flint (Don Valley): As the days get longer and warmer, the bane of many people's lives in Don Valley and Doncaster are those people who illegally use motor bikes without insurance on footpaths, on estates where people live and on the streets. That is despite the fact that on any Sunday morning at any given point in my constituency, the regular white van pulls up to unload those motor bikes and the people who use them. What is my hon. Friend's advice for South Yorkshire police on having a strategy to tackle that bane of people's lives, which could lead to serious accident and death?
Mr. Ainsworth: As my hon. Friend will be aware, we have strengthened the law through the Police Reform Act 2002, which was introduced in November, to deal with exactly the problems that she is talking about. If there is a particular problem in her locality that she wants to bring to my attention, I will most certainly raise it with the local police on her behalf.
Mr. David Cameron (Witney): Will the Minister give us an update on the improvements in the burglary detection rate? Is he aware that in my west Oxfordshire constituency, a spate of burglaries has been carried out by a group believed to be based in the next-door county? What is the National Crime Squad doing in terms of targeting cross-border burglary to put my constituents' minds at rest? They do not feel that the problem is being dealt with.
Mr. Ainsworth: The hon. Gentleman knows that burglary rates have fallen substantially over recent years, but if there is a problem of the type he is talking about, it is not necessarily the case that we automatically call on the National Crime Squad to deal with it. There ought to be a reasonable level of cross-border co-operation. If there is not, I would be happy to hear from him as to why that is so.
We provided additional funding through the police standards unit for enhanced forensic service, and the sponsoring of such an enhanced service for the Lincolnshire county force led to burglary detection rates increasing from 13.4 to 25 per cent. The hon. Gentleman can see from that that the use of some of those new techniques and the adequate use of forensic science can dramatically increase detection rates.
Dr. Vincent Cable (Twickenham): Following that reply on the forensic service, is the Minister aware of the serious disquiet in the police that the proposed privatisation of that service could seriously compromise its priorities?
Mr. Ainsworth: There is a review of the forensic service, not a proposed privatisation as the hon. Gentleman suggests, which is considering how the service can be delivered effectively and cost-effectively. I do not know whether he thinks that those reviews should not take place, but we most certainly think that they should.
Asylum Estate (Dover)
11. Mr. Gwyn Prosser (Dover): What plans he has to increase the asylum estate in the Dover constituency. [104117]
The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Beverley Hughes): There are no plans to put further asylum centres in the Dover constituency.
Mr. Prosser : I thank my hon. Friend for her answer, and I know that her assurances will be well received by my constituents in Dover, who rightly believe that they have borne more than their fair share of responsibility for supporting and dealing with asylum seekers. Does she accept that the past poor performance of the National Asylum Support Service has given us bad decisions and inadequate consultations, which have led to great problems, especially with respect to asylum accommodation? What measures has she taken to improve the performance of NASS?
Beverley Hughes: I agree that my hon. Friend's constituency has arguably borne more than its fair share of the difficulties involved in supporting asylum seekers. I thank him not just for the constructive way in which he has represented his constituents, but for recognising that we all have some responsibility for the problem.
I hope my hon. Friend will acknowledge that the measures adopted in northern France have resulted in a big drop in the number of clandestine entrants arriving in Dover. I can tell him unequivocally that we will not create any more induction and removal centres for asylum seekers in Dover, or use Dover for any accommodation purposes beyond our existing contracts.
As for NASS, I am trying to deal with all the issues my hon. Friend raised in the regionalisation and review that I have instituted, particularly communication and joint working between NASS and local authorities in the regional consortium.
Prostitution
12. Dr. Brian Iddon (Bolton, South-East): What plans he has to review the law on prostitution. [104118]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (
Hilary Benn): My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is examining the scope for a review of prostitution, including the serious drug abuse, violent crime, trafficking, antisocial behaviour and damage to local communities often associated with it.
Dr. Iddon : In a nine-month period last year, in a small part of my constituency, there were three murders. One of the victims was a man and two were young women, one regrettably pregnant, who were supporting a heroin habit through prostitution. Does it not make sense to take such young women off the streets and offer them clinically pure heroin, in a clinic, for their own safety?
Hilary Benn: I am sorry to hear about the three murders. I agree that we need to do more to help those who have been drawn into prostitution because of a drug habit to end that habit. That is why all the work that the Government are doing to make drug treatment more available will be of benefit. It is also why, through the crime reduction programme, we are funding a number of projects. In particular, we are trying to help women and young people involved in prostitution to get out of the profession.
Dr. Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park): Is the Minister aware of the huge rise in the number of cases of sexually transmitted disease, especially among young people, and of the threat of a spread of the AIDS epidemic through Europe from other continents? Would it not be far better to regulate prostitution in some way, so that prostitutes can be medically supervised and do not transmit diseases as they do now?
Hilary Benn: I agree that it is important to provide proper health advice and support for those engaged in prostitution. Many voluntary organisations throughout the country are trying to provide such support, so that the health risks can be minimised both for those engaged in prostitution and for others.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |