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Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge): The improvements and schemes that my hon. Friend describes are to be applauded, but if people do not feel safe when they leave their homes, environmental improvements will not be of much help to them. In making a Sunday morning visit in one part of my constituency, I met several pensioners who told me that they were too afraid to leave their homes at night because of the extensive drug dealing in
their area, as well as prostitution. I hope that she will encourage her Home Office colleagues to continue the good work that they are doing in those important areas.
Yvette Cooper: My hon. Friend is right. She will know that Home Office Ministers feel strongly about those problems. It is one of the most basic building blocks of a community that people can feel safe to walk the streets and join in with what is happening in their communities, and do not feel isolated in their homes because of fear of crime. One of the programmes that has made the biggest impact on these issues in past few years has been the neighbourhood wardens programme. There are many examples throughout the country of extremely popular neighbourhood wardens programmes in which local wardens know the area where they work.
Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden): Is my hon. Friend aware that in the Lavender Fields ward of my borough, Merton, on one of our worst estates, Sadlers Close, the police had a 47 per cent. reduction in the number of calls that they received about antisocial behaviour as a direct result of the introduction of a fabulous community warden?
Yvette Cooper: My hon. Friend is right that there are many examples of neighbourhood wardens making a substantial impact on the work of the police by not only addressing crime and the fear of crime, but providing wide-ranging community support. For example, earlier today I heard a story about a vulnerable resident who suffered from considerable mental health and other problems, and whose family in Australia had become worried about her. They contacted the local neighbourhood wardens through the internet to ask them to keep an eye on her. The wardens made regular visits and were able to provide support, including making sure that she got the health care that she needed. Because neighbourhood wardens work very much as part of and with their local community, they are able to carry out a far wider range of roles than we ever envisaged when the programmes were first set up. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is supporting more than 245 schemes with more than 1,400 wardens. In addition, many councils, new deal for communities schemes and local street partnerships are setting up their own neighbourhood warden programmes because of their proven effectiveness.
Mr. Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight): I should like to draw attention to the effectiveness of the neighbourhood warden scheme in Ryde, in my constituency.
What does the hon. Lady think has broken down over the past 30 to 40 years that has led to the Government responding with such schemes? What has provoked the outbreak of crime, incivility and disorder on our streets and elsewhere that creates the symptoms that she reports?
Yvette Cooper: Many things have changed over many decades. All sorts of social changes have taken place. We have to recognise, too, that they have taken place in different ways and to varying degrees in different areas. For a long time, policymakers said that the public realm should not be invested in; that society does not exist; and
that communities are merely collections of individuals rather than being important in their own right. That attitude contributed to the situation, but we can all point to a wide range of social causes over a long period. We are not in a situation of inevitable decline: many communities have been successful in making significant improvements to the atmosphere in the local community and the local environment. Antisocial behaviour and other problems in local communities must be responded to quickly and appropriately. In the long term, we need to build on community strength and opportunities and people's pride in the place where they live.
Ian Lucas (Wrexham): I very much agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) that antisocial behaviour is the central issue for our constituents. Although there are many good examples of neighbourhood warden schemes and response schemes, too many local authorities still have structures that deal with health, social services and education, but do not see responding to antisocial behaviour as their central concern. My constituents, as consumers of services from their local authorities, tell me that that is the approach that they want them to take.
Yvette Cooper: My hon. Friend is right that local authorities vary considerably in this respect. My impression is that they are increasingly enthusiastic about taking such action, not least because of pressure from their local communities. The Home Office's action plan on antisocial behaviour took the approach that local authorities, in partnership with their local police and other agencies, need to build expertise and capacity in order to address the problems of antisocial behaviour. Moreover, rather than ignoring the problem, they should learn from neighbouring authorities that are dealing with the problem much more effectively. At the same time, we must recognise that where communities themselves are involved in local improvement projects and changes to local facilities, the impact can be much greater and more long-lasting than if such projects are drawn up for the area by the local council or another agency.
Andrew Selous (South-West Bedfordshire): I very much agree with the Minister's earlier remarks about the importance of young parents with regard to public spaces. Does she agree that the role of fathers is particularly vital in relation to young boys? Will she give the House a commitment that the Government will give all support and encouragement to ensuring that fathers—preferably as part of a couple, but even if not—are fully involved in bringing up their adolescent sons?
Yvette Cooper: The hon. Gentleman is right that fathers play a crucial role, not only as role models, but in building relationships with their children as they grow up. In perpetuating the idea that sure start programmes are for mums with young children—indeed, they often use its drop-in centres—we tend to underestimate how much they are doing to involve fathers: for example, by having them on the board. They have recognised the importance of the hon. Gentleman's point; we as a Government are keen to support that.
The evidence from programmes such as sure start, Groundwork and neighbourhood management pathfinders shows that communities that are involved in
the design of the changes that are taking place have a sense of ownership of those changes, which, as a result, are not only more appropriate, but better protected and sustained in the long term.
Mr. Alan Meale (Mansfield): I appreciate what the Minister says about sure start, Groundwork and other programmes, but I want to return to her earlier answer about why such problems occur. We need to go back decades to when national Governments, particularly of the late 1970s, began to view local government less as a service provider and much more as a cost factor—"tax" and "charges" became dirty words. Since then, youth services and other community services that local authorities attempt to provide have been eroded.
Let me give an example. In Victorian times, when people fought to establish free local government services, the provision and maintenance of public toilets was openly on the agenda of every local authority. Now, in this new millennium, public toilets are being closed all over Britain because they are seen as a heavy cost burden on local authorities. We need to re-engage with local authorities to give them more power, strength and encouragement in re-establishing that approach and not shying away from the simple fact of having to raise, through taxes, the money to pay for such services.
Yvette Cooper: My hon. Friend makes an important point. Local authorities are critical to these issues. If we look at something as simple as spending on parks, we see that between 1991 and 1996, investment in parks and public spaces declined by between 10 and 20 per cent. throughout the country. In whatever area we choose, investment in those public facilities and public spaces, which are so important in enabling communities to operate, was in decline. That investment has now been substantially turned around, and we also want to build more investment into the future. My hon. Friend is right to say that local authorities have a critical role to play in these matters, and where they are successful it is often due to community leaders championing those facilities. They were discouraged from playing that role for many years, but there has been a change over the last few years.
Mr. Meale: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for allowing me to intervene again. The debate is about quality of life in local communities. In any ordinary constituency, more than 50 per cent.—usually between 51 and 52 per cent.—of the population have to plan their day around whether they will have access to a public toilet when they leave their home. If most of Britain's public toilets are being closed, there will not be much quality of life for those people in our communities.
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