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17 Mar 2004 : Column 338W—continued
Animal Experiments
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many meetings the Home Office Inspectorate has held in the last six months at which discussions were held about scientific issues related to the use of animals in experiments; what plans the Home Office Inspectorate has to hold such discussions in the next six months; and what plans it has to invite organisations which argue scientifically against animal-based research for discussions. [158784]
Caroline Flint: The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate does not normally host or take a lead role in public meetings or meetings with external organisations on behalf of the Department, and there are no plans for it to do so.
However, members of the Inspectorate are frequently involved in and contribute to Home Office and third-party meetings and events at which there is discussion of the use of animals in scientific procedures. These include twice yearly Inspectorate conferences to which guest speakers contribute, and meetings of expert groups considering specific topics, seminars and workshops on
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a range of issues (including meetings run by, or with contributions from, organisations that argue scientifically against animal-based research). The Inspectorate also participates in other local, national and international events (for example the Fourth World Congress on Alternatives).
This will continue as an integral part of the Inspectorate's role, and will go on entailing dialogue with people and organisations covering a wide spectrum of opinion on use of animals in science. The Chief Inspector will for example be addressing MPs at a parliamentary event scheduled for 23 March 2004.
The organisations to be invited to particular meetings or events in which the Inspectorate participates is determined by the specific nature of the occasion and the objectives of the organisers.
ASBOs
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-social behaviour orders have been issued by (a) Hampshire Police and (b) local authorities in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in each of the last three years. [160800]
Ms Blears: The police and local authorities have been able to apply for Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) since their introduction on 1 April 1999. The Police Reform Act (2002) authorised the magistrates' courts and the Crown court to issue ASBOs on conviction, and the County courts (from 1 April 2003), to issue ASBOs on application. Data are given in the table of numbers of ASBOs issued, at all courts, within Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, up to 30 September 2003 (latest available).
Data are collected on the type of applicant only on those orders issued in the magistrates' court, acting in its civil capacity, and within the County courts. Orders can also be made following conviction of an offence in the criminal courts—there is no applicant for these orders. Where applicable, data on the type of applicant are given in the following table.
| Applications by | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period/localauthorityarea. | Unknown | Police | Local authority | County courts | Total |
| 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001 | 2 | — | 4 | n/a | 6 |
| 1 January 2002 to 30 November 2002(26) | — | — | 8 | n/a | 8 |
| 1 December 2002 to 30 September 2003 | 1 | — | 16 | 17 | 17 |
| Total | 3 | — | 28 | 31 | 31 |
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| Issued where the applicant was | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period/local authorityarea. | Police | Local authority | County courts | Total |
| 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001 | — | 4 | n/a | 4 |
| 1 January 2002 to 30 November 2002(25) | — | 8 | n/a | 8 |
| 1 December 2002 to 30 September 2003 | — | 16 | — | 16 |
| Total | — | 28 | — | 28 |
n/a = Not applicable.
(25) Following implementation of the Police Reform Act (2002) data for December 2002 are included in the first quarter 2003.
Note:
Petty Sessional Area known only.
Asylum Seekers
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to improve the removal system for failed asylum seekers. [159533]
Beverley Hughes: The Government are committed to tackling abuse of our asylum system by detecting and enforcing the removal of those who fail to comply with our immigration laws. Future plans include increasing detention facilities, working with overseas countries to resolve documentation issues, streamlining our appeals process and developing alternative sources of information and intelligence with other Government agencies. We will continue to review our strategy and pursue new initiatives in order to improve the removal process, our aim being to remove a greater proportion of failed asylum seekers in 2003–04 than in 2002–03.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of how many children will go into care each year under the provisions of Clause 7 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc.) Bill. [159534]
Beverley Hughes: There is nothing in the Bill which changes in any way the grounds on which children may be taken into care. The Bill simply provides that families, illegally resident in the UK once their claims have failed, would no longer be entitled to support at the expense of the taxpayer if they refuse to co-operate with efforts to return them home. If, by putting themselves in this position, parents put their children at risk, it would be for the local authority to decide how the interests of their children should be protected under existing child protection legislation. We do not believe, that many, if any, parents would put their children in this position.
Cannabis
Mr Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the objectives of his Department's campaign to advertise the reclassification of cannabis were; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the campaign against its objectives. [161518]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 15 March 2004]: The Home Office cannabis radio advertising campaign aimed to raise awareness of the reclassification of cannabis and to communicate that cannabis is illegal and will remain illegal after reclassification, and that it is harmful. The primary audience is under 18s.
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The advertising is one strand of a wide range of communication activity that includes leaflets, postcards and education packs for schools and professionals.
The campaign is currently being evaluated using a specialist independent research agency who have conducted pre and post tracking research with a national sample of 14—17s.
CCTV (Crosby)
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much public funding has been spent on CCTV security cameras in Crosby since 1997. [160535]
Ms Blears: In 2001–02, the Sefton MBC area was awarded a total of £636,306 to fund the development of four CCTV schemes in the Town Centres of Bootle, Southport and Crosby, and on the major arterial route of South Road (Waterloo/Crosby).
The Crosby Town Centre Surveillance Project received £108,671 to monitor the town centre, especially in relation to alcohol consumption and day time theft as well as addressing the supply and use of illegal drugs, the congregating of young people and the consequences of underage drinking. The South Road Project, on the border of Waterloo and Crosby, received £185,487 for installation of cameras around bus and railway stations to address specific concerns on car crime, as well as assaults and criminal damage around licensed premises and in the Marine Park. Together these schemes attracted £294,158.
These schemes will be further enhanced by the imminent installation of a further CCTV camera on the edge of the shopping area in Crosby receiving £20,000 support from Small Retailers in Deprived Areas funding.
Correspondence
Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he will reply to the letter to him from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton dated 27 January 2004 with regard to Mr.Guhar Ali Khan. [161805]
Mr. Blunkett: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 15 March 2004.
Crime Reduction Policy
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Written Statement of 10 March 2004, Official Report, columns 101–2WS, on crime and disorder reduction partnerships, if he will list the grants each partnership will receive; when they will receive them; and what the process of distribution will be. [161630]
Ms Blears [holding answer 15 March 2004]: Individual funding allocations under the Building Safer Communities (BSC) Fund was circulated to Government Offices, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs), Drug Action Teams, Local
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Authority Chief Executives and Chief Officers of Police on 10 March. This followed my Written Ministerial Statement of the same day.
CDRPs will continue to claim their grant moneys on a quarterly basis beginning in the first quarter of 2004–05 (Year 2 of the fund). Payments are made directly into local authority bank accounts following approval of their quarterly grant claims during the financial year. It is then the responsibility of local authorities to ensure further payments are made as required to other agencies and groups in accordance with the CDRPs' agreed plans.
I am placing copies of the full allocations table in the Library.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the contribution of situational crime prevention techniques to recent reductions in crime. [160203]
Ms Blears: It is not possible to quantify the contribution of situational crime prevention to the recent reduction in crime. This is because situational crime prevention encompasses a wide range of initiatives that aim to make crime more difficult, more risky and less rewarding. There is recent evidence on the effectiveness of some forms of situational crime prevention in this country (for example, alley-gating and CCTV). Results from the British Crime Survey also provide evidence that domestic households that own security measures have a lower chance of being a victim of burglary, even when factors that might be related to both risk and security are taken into account. Recent sweeps of the British Crime Survey have shown that household ownership of a range of security measures is increasing. It is therefore reasonable to think that this may have contributed to the reduction in property crimes over recent years.
A major evaluation of some 300 of the local burglary reduction schemes in Phase I of the Safer Cities Programme (1988–95) showed typically a 10–30 per cent. reduction in burglary. It was estimated (with results scaled up to the entire programme) that these, mainly situational, measures prevented some 56,000 burglaries, whose cost to victims and the state would have been £62 million, for expenditure of under £7 million. An evaluation in West Yorkshire of housing incorporating Secured By Design standards (a national police-led certification scheme) showed a crime rate that was 56 per cent. lower, and there is evidence that as well as being effective, this approach is now becoming cost-effective.
One of the most extensive and recent uses of situational crime prevention techniques has been under the Home Office's Reducing Burglary Initiative. Such techniques were employed in the majority of the 247 projects funded between 1999 and 2002. 63 of these projects were subject to a full independent evaluation under Phase I of the initiative. The interim report on these evaluations (Home Office Findings 204, 'Reducing Burglary Initiative, early findings on burglary reduction', published in 2003) reported that
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situational crime prevention techniques—when planned, targeted, and implemented successfully—were an effective crime reduction measure. The report highlighted that in the 55 evaluated projects where figures were available, domestic burglary fell by 20 per cent. compared with a pre-project period. This represented a net reduction of 7 per cent. when taking into account the downward trend in burglary found in selected comparison areas.
Four illustrative case studies drawn from the evaluations were published as appendices to the interim report. In all four of these case studies situational crime prevention techniques were considered to have contributed to the observed crime reduction impact. Net burglary reduction in these projects ranged from -12 per cent. to -47 per cent.
However, the interim findings also highlighted the fact that burglary reduction projects were often most effective when they were based—not just on a single approach (such as situational crime prevention)—but on a package of coherent and complementary approaches, including short and long-term measures.
Home Office Research Study 266, 'An evaluation of the secured car park award scheme', was also published in 2003, this being an evaluation of a scheme established by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in September 1992. It was designed to encourage car park operators to improve security as a means of reducing criminal activity and the fear of crime in car parks and vehicle retention areas. Results showed that there is evidence that the scheme can help reduce the level of vehicle crime and fear of crime in car parks, when targeted at high crime car parks. The key measures that impact both on crime levels and fear of crime appear to be formal surveillance (including patrols), lighting, access control and the physical appearance of the car park.
Security improvements by manufacturers of new cars are also thought to have been a key factor in reduced levels of car thefts, with compulsory fitting of electronic immobilisers since October 1998, together with other design improvements such as central-locking.
A systematic review of the impact of CCTV (Home Office Research Study 252, 'Crime prevention effects of closed circuit television: a systematic review') was published in 2002. This indicated that CCTV was associated with a 41 per cent. reduction in crime in car parks, but provided little evidence of an effect in other settings. Other evaluations show CCTV is most effective when used as part of a wider local crime reduction strategy.
A Home Office funded National Evaluation of CCTV is on-going. Initial findings on implementation from this evaluation were published in 2003 in Home Office Development and Practice Report 7 'National Evaluation of CCTV: early findings on scheme implementation—effective practice guide'. Results relating to the impact of CCTV on crime are not yet available from this evaluation but are expected towards the end of 2004.
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Robbery
The Street Crime Initiative was launched in April 2002 to address rises in street crime in 2001–02. It covers the 10 police force areas which together account for the great majority of street crime. Intelligence-led policing in hotspots in the 10 police force areas contributed to a 17 per cent. reduction in robbery in those 10 areas in 2002–03, which means 17,000 fewer offences in those areas.
A pilot scheme is being run by Greater Manchester Police to address crime at automated teller machines (ATMs), by creating defensible spaces around ATMs, to demarcate the area of personal space of the person using the ATM. This makes the potential victim of street crime more spatially aware, and increases the risk to the offender by alerting the ATM user to invasion of defensible space by the offender. Initial findings from the pilot indicate that robbery and theft from the person has fallen at the sites where the scheme is being piloted. There was a 34 per cent. reduction in robbery and theft from the person across the 21 sites in Manchester where the defensible space pilot is running, comparing the six months from 21 December 2002 to 30 June 2003 with the same period in the previous year.
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