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29 Apr 2009 : Column 315WH—continued
However, there are real difficulties in Croydon. Sometimes, it is important for me as a representative of Croydon to emphasise how much it has changed. I illustrate that change by mentioning the fact that we used to have two very safe Conservative seats in the north of the borough, where Jack Weatherill and the hon. Member for Woking (Mr. Malins) were Members. We now have a situation where the right hon. Member for Croydon, North (Malcolm Wicks) sits in the safest Labour seat in London. Although I am sure that a great deal of that is down to the excellence of the Member of Parliament for Croydon, North, it is also down, to a certain extent, to demographic change.
There is dynamic demographic change in Croydon and there are real issues as to whether the formulae, with regard both to policing and to Croydon council’s financing, take full account of our actual population. Doctors’ registrations suggest that our population is 40,000 higher than that recognised within normal granting of moneys to Croydon. Therefore, real stress falls on public services and policing is no exception.
There are also issues to do with the challenge that the police service faces in policing our borough. Peter Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said of Fairfield, the ward which contains Croydon town centre:
“If you look at the information, Fairfield sounds to me that it’s not the sort of ward where officers should go out on their own. If I were a local police superintendent I would say that officers should go out in pairs.”
“It’s the bloke out there on his own going through a rough part of town that is most vulnerable.”
Croydon, most definitely, has significant challenges. During this Parliament, there have been 10 knife killings in Croydon. I have certainly found it very sad to visit mothers of sons who have died. There was a great deal of publicity about the very sad case of Mr. Abbey, who was knifed to death at a bus stop on the way to Mayday university hospital to see his newborn child for the first time. There was also the very sad case of the son of a Kurdish family, who was murdered over a chocolate wrapper being thrown into a car. Those are all very sad and tragic cases.
That there is a challenge for Croydon policing can be seen in the fact that, although crime is falling as a whole in the Metropolitan police area, in Croydon, crime has gone up. Overall, there were 18,000 fewer offences in London between 2007 and 2008. However, in Croydon there was a 7.4 per cent. increase in crimes committed, going up from 30,537 to 32,805. Burglary in particular in the last six months has had a sharp upturn, with more than 300 reported offences.
Only in the last week, I have received correspondence from constituents. As an example of the types of stresses and strains that the police service has to deal with, one Croydon resident wrote to me saying:
“I was attacked by 30 kids in a gang called the DSN on Saturday 4 April.”
This was in Wandle park in Croydon, in broad daylight.
“I was beaten severely and cut with knives across my arms and back and I have just had the stitches out of my head. Just because I refused to let them ride my bike...Today I thought I would be brave enough to go back there. Only to see a 14 year old getting held up and robbed for his phone by two teenagers again yielding knives.”
That is a park that the Greater London authority intends to spend £400,000 upgrading. One of the difficulties—it is not just about policing by the Metropolitan Police Service; it is also about proper care and attention by Croydon council—is that over the years we have had far fewer park wardens. In fact, we only have 19 park wardens to police the 124 open spaces that we have. I am grateful to Aline Nassif of the Croydon Advertiser forrevealing that through a freedom of information request with the Croydon Advertiser last week.
I also have correspondence from a constituent, Joanne Bradley, who expressed concern about the amount of time it took for the police service to attend her home after a burglary took place. It essentially took 24 hours. Jenny Winstanley says:
“Without fail every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night after the bars and clubs kick out there is constant shouting, screaming, last night there were three separate fights and then the inevitable making up afterwards!”
This happens in the centre of Croydon. She says that, when she has visitors to stay,
“Once they have run the gauntlet of the...drug addicts”
sleeping in the streets near East Croydon station, it is difficult for them to get any sleep when there is so much antisocial behaviour.
Obviously, these issues are not as important as the killings that have taken place. It is encouraging that, when extra police resources are provided, real progress is made. I am grateful for the way in which resources have been found corporately for Croydon borough command over the past few months in Operation Safe for All. That operation has had a real effect on the amount of crime, with 101 fewer victims of knife crime, 15 fewer victims of youth violence, 28 fewer victims of gun crime and 271 fewer victims of robbery. That is an impressive story of the effectiveness and impact of the police service. However, we have problems in the town that are having a real effect on the economic performance of Croydon.
It is notable that many retailers report to me that the problems have a significant effect on their business. A major retailer tells me that people in the A and B classes—people with money—are reluctant to shop at our main department stores. I have heard a report that, after incidents in the centre of Croydon, typically occurring around 3.30 pm or 4 pm, when regular fights between teenagers take place, there is a significant downturn in business. Mr. Ford, who runs a shoe business, says:
“Up until the fight on”
“had a really good day”
“probably sold about six or seven pairs of shoes every hour”,
“After 3.30pm we sold just one pair.”
That is a reflection of how the town has lost many of its shoppers because of the stresses and strains.
We need to see in Croydon not only many more police officers, but many more uniformed people in the town centre. It is not good enough just to have CCTV cameras watching over those who come to enjoy the retail experience in Croydon; we must ensure that we
have a mixture of police officers. More officers must be provided in the business improvement district to ensure that the whole of our town centre is within eyesight of officers of one sort or another. I am not saying that all those officers should necessarily be in a police-type uniform. The experience of business improvement districts, particularly in the United States, shows that a non-confrontational style of uniform is often positive in policing younger people.
When I talk at schools, or when students come here to look around the Houses of Parliament and I meet them afterwards, I notice that young people sometimes feel unhappy about the nature of policing. Policing has to be consensual—there has to be support from young people—but sometimes they feel victimised and sometimes a good combination of police officers and other types of policing would be more appropriate. I therefore hope that there will be an emphasis on the local authority rebalancing its priorities to secure the resources needed for that type of policing. Only then will people have confidence to return to Croydon town centre. If that happens, we will see a return on the investment on extra policing through an improvement in business for our local retailers.
Most important, I earnestly want to emphasise the importance of Croydon securing its fair share of resources. I will be interested to hear the Minister’s advice on the best way to lobby for that change.
5 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Alan Campbell): I congratulate the hon. Member for Croydon, Central (Mr. Pelling) not only on securing the debate, but on the measured way in which he stated his case. I am happy to join him in recognising the excellent work the police do to tackle crime and protect our communities, including his own, often in challenging and difficult circumstances.
It is only right that local decisions on police deployment are made locally by the commissioner and the borough commander. The Metropolitan police are relatively well resourced, with 31,109 officers in September 2008, which is 4,432 more than in March 1997. That is an increase of 16.6 per cent., which is significantly higher than the overall increase of 11.7 per cent. for England and Wales. The Metropolitan police are also supported by 4,200 police community support officers and 13,697 police staff, who of course play an important role, often releasing police officers for front-line service.
I know that the hon. Gentleman takes a keen interest in policing and, as one would expect, meets regularly with his borough commander. I know that he sought assurances about the commitment to maximise the police presence on the streets of Croydon. He mentioned the beginning of Operation Safe for All last year in Croydon, where there has been sustained investment in resources in the form of corporate assets from across the Metropolitan Police Service. That has made a major contribution to reductions in knife crime, which I will return to shortly, and youth violence. As he knows, Croydon has also benefited from the addition of three safer transport teams to police the transport hubs. The improvement in resources, which he was gracious enough to recognise, is evident, and I understand from the commissioner that, as of 31 March 2009, the Croydon operational command
unit has 697 officers, which is 147—28 per cent.—more than in March 2001. There are also 176 police community support officers.
After listening to the hon. Gentleman’s speech, I was left with the impression that, although he was speaking in a debate in this place, his voice was reaching out to others beyond this Chamber. I understand why he might do that. He is a long-standing advocate for his constituents on policing matters and he has sought our advice on how he can further his campaign. I am sure that he acknowledges to some extent our limitations, particularly in operational matters. He is very good at mobilising his constituents.
We are, of course, removing all the top-down targets for the police service after a request from the service and as a result of a more mature attitude between central Government and police force areas. However, we will leave one target in place: the confidence target, by which the police service is measured by local residents after they engage with it.
On resources and the outcome of applications for them, I am sure that police forces are keen to ensure that the necessary resources are in place and used—and, more important, used on the priorities that local residents determine. There is a Metropolitan police allocation formula, which is kept under review by the Metropolitan Police Authority and the commissioner, but as the hon. Gentleman will have expected me to say, the actual resource allocation formula applied to Croydon and other London boroughs is a matter for the commissioner.
The Metropolitan police allocation formula is not dissimilar to the overall Home Office police funding formula, but it is subject to allocation depending on the circumstances pertaining to each borough in the Metropolitan police area. It is a matter not merely of counting up the number of officers and staff, important though that is, but of assessing how their time is being used. Good deployment means that officers and staff are in the right place at the right time to deliver help when the public most need it. Moreover, it means that they can deliver the less visible parts of policing that are vital for police protection. There is scope for the police service, including the Metropolitan police, critically to review both the mix and the roles of the work force. I am sure that the commissioner continues to review the work force mix, so that it is best configured to provide the highest quality of service.
I will return later to the hon. Gentleman’s points about the business community, which is of particular interest to me. First, let me say that in the current economic climate, there should be a relentless focus on value for money, because it is more important than ever to get good value for money from our public services. I am talking now about sustaining efficiency and productivity improvements that have already been delivered, and ensuring that resources are effectively targeted at improving front-line services and delivering the best possible service to the public. That means even greater scrutiny by the Metropolitan Police Authority in assessing performance and ensuring that the commissioner is making the best possible use of his most valuable resource which, at the end of the day, is his work force.
Let me say something about how the police service needs to operate in Croydon and elsewhere. This Government introduced neighbourhood policing teams, of which there are 25 in the borough of Croydon. That
is a permanent and very welcome improvement in the way in which policing is delivered locally, not least because it is designed to ensure that the service is citizen-focused. That means being more responsive and more locally accountable than it has been in the past, and that is a key way of ensuring that public confidence in the police improves. The policing pledge, which will be implemented in all forces in England and Wales, including the Metropolitan police, by the end of 2008, signals our commitment to make further progress in that regard. It requires local forces to arrange regular public meetings at least once a month to agree priorities and ensure that they are then addressed. I am talking about how resources are directed and about ensuring that the necessary resources are there.
The hon. Gentleman referred to crime statistics. I do not particularly want to get into a Dutch auction around statistics, but just in case anyone was left with the impression that crime has continued to rise in Croydon and is now rising irretrievably— particularly against the backdrop of an economic downturn—I will say that there is no inevitability about rising crime in an economic downturn, partly because of the changes that we have put in place. I suspect that the hon. Gentleman is looking at more recent figures. None the less, my figures show that overall, crime in Croydon has continued to fall. In mentioning burglary, he rightly identified one of the indicators about which we are particularly concerned. When we look at recorded crime statistics in Croydon, we see a slight increase in domestic burglary. I say that because sometimes there is a difference between the British crime survey figures and recorded police crime. However, that is the only indicator that shows an increase from 2006-07 to 2007-08 . That is why the Home Secretary recently announced a burglary initiative.
As part of providing real help in hard times, we want to respond to the concerns of retailers, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned. I chair meetings with retailers, and we have recently decided to increase the number of such meetings so that we can focus particularly on their priorities. I accept the hon. Gentleman’s point about their concerns. One of the important things we have done is started to improve the links between local businesses and their local crime reduction partnerships. In many cases, businesses do not know what crime reduction partnerships do or how to get in contact with them. Although it is very important that the police service regularly communicates with the community and addresses its concerns, it must acknowledge that the business community is an important part of the wider community. Retailers, who might be most concerned about acquisitive crime such as shoplifting and theft, must be at the forefront of their work, and I assure the hon. Gentleman that that is a priority for us. We hope to say something shortly about what more we can do to help that sector.
The hon. Gentleman mentioned knife crime, and I want to say something about that before I conclude my remarks. He will know that, for the past year, we have run the tackling knives action programme, Launched in June 2008, the programme involves tough enforcement action together with support for parents and enhanced partnership working with schools and hospitals. The Metropolitan police service is one of the 14 forces now taking part in the second stage of that programme.
In Croydon, the programme is showing some signs of success—I hesitate to use that word, but I am going to anyway. I hesitate, because I hate using such a word when young people are still using knives to stab each other, sometimes fatally. Therefore, saying that there has been “success” might give the wrong impression, but I think that progress is being made in Croydon, with a 17 per cent. reduction in the victims of knife crime in 2008-09. That does not mean that we are complacent in any way, shape or form, which is why the Government have recently announced that the programme will continue for a further year, with an extra £5 million to tackle knife crime and increase targeted police action aimed at the minority of young people who commit serious violence.
Croydon has seen a significant investment in policing over the past years. As I would expect, the hon. Gentleman makes a strong case for a greater share of funding. That is not within our remit, but I am sure that there are people watching and listening closely to what he has said who will have heard his advocacy on behalf of his
constituents. As he accepts, how resources are used is an operational matter for the local police leadership in an area. We are confident that many of the long-term measures in place, including safer neighbourhood teams, police community support officers and many of the other things that I have mentioned, will bear down on crime and on some of the problems that the hon. Gentleman has mentioned. We believe that there has been some success, which is linked to increased resources that we do not intend to see diminished overall.
We believe that there is a job still to be done to bear down on crime further, and particularly on that minority of people who might wrongly believe that they are beyond the reach of the law. I assure the hon. Gentleman that both he and I share the view that such people are not beyond the law, and we must work at a local and national level to ensure that we do everything possible to bear down on crime further.
5.13 pm
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