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Tessa Jowell:
Through the ODA, some 43 suppliers from the north-west have sought contracts to supply the Olympic park. I will send to my hon. Friend, and place in the Library, a detailed list of the firms that have
contributed, which are diverse and significant. The north-west is also benefiting from the commercial opportunities arising from the Olympics.
Mr. Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): While I appreciate that this is a national games and that we want benefits across the country, will the Minister give some indication of the small businesses within a 5-mile radius of the Olympic village that will feel the benefit? Does she have data to hand so that she can give us that information at this stage, or perhaps in writing?
Tessa Jowell: About 50 per cent. of all the businesses that have so far contributed to the supply of the Olympic park are within London. I am not able, at this point, to give the hon. Gentleman the precise detail that he wants, but I am happy to supply it. The ODA is about to issue another £1 billion-worth of contracts, and LOCOG £700 million-worth of contracts, so there are opportunities for businesses of all sizes not only in London but right across the UK.
Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham) (Lab): Will my right hon. Friend write to me-and put a copy in the Library and send one to the Rotherham Advertiser -about how Rotherham workers can find jobs in construction and other related work that is going on, because there is a tremendous sense in South Yorkshire that they are not getting a fair crack of the whip?
Tessa Jowell: I am very happy to do that, and I am happy to come to South Yorkshire again to set out the potential for its contribution to the Olympics. At every stage, we have sought to open up the tendering processes to create opportunities for the whole UK-and South Yorkshire is not usually slow in coming forward.
London 2012 (Multi-Media Coverage)
4. Richard Ottaway (Croydon, South) (Con): What representations she has received on the provision of multi-media coverage of the London 2012 Olympics; and if she will make a statement. [310882] [Official Report, 2 February 2010, Vol. 505, c. 1-2MC.]
Tessa Jowell: These will be the first games to be filmed wholly to high-definition standards. There will be access to information via additional channels and mobile devices, ensuring the games are accessible to everyone. The International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee are responsible for global broadcast rights of the London 2012 games via many platforms, including multi-media platforms.
Richard Ottaway: We all expect the games to be the most watched ever, but the introduction of multi-media coverage presents a huge logistical and technological challenge, particularly as it will come just after digital switchover. To what extent will an analogue signal still be available to those who want it?
Tessa Jowell:
The expectation is that the television switchover will have been completed by 2012, subject to any last-minute issues that might affect the coverage of the Olympics. In that sense, the analogue signal will no longer be available. However, much preparation is under
way to ensure access to multi-media platforms, starting with ensuring the availability of spectrum. I thank Ofcom for the invaluable work that it has done, so early on, to ensure that that spectrum is available.
Crystal Palace
6. Mr. Andrew Pelling (Croydon, Central) (Ind): If she will make it her policy to promote the sporting facilities at Crystal Palace as part of preparations for the London 2012 Olympics. [310884]
Tessa Jowell: Yes, Crystal Palace sports centre is an official London 2012 pre-games training camp-no surprises there. Essentially, the onus is on Crystal Palace to market itself to the international teams to train at the venue. There are incentives, however, with £25,000 from LOCOG available for every national Olympic and Paralympic committee to encourage them to use official pre-games training camps. I hope to visit Crystal Palace again before the end of this month.
Mr. Pelling: The Minister is very supportive of Crystal Palace. Given that it represents the internationalism of the 19th century, which, in some ways, is mirrored in the Olympics now, might we do well to co-ordinate the laying of a foundation stone for a new Crystal Palace with the timing of the Olympics and the Queen's diamond jubilee?
Tessa Jowell: I am sure that that very good idea justifies further examination.
Olympic Delivery Authority
7. John Robertson (Glasgow, North-West) (Lab): What recent discussions she has had with the Olympic Delivery Authority on the implementation of its commitment to maximise local employment opportunities; and if she will make a statement. [310885]
Tessa Jowell: I am a member of the ODA's employment and skills board, which is responsible for overseeing the creation of the skills and employment legacy. One of the most important aspects of the legacy is ensuring that local people and young people working in businesses as part of the supply chain have the opportunity to leave their Olympic-related job better trained and with an increased chance of staying in work.
John Robertson: My right hon. Friend will be aware of those trade unions that have been complaining about the lack of local people being trained-such training would be beneficial in the years to come. Will she meet the trade unions in question to find out what the problems are and to try to help to solve them?
Tessa Jowell: I am surprised by my hon. Friend's observation. The apprenticeship level to which we are committed for the Olympic park is in fact three and a half times the regional average, and every single supplier understands the obligation on them. Alan Ritchie, the general secretary of the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, recently observed that the Olympics have one of the best regulated construction sites in Britain. Principles of co-operation have been signed between the ODA and the TUC. If there are any concerns, however, we will of course do everything that we can to address them.
Point of Order
3.31 pm
Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East) (Con): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will remember that during last Thursday's business questions there was strong and welcome agreement between the Leader of the House and her shadow that when the general election is held, the votes should be counted on the night and not the following day, unless that is absolutely unavoidable. Is it in order to ask you to express your definitive viewpoint on the matter?
Mr. Speaker: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, both for his point of order and his courtesy in giving me advance notice of it. I hesitate to say that my opinion would, in any way, be considered to be definitive, but I am happy none the less to offer him and the House an opinion.
For my own part, I am a passionate believer in instant, not slow motion, democracy. It seems to me that it is in the interests of the House and the country that the count should take place on the night, and there are two overwhelmingly compelling reasons why: first, I believe that there could be a threat to the security of the ballot if the count is delayed; and, secondly, it seems to me that on the day the election takes place, it should be possible for the count also to take place so that we get the result speedily. Frankly, it should not be beyond the wit and sagacity of humankind-or indeed of local authorities-to ensure that that happens. I politely suggest to the House that what is required is not a passive acceptance of the particular views of individual local authority chief executives, but rather an assertion of leadership nationally and politically, at a local level, to achieve what I sense the House is uniting in wishing to see.
Bill Presented
Pedicabs Bill
Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)
Mr. Mark Field presented a Bill to make provision for the control of pedicabs; and for connected purposes.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 5 March, and to be printed (Bill 33).
Crime and Security Bill
Mr. Speaker: I inform the House that I have not selected either of the amendments.
3.34 pm
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Alan Johnson): I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
The Bill builds on an unrivalled record that, since 1997, has seen the first sustained fall in crime for more than 100 years. Overall crime is down by 36 per cent., violent crime by 41 per cent., burglary by 54 per cent. and vehicle crime by 57 per cent. Since 2000, the reoffending rate for both adults and juveniles has fallen by more than 20 per cent. That is a tremendous achievement by our police forces and other agencies across the country. The Bill will build on those achievements by strengthening our efforts to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour among young people. It will bring greater protection to the victims of domestic violence, cut police bureaucracy and establish a new framework for the retention of DNA records.
Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy) (PC): If things are going so well and crime rates are improving, why is the intention behind the Bill to keep the DNA of people who are innocent?
Alan Johnson: The DNA database has actually been a contributory factor to the astonishing reductions in crime achieved in this country, but I give the hon. Gentleman full notice that he will have plenty of chances to intervene when I get to that part of my speech.
The Bill will make it an offence not to take reasonable precautions to prevent an air weapon from coming into the hands of children, thus sending a strong message about the need to improve safety.
Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent, North) (Lab): Because of tragic circumstances, we have campaigned on that issue in Stoke-on-Trent. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that clause 42, which requires reasonable safeguards, can ensure that there is safe storage of airguns, to prevent further tragic accidents?
Alan Johnson: I do think that we can do that through the Bill, although it is not concerned only with guns in storage. We aim for greater safety as they are being transported and used as well, and of course the definition of "reasonable precautions" will vary in accordance with the circumstances involved. We can ensure that air weapons are properly locked away, which is an important point that my hon. Friend has raised for many years.
Pete Wishart (Perth and North Perthshire) (SNP):
The Home Secretary will know of the many tragic incidents that we have had in Scotland as a result of airguns, and the repeated calls from the Scottish Government to have the issue devolved so that we can put in place the licensing of airguns to help address the problem. The Labour party agreed, through the Calman
commission, that that should happen. Can we not devolve the responsibility for airguns, so that we can deal with the problem in Scotland?
Alan Johnson: We have agreed to devolve this issue, as my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland reported recently. The mechanics of doing that are a subject for the usual channels, but we very much agree on the matter.
By introducing a compulsory licensing scheme for wheel-clamping businesses, which will allow us to set limits on the fines that they can impose, the Bill will outlaw rogue operators who extort vast sums from drivers and bring the entire sector into disrepute. It will also make it an offence to possess a mobile phone within a prison without authorisation.
Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab): Can the Home Secretary assure the House that, having taken some time to consult on those proposals, if the Bill is passed, he will try to ensure that they come into force as soon as possible after its date of commencement?
Alan Johnson: I do give that assurance, although as my hon. Friend will be aware, it seems from the amendments that you did not select, Mr. Speaker, that both Opposition parties intend to vote against Second Reading. We have to get the Bill through to enable those measures to come into force.
I wish also to announce a new provision that we intend to introduce in Committee. The House will be aware of the long-standing arrangements under the criminal injuries compensation scheme to compensate victims of violent crime, including terrorism. However, that scheme offers compensation only to victims of crimes committed in Great Britain. Although a number of other countries have their own compensation schemes, there are many parts of the world where, should a British citizen become a victim of terrorism, they would have no access to compensation. Sadly, many recent British victims of terrorist attacks abroad have been injured or killed because they are westerners, and there has been a particular increase in such attacks since 9/11. Whether those attacks are targeted at individuals or are more indiscriminate, terrorism is intended as a political statement and an attack on society as a whole and, as such, it has ramifications far beyond those who are directly affected. We will therefore introduce a new victims of overseas terrorism compensation scheme, which will broadly mirror the domestic criminal injuries compensation scheme. In accordance with the long-standing general principle that the Government and Parliament do not legislate retrospectively, the new scheme will apply only to designated terrorist incidents that take place from today. However, we recognise that victims of overseas attacks in recent years continue to face hardship because of disabilities arising from the injuries they sustained.
Mr. Edward Garnier (Harborough) (Con) rose-
Alan Johnson: The hon. and learned Gentleman is silently asking me to give way.
Mr. Garnier:
I am now going to get a bit noisier. On another overseas matter, it has been suggested by Government spokesmen that they may use this Bill as
an opportunity to adjust the law on universal jurisdiction-I refer to the case of Tzipi Livni, the former Foreign Minister of Israel. Do the Government intend to use the Bill to adjust the law on universal jurisdiction or will they use some other means to do so? If it is the latter, what other means will they use?
Alan Johnson: I cannot answer that question at the moment. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and others are looking into the situation-the unacceptable situation in respect of Tzipi Livni-and will come to the House with proposals in due course.
As I said, in accordance with the long-standing general principle, we will not apply the measure retrospectively, but we recognise that we need something for past victims of terrorism. Subject to the passage of the Bill, we will provide assistance to eligible victims of overseas terrorist attacks since 2002 and will announce further details in due course.
Prior to the introduction of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, police and local authorities could do very little about behaviour that stopped short of being criminal but that was profoundly disruptive and the cause of intense distress. Following that groundbreaking piece of legislation and the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, the police and local authorities have the powers they need to tackle antisocial behaviour. Problem behaviour usually ceases after one intervention, whether that is an acceptable behaviour contract or a simple letter from the police, and 93 per cent. of such behaviour ends after three interventions. However, the police alone cannot tackle the root causes of antisocial behaviour, and police powers, although necessary, are insufficient.
We now need to consider what further action to take to tackle the very small number of persistent young offenders. Although young people are far more likely to be the victims rather than the perpetrators of antisocial behaviour, those who are persistently involved in antisocial behaviour often graduate to petty crime or gang activity. Their disruptive behaviour is usually indicative of more deep-rooted problems, such as instability at home or chronic disaffection at school.
Family intervention projects have proved phenomenally successful in addressing the problems of the most chaotic and dysfunctional families involved in persistent antisocial behaviour. An independent study of the first 700 families to take part in a family intervention project shows dramatic reductions not only in antisocial behaviour, but in drug and alcohol problems, domestic violence and mental health problems. There have also been better educational outcomes for the children involved.
As the Prime Minister announced in September, we will roll out that project to cover 56,000 families by 2015. Parenting orders have also been of immense importance for parents who are either struggling to stop their child's problem behaviour or who are adamant in their refusal to take any responsibility for their child's actions.
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