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5 Mar 2010 : Column 1499W—continued
Departmental Marketing
Mr. Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Ruislip Northwood of 5 January 2010, Official Report, column 103W, on departmental marketing, how much his Department and its agencies have spent on advertising, marketing, public relations and publicity to the (i) Real Help Now and (ii) Building Britain's Future themed campaign to date. [320494]
Barbara Follett: The Department publishes details of its central marketing communications spend on an annual basis. Details for the last full financial year, 2008-09, are available on the Department's website at:
In 2008-09 marketing communications activity on help for homeowners and HomeBuy used the Real Help Now brand, at a total cost of £1,372,511. No marketing communications activity used the Building Britain's Future brand.
The Department will publish details of central marketing communications spend for 2009-10 at the time of its 2010 Annual Report.
Empty Property
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) empty homes and (b) homes which had been empty for more than six months there were in each region in each of the last five years. [305068]
Mr. Ian Austin: Estimates of the proportion of empty homes and the proportion of homes empty for more than six months in each region in each of the last five years are shown in the following table.
There are a number of reasons why a property might become empty, e.g. the current economic climate or where a property needs to be renovated before occupation or where it is in probate. It is therefore important to draw a distinction between properties that have been left empty for less than six months and those that are vacant for longer.
| Total empty homes and homes empty for more than six months ("long term") in each region in each of the last five years as a percentage of total stock | ||||||||
| Percentage | ||||||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |||||
| Total vacants | Long term vacants | Total vacants | Long term vacants | Total vacants | Long term vacants | Total vacants | Long term vacants | |
| Sources: Council Taxbase and Council Taxbase Supplementary (CTB1 and CTB1S) returns from local authorities | ||||||||
Housing: Construction
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new (a) affordable homes and (b) homes for social rent have been built in Castle Point since 2008; and how many homes of each type are planned to be built in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011. [318083]
Mr. Ian Austin: The latest data on total affordable housing supply relate to 2008-09. In that year there were 10 affordable homes provided through acquisitions.
Information on planned housing is available in 'Regional Spatial Strategies and Local Development Frameworks'.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Grant Shapps:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to
answer Question 305068, on empty homes, tabled on 3 December 2009. [319594]
Mr. Ian Austin: I have now replied to the hon. Member's question.
Home Department
Chorley
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, with statistical information as closely related to Chorley constituency as possible, the effect on that constituency of the policies of his Department since 1997. [314235]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office has introduced a range of policies and initiatives since 1997. The available statistical information relates to the Chorley Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area.
In terms of police recorded crime, data prior to 2002-03 is not directly comparable because of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. Between 2002-03 and 2008-09, total recorded crime in Chorley fell by 13 per cent. More specifically:
Sexual offences: down 21 per cent. (down 34 per cent. in last year).
Robbery: down 43 per cent. (down 23 per cent. in last year).
Burglary: down 44 per cent (down 1 per cent. in last year).
Offences against vehicles: down 56 per cent. (down 12 per cent. in last year).
Other theft offences: down 12 per cent. (down 5 per cent. in last year).
Criminal damage: down 1 per cent. (down 2 per cent. in last year).
Drug offences: up 22 per cent. (up 9 per cent. in last year) (there has been increased recording of drug offences which is mainly attributable to the increased use of police powers to issue cannabis warnings).
Violence against the person rose by 71 per cent. between 2002-03 and 2008-09. Between 2007-08 and 2008-09 it fell by 1 per cent. It reached a peak at 1,902 offences in 2004-05 and has subsequently fallen to 1,302 offences in 2008-09 (a fall of 32 per cent).
Chorley comes within the Lancashire Southern Basic Command Unit. Lancashire Southern BCU had 493 police officers as at 30 March 2009. The number of police officers has decreased by seven since 2003. Comparisons with 1997 for Lancashire Southern BCU are not available. There were 77 Police Community Support Officers as at 30 March 2009 while there were none in existence in 1997.
The Neighbourhood Statistics Service provides a wide range of statistical information at parliamentary constituency level, taken from the 2001 Census and other sources. This service is available on the National Statistics website at:
Cleethorpes
Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, with statistical evidence relating as closely as possible to Cleethorpes constituency, the effects on that constituency of his Department's policies since 1997. [315242]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The Home Office has introduced a range of policies and initiatives since 1997. However, it is not always possible to quantify their effects particularly at constituency level. The available statistical information therefore relates to North East Lincolnshire.
In terms of police recorded crime in North East Lincolnshire, between 2002-03 and 2008-09, total recorded crime fell by 26 per cent. More specifically:
Violence against the person-up 16 per cent. (down 1 per cent. in last year)
Sexual offences-down 30 per cent. (up 8 per cent. in last year)
Robbery-down 33 per cent. (down 17 per cent. in last year)
Burglary-down 38 per cent. (down 5 per cent. in last year)
Offences against vehicles-down 62 per cent. (down 41 per cent. in last year)
Other theft offences-down 12 per cent. (up 3 per cent. in last year)
Criminal damage-down 17 per cent. (down 18 per cent. in last year)
Drug offences-up 16 per cent. (down 26 per cent. in last year) (there has been increased recording of drug offences which was mainly attributable to the increased use of police powers to issue cannabis warnings).
Data prior to 2002-03 are not directly comparable because of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. Additionally, no data at borough level is available prior to 1998-99.
Cleethorpes comes within the North East Lincolnshire Basic Command Unit. North East Lincolnshire BCU had 263 police officers as at 30 March 2009. The number of police officers has decreased by 115 since 2003. This decrease in numbers is due to the transfer of various functions from divisions to central services i.e. Command Centres, Traffic Units etc. Also, the recruitment of civilian Investigation Officers and Detention Officers across Humberside Police Force has contributed to the drop in police officer numbers. Comparisons with 1997 for North East Lincolnshire BCU are not available. There were 49 Police Community Support Officers as at 30 March 2009 while there were none in existence in 1997.
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 saw positive effects with the statutory duty to create a Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP). The CDRP (Safer Communities North East Lincolnshire) has brought new ways of working in a cross cutting way with the police, council and other key stakeholders and genuine partnership working to help tackle complex issues.
The CDRP paved the way for a number of community safety initiatives which have benefited Cleethorpes. North East Lincolnshire has received funding under the Home Office Crime Reduction Programme and successor initiatives including the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund and the Basic Command Unit Fund. It has also benefited from other targeted Home Office funding streams which support work on drugs and alcohol harm reduction, domestic abuse, neighbourhood crime and justice, and antisocial behaviour.
The Home Office Partnership Support Programme helped review CDRP delivery structures and the future strategic development of the district's CCTV system. North East Lincolnshire is currently in receipt of funding from the Vigilance Programme which is helping to accelerate the development of Integrated Offender
Management. This is seen as the next step in achieving further sustainable reductions in crime across the district.
Before 1997 there were no bespoke powers to tackle antisocial behaviour but there are now a range of powers to deal with this issue. These include Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and Designated Public Places Orders (DPPO) from the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001.
North East Lincolnshire's CDRP and wider partnership approach has been recognised nationally as effective practice. For example, the delivery of its Family Intervention Programme, which joins-up the resources of several Government Departments, and its work on reducing antisocial behaviour and providing visible neighbourhood justice.
The Neighbourhood Statistics Service provides a wide range of statistical information at parliamentary constituency level, taken from the 2001 Census and other sources. This service is available on the National Statistics website at:
Identity and Passport Service: Contracts
Dr. Palmer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he made an assessment of the merits of incorporating the specification for the Check and Send service in the requirements of the Identity and Passport Service tender notice for the procurement of front-office identity services. [319962]
Meg Hillier: The following statement was made in the Official Journal of European Union (OJEU) Notice with regards to Front Office Services:
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