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15 Oral Answers<br />
26 OCTOBER 2009<br />
Oral Answers<br />
16<br />
the Upton estate in Macclesfield? Is that not because<br />
the police are thereby establishing meaningful relationships<br />
with people, rather than being in a car and having no<br />
contact with them?<br />
Mr. Hanson: That is absolutely right, and I know that<br />
the hon. Gentleman will share my aspiration to strengthen<br />
and deepen community policing still further. It is absolutely<br />
right that the police are in contact with local people,<br />
that they identify their problems and draw up action<br />
plans with local councils to deal with them, and that<br />
ASBOs are used if necessary when solutions have failed,<br />
not as the first port of call.<br />
Youth Offending (Wirral)<br />
15. Ben Chapman (Wirral, South) (Lab): What steps<br />
his Department has taken to reduce rates of youth<br />
offending in Wirral in the last 12 months; and if he will<br />
make a statement. [295140]<br />
The Minister for Policing, Crime and Counter-Terrorism<br />
(Mr. David Hanson): The Government have allocated<br />
£415,000 to Wirral since 2008 to fund intensive packages<br />
of activities to reduce youth offending.<br />
Ben Chapman: A recent inspection of youth offending<br />
services in Wirral found that there was much more work<br />
to be done to reduce reoffending rates. Could my right<br />
hon. Friend tell me what work his Department is doing<br />
with the Ministry of Justice to see that that takes place?<br />
Mr. Hanson: There are a range of things. I refer my<br />
hon. Friend to the youth crime action plan in particular,<br />
whereby we are putting in place measures that include<br />
Friday and Saturday night activity on the streets, help<br />
and support for young people, and interventions for<br />
particularly difficult and challenging families. That is<br />
part of the resource that we have allocated to Wirral in<br />
the past 18 months. The programme is designed to<br />
prevent individuals from getting involved in crime in the<br />
first place, but we also need strong enforcement and<br />
action in the courts to help prevent them from going<br />
further once they come into contact with the system.<br />
Police Patrols<br />
18. Mr. Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con): What<br />
his most recent estimate is of the proportion of the<br />
working week spent on patrol by police officers in<br />
(a) Northamptonshire and (b) England. [295143]<br />
The Minister for Policing, Crime and Counter-Terrorism<br />
(Mr. David Hanson): I refer the hon. Gentleman to the<br />
answer that I gave him when he asked the same question<br />
in February this year.<br />
Mr. Bone: In my county, the number of police officers<br />
on patrol has fallen by 30 per cent. When the Minister<br />
tried to solve the problem, did he go to the permanent<br />
secretary and say, “How do we solve the problem?” and<br />
did the permanent secretary reply, “Well, let’s just abolish<br />
the statistics”? Because that is what they have done:<br />
they have abolished the statistics, so nobody knows how<br />
many police are on patrol. [Interruption.] Yesisthe<br />
answer.<br />
Mr. Hanson: Self-evidently, the hon. Gentleman and<br />
I will disagree on this matter. Whatever is happening<br />
overall, crime is down 36 per cent., including 4 per cent.<br />
last Thursday. Overall, the police are doing a good job<br />
driving down crime, in stark contrast to when the hon.<br />
Gentleman’s party was in office.<br />
Police Officers/PCSOs (Bassetlaw)<br />
19. John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab): How many (a)<br />
police officers and (b) police community support<br />
officers there are in the Bassetlaw constituency; and<br />
how many there were in 2004. [295144]<br />
The Minister for Policing, Crime and Counter-Terrorism<br />
(Mr. David Hanson): Data are unfortunately not collected<br />
centrally at a constituency level, but I can give my hon.<br />
Friend figures for Nottinghamshire as a whole in due<br />
course.<br />
John Mann: Luckily for the Minister, I got the figures<br />
last Friday from the chief superintendent. We have only<br />
16 police officers covering the whole of the Bassetlaw<br />
and Newark division, and that is because all the rest are<br />
down in the city of Nottingham, which has had loads of<br />
murders. As it now has nothing like that number of<br />
murders, is it not time that the Government intervened<br />
to get the police authority to shift police back from the<br />
cities and into the rural areas and the mining communities<br />
where they are needed?<br />
Mr. Hanson: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. If he<br />
looks at the overall figures, he will see that there are<br />
2,380 police officers in Nottingham, which is 57 more<br />
than in 1997, and that there are 243 police community<br />
support officers in post who were not there when the<br />
previous Government were in power. I accept what he<br />
says about the operational decisions by the chief constable,<br />
but I happen to think that Nottinghamshire police<br />
authority should hold the chief constable to account in<br />
regard to putting those priorities in place, and that is<br />
where my hon. Friend should raise those concerns.<br />
Prisoner Release (Terrorism Offences)<br />
20. Mr. Richard Benyon (Newbury) (Con): What<br />
steps (a) police forces and (b) his Department’s<br />
agencies take to monitor the activities of individuals<br />
convicted of terrorism offences following their release<br />
from prison. [295145]<br />
The Minister for Policing, Crime and Counter-Terrorism<br />
(Mr. David Hanson): The Government take their<br />
responsibilities to protect the public seriously. The police<br />
and relevant agencies take all necessary steps to manage<br />
the risk posed by those individuals.<br />
Mr. Benyon: I note the Government’s attempts to<br />
keep us all secure, but will the Minister comment on the<br />
fact that 40 people convicted of terrorism offences have<br />
been released into the community, and that a further<br />
25 are set to be released? This is going to put huge<br />
burdens not only on our police and security services but<br />
on our hard-pressed probation service. How can we be<br />
convinced, given the tightness of resources, that the<br />
Government are doing their job?