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Crime
8. Mr. Sheerman: What measures he will take to enhance the role of local authorities in tackling crime. [24619]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Ms Joyce Quin): The Crime and Disorder Bill will substantially improve the ability of local authorities to contribute to the fight against crime. The Bill includes measures that will require local authorities and the police service to conduct an audit of local crime and disorder problems, to draw up a strategy to tackle them and to publish targets for delivering the strategy. That process must be conducted on the basis of full consultation with local people and a wide range of other key partners. Local authorities will be
empowered to apply new orders to protect the community and required to establish multi-agency youth offending teams.
This is a substantial package of proposals which will put local authorities at the heart of action to combat criminal and anti-social behaviour. I am glad that local authorities have warmly welcomed them.
Mr. Sheerman:
I welcome my hon. Friend's comments. Bringing the local community together in partnership in the fight against crime has been close to the hearts of Labour Members for a long time.
Did my hon. Friend listen to Professor Richard Sparks this morning on BBC Radio 4, and to his pessimistic view of what will happen in towns and cities over the next 10 or 15 years? Will she ensure that our community groups and the local authorities that lead them have targets for crime reduction year on year so that we can measure our success?
Ms Quin:
There is an important reason for targets, as my hon. Friend has described. I am afraid that I did not hear the interview to which he refers--I may have been on a train at the time--but I am sure that the information will be taken into consideration. There have already been many successful examples of partnership, and it is on those that we want to build in the Bill.
Sir Brian Mawhinney:
Did the hon. Lady notice what the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mr. Bradley) said about the excellent work that he tells us is being done in his area without any statutory obligation? What is her estimate of the extra costs that would fall to local authorities in implementing their statutory duties under the Crime and Disorder Bill? Why should the country believe that she and the Home Secretary are serious when the Government are reducing social services budgets throughout the land?
Ms Quin:
The right hon. Gentleman makes a valid point about some of the partnerships that exist, but the Government want to ensure that those experiences and lessons are learnt throughout the country. That is why we want a statutory duty along the lines that we have included in the Crime and Disorder Bill--we believe that it will help to tackle crime throughout the country.
I should point out that the police and local authorities warmly welcome the proposals that we have placed before the House, on which we consulted widely in the past few months.
We estimate that the cost is likely to be about £130 million, but that does not take into account some of the savings that we believe can be made by reducing offending, and by such measures as the home detention curfew which my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced to the House at the end of last year.
Mr. Barry Jones:
Senior citizens in my constituency tell me bitterly of their anxiety about young offenders who are involved in drug abuse, vandalism and, indeed, more serious crimes on the larger housing estates. Would it help local authorities if police authorities could recruit more special constables, thus freeing experienced officers to tackle the root of the problems, early rather than late?
Ms Quin:
A strong partnership is developing which involves special constables, but we believe that the
9. Mr. Burns:
If he will make a statement on the recruitment of special constables into the Chelmsford area. [24620]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Alun Michael):
In the current financial year, 34 additional special constables have been recruited in the Chelmsford area. There are now 82 specials in the Chelmsford division. During specials week, I went to Essex and met some of the Essex specials with the chief constable, John Burrow, and I am very impressed by the increasingly professional nature of their work.
Mr. Burns:
I am grateful to the Minister for his reply. Does he share my concern--and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford (Mr. Whittingdale) and of West Chelmsford Labour party--about the difficulty of recruiting and retaining high-calibre special constables, despite the availability of funds? The Essex police are doing a tremendous job in seeking to recruit special constables in the Chelmsford area, but does the Minister feel that local authorities also have a role? If so, does he think that Chelmsford borough council is playing its full part?
Mr. Michael:
I am surprised at the reported lack of enthusiasm of Liberal Democrats in Chelmsford for what is an essential act of citizenship--ordinary citizens acting as volunteers to help to make the community safer for others.
Yes, local authorities can play a role as, indeed, can the business sector. We would encourage all parts of the community to work together to meet the objective that--as my hon. Friend the Minister of State pointed out--we are setting out in the Crime and Disorder Bill, and to cut crime.
10. Mr. Bob Russell:
What estimate he has made of the number of people currently employed in the private security industry; and what proposals he has to regulate this industry. [24621]
Mr. Michael:
In evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee in 1995, the Policy Studies Institute put the total size of the industry at about 162,000 employees and over 8,000 firms in 1992.
The Government are committed to statutory regulation of the private security industry. While waiting for an opportunity to legislate, we are consulting and working with the industry and others on the best way in which to design regulation that is simple and effective.
Mr. Russell:
So far, so good, but did not the previous Government also conduct a consultation exercise? This is the second such exercise, and I wonder when we can have a decision on some action.
Does the Minister agree that it is strange that, although someone cannot start up a taxi firm and become a taxi driver without being subjected to a number of checks in the public interest, people can leave prison, start up their own security firms--as, indeed, people have done--and to all intents and purposes, by their demeanour and their uniforms, give the impression of being police officers? Is it not time that such people were brought under some form of regulation, in the public interest?
Mr. Michael:
Yes, we do think that there is something very odd about the situation. That is why we welcomed the Select Committee's recommendation on regulation, and why we were surprised when the previous Government, year after year, voted against amendments that we tabled to various Bills in order to introduce some form of regulation. We warned them that a new Government, with the pressure of legislation to tackle the whole criminal justice system, would not easily find an early legislative slot in order to take action that had long been needed. We will take such action as quickly as we can, however, and we believe that it is necessary.
Mr. Campbell-Savours:
Would not operating practices in the better-run parts of the private security industry be greatly helped by the introduction of a national identity card?
Mr. Michael:
A national identity card does not necessarily resonate with what is required for the private security industry. One of the problems is that managers and owners of private firms and their employees are unregulated, and there is a lot of movement among employees. As my hon. Friend suggests, we need a private security industry that meets the standards of the best. The industry and the trade unions agree with us that legislation is necessary.
11. Mr. Barnes:
If he will make a statement on the advantages and disadvantages of a system of rolling electoral registration. [24622]
Mr. George Howarth:
My hon. Friend will be aware that I am chairing a working party that is examining rolling registers and other electoral issues.
Mr. Barnes:
Are not the current static electoral registers out of date as soon as they come into use? Masses of people are missing from the registers, and many people who have moved or died are still included. We need a much more modern system. According to the figures showing the eligible population in England, 4.7 per cent. of people are missing from the electoral register, and in Richmondshire, the local government area represented by the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks (Mr. Hague), 15.8 per cent. of people are missing. Perhaps some politicians turn people off more than others. We need a modern, up-to-date, electoral registration system that is compatible with a mobile society.
Mr. Howarth:
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend's work on this subject over a number of years. He has raised concerns about the absence of people on the register due to the poll tax and for other reasons. The specific points
Mr. Collins:
Does the Minister recognise that a rolling registration process runs the risk of an increase in honest and dishonest mistakes due to multiple entries? Will he undertake not to support any mechanism that could increase the risk of electoral fraud?
Mr. Howarth:
The integrity of our electoral system is of paramount importance to all of us, and I would not be party to any decision that undermined that. There would have to be a cut-off point at some realistic date so as to preserve the integrity of the system. Provided that we take those pointers into account, it should be possible to have a rolling register with a cut-off point before it comes into effect for any particular election.
Mr. Rammell:
Does my hon. Friend agree that, given that the turnout, especially for local government and European elections, is significantly lower in this country than in other European countries, we should actively explore other radical new initiatives, such as electronic voting, voting in a wider variety of places, including supermarkets, and voting on a Sunday, which is considered on the continent to be the best way in which to maximise turnout because people do not have so many alternatives?
Mr. Howarth:
My hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government and Housing has established a working party that is considering the re-invigoration of local elections, and issues such as electronic voting form part of its considerations.
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