Written question asked by Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour) on Tuesday, 15 May 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 21 May 2007. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Thursday, 24 May 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

Crime Prevention: NHS

Question: (3) what role accident and emergency departments play in crime and disorder reduction partnerships; and what assessment he has made of their effectiveness in that role.

Answer: [holding answers 21 May 2007]: The Government recognise that the national health service can both contribute to and benefit from local actions to tackle crime and disorder. To that end, NHS trusts, including NHS acute trusts, which incorporate accident and emergency departments, have co-operating bodies’ status within Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs). This means that representatives from bodies with this status are encouraged to attend CDRP meetings, for example when they have been specifically identified as leading or supporting responsible authority members in achieving the community safety objectives identified by the Partnership.While the Home Office measures the outcomes delivered by individual CDRPs (for example, trends in crime) information on the operational arrangements of individual partnerships is not held centrally, neither has any formal assessment been made of the role of individual partner agencies.

Secondary information