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Written question asked by Harry Cohen (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 February 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 February 2009. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 10 March 2009 on behalf of the Home Office.

Offensive Weapons: Crime Prevention

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much had been spent on the implementation of the Tackling Knives Action Programme in each of the participating areas at the latest date for which figures are available; and if she will take steps to implement the programme in other areas with high levels of knife crime.
Answer

More than £5 million has been spent on the implementation of the Tackling Knives Action Programme (TKAP). A breakdown of the £1.8 million that was initially invested in the 10 areas is appended as follows. A further £300,000 was provided to the forces to procure 85 search arches and 566 wands in addition to the 350 wands and 100 arches previously provided nationally.In October, £3.4 million of extra funding was allocated to police forces in the TKAP areas to extend after-school patrols, Safer Schools Partnerships and Operation Staysafe programmes, to ensure that young people are kept safe in and around their school. A further £100,000 has also been made available to combat underage sales of knives.In addition to the 10 'first tier', TKAP police forces have also identified Bedfordshire, South Yorkshire and Northumbria as areas that could benefit from TKAP's intensive approach as well as the British Transport police. The geographical coverage of TKAP continues to be kept under review.

Initial investment in TKAP police force areas
£
First tier forces
Metropolitan Police Service 250,000.00
Essex Police 150,000.00
Greater Manchester Police 150,000.00
Lancashire Constabulary 150,000.00
Merseyside Police 150,000.00
Nottinghamshire Police 150,000.00
South Wales Police 150,000.00
Thames Valley Police 150,000.00
West Midlands Police 150,000.00
West Yorkshire Police 150,000.00
Second tier forces
Bedfordshire Police 51,785.00
British Transport Police 50,000.00
Northumbria Police 57,000.00
South Yorkshire Police 50,000.00

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
489 c303-4W;489 c305-6W; 259517
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Crime prevention Offensive weapons
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk