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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what policies (a) initiated and (b) managed by his Department since 2001 have had an impact on Pendle; and if he will make a statement. [124093] Ms Blears: Most of the policies initiated by the Home Office since 2001 have had an impact on Pendle as on other parts of the country. Our policies in the areas of crime reduction, community cohesion and policing are providing direct benefits to the people of Pendle, as follows. 1. Crime Reduction Initiatives Initiatives that have been funded in Pendle for crime reduction purposes £ _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Name of initiative Total amount of funding awarded CCTV 2001-02 201,000 Communities against drugs 2001-02 and 2002-03 169,600 Safer communities initiative 2002-03 32,125 Partnership Development Fund (PDF) 2002-03 20,000 Small Retailers in Deprived Areas (SRDA) 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 71,698 Building Safer Communities Fund (BSC) 2003-04 120,867 Basic Command Unit Fund (BCU)1 2003-04 1214,571 Total (inclusive BCU) 829,861 (exclusive BCU) 615,290 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 BCU allocation is for the Pennine BCU which includes Burnley, Rossendale and Pendle. The allocation will be used across the BCU area; it is not possible to quantify how much will be utilised in Pendle itself. Interventions funded by crime reduction allocations included: a town centre Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) system, targeted policing operations, mobile CCTV, an initiative on tackling domestic violence, supporting youth mentoring, installation of security improvements and funding community support workers. 2. Community Cohesion Initiatives The Community Cohesion Pathfinder Programme, launched by the Home Office and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) in October 2002, aims to build examples of areas that are successfully mainstreaming community cohesion into all their core service delivery functions. The programme encompasses local authorities, the community and voluntary sector, and communities themselves. Pendle is one of the five authorities (together with Lancashire County Council, Burnley Borough Council, Hyndburn Borough Council, and Rossendale Borough Council) which make up the successful East Lancashire Community Cohesion Pathfinder. This will receive a total of £285,000 to spend in the period February 2003 to October 2004. The Home Office Community Cohesion Unit has worked closely with the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit of the ODPM, and through Government offices has funded community cohesion-focused activities for children and young people during the summer of 2001 and 2002 (in 2003 this has become incorporated into a single funded inter-Departmental programme). In 2001 around £7 million was provided for summer activities. Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) On 29 October 2002, the Street Crime Action Group (SCAG) commissioned the Department for Education and Skills and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to report on the evaluation of summer activities in 2002 and on progress on simplifying funding. In December, SCAG approved the key design features and objectives of the new programme based on a simplified single pot for funding. The confirmed total funding pot for 2003-04 is £24.7 million. The formula for the new programme, which for the first time is being developed in each Local Education Authority (LEA) area in the North West, is a national one. It is based on three indicators of need: levels of truancy, offending rates (specifically rates of robbery), and the numbers of young people aged 8-19 in each area. It is not possible to provide a figure for Pendle, but each Government office has the flexibility to adjust the allocations by up to 15 per cent. of the regional total. The allocation to Lancashire has been increased by over £115,000 and GO-NW staff are looking to the LEA to take forward enhanced activities in east Lancashire in Burnley, Pendle and Hyndburn. The Neighbourhood Renewal Unit of the ODPM and Government offices have also funded the community facilitation programme, under which regional co- ordinators have been appointed to undertake conflict resolution work where tensions are identified, and to strengthen existing capacity for conflict resolution. This programme has raised the profile of community cohesion at the regional and local level and facilitated the building of relationships and partnerships between agencies to address community cohesion and conflict. It has successfully supported the development of new approaches to addressing community conflicts. 3. Police Initiatives Pendle, Rossendale and Burnley are boroughs within the Pennine division of the Lancashire constabulary. Lancashire as a whole has benefited from a £0.06 million rural policing grant. Each borough has its own Chief Inspector answering to the Chief Superintendent of Pennine Division. The force has informed us that the borough Pendle has benefited from the following Government initiatives. Government initiatives funding £000 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 Total Crime Fighting Fund (CFF) 86 169 197 240 692 Community Support Officers 30 50 80 Street Crime 170 70 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 This is an equal portion of the 210,000 allocated to the Pennine Division

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

124093; 409 c274-5W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Government departments Home Office Policy Pendle

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk