Written question asked by Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 11 April 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 7 May 2003. It was answered by Hilary Benn (Labour) on Wednesday, 7 May 2003 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his Answer of 9 April 2003 403 c281W, on Command Paper 5778, what definition his Department has provided to local authorities in order to allow for common data collection; and what plans he has to collect this data; what plans his Department has to collect figures on dysfunctional families.

Answer: Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his Answer of 9 April 2003, Official Report, column 281W, on Command Paper 5778, (1) what definition his Department has provided to local authorities in order to allow for common data collection; and what plans he has to collect this data; [109533] (2) what plans his Department has to collect figures on dysfunctional families. [110153] Hilary Benn: Dysfunctional families can be identified through the existence of multiple risk factors and/or through the number of contacts that a family has with local agencies. In the coming months we will be publishing a Crime Reduction Toolkit on dysfunctional families to support Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRP's) in the identification and development of ways of intervening with dysfunctional families at a local level. There are currently no plans to collect data locally or centrally on dysfunctional families in the Home Office.

Secondary information