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Policing (Croydon)

I congratulate the hon. Member for Croydon, Central (Mr. Pelling) not only on securing the debate, but on the measured way in which he stated his case. I am happy to join him in recognising the excellent work the police do to tackle crime and protect our communities, including his own, often in challenging and difficult circumstances. It is only right that local decisions on police deployment are made locally by the commissioner and the borough commander. The Metropolitan police are relatively well resourced, with 31,109 officers in September 2008, which is 4,432 more than in March 1997. That is an increase of 16.6 per cent., which is significantly higher than the overall increase of 11.7 per cent. for England and Wales. The Metropolitan police are also supported by 4,200 police community support officers and 13,697 police staff, who of course play an important role, often releasing police officers for front-line service. I know that the hon. Gentleman takes a keen interest in policing and, as one would expect, meets regularly with his borough commander. I know that he sought assurances about the commitment to maximise the police presence on the streets of Croydon. He mentioned the beginning of Operation Safe for All last year in Croydon, where there has been sustained investment in resources in the form of corporate assets from across the Metropolitan Police Service. That has made a major contribution to reductions in knife crime, which I will return to shortly, and youth violence. As he knows, Croydon has also benefited from the addition of three safer transport teams to police the transport hubs. The improvement in resources, which he was gracious enough to recognise, is evident, and I understand from the commissioner that, as of 31 March 2009, the Croydon operational command unit has 697 officers, which is 147—28 per cent.—more than in March 2001. There are also 176 police community support officers. After listening to the hon. Gentleman's speech, I was left with the impression that, although he was speaking in a debate in this place, his voice was reaching out to others beyond this Chamber. I understand why he might do that. He is a long-standing advocate for his constituents on policing matters and he has sought our advice on how he can further his campaign. I am sure that he acknowledges to some extent our limitations, particularly in operational matters. He is very good at mobilising his constituents. We are, of course, removing all the top-down targets for the police service after a request from the service and as a result of a more mature attitude between central Government and police force areas. However, we will leave one target in place: the confidence target, by which the police service is measured by local residents after they engage with it. On resources and the outcome of applications for them, I am sure that police forces are keen to ensure that the necessary resources are in place and used—and, more important, used on the priorities that local residents determine. There is a Metropolitan police allocation formula, which is kept under review by the Metropolitan Police Authority and the commissioner, but as the hon. Gentleman will have expected me to say, the actual resource allocation formula applied to Croydon and other London boroughs is a matter for the commissioner. The Metropolitan police allocation formula is not dissimilar to the overall Home Office police funding formula, but it is subject to allocation depending on the circumstances pertaining to each borough in the Metropolitan police area. It is a matter not merely of counting up the number of officers and staff, important though that is, but of assessing how their time is being used. Good deployment means that officers and staff are in the right place at the right time to deliver help when the public most need it. Moreover, it means that they can deliver the less visible parts of policing that are vital for police protection. There is scope for the police service, including the Metropolitan police, critically to review both the mix and the roles of the work force. I am sure that the commissioner continues to review the work force mix, so that it is best configured to provide the highest quality of service. I will return later to the hon. Gentleman's points about the business community, which is of particular interest to me. First, let me say that in the current economic climate, there should be a relentless focus on value for money, because it is more important than ever to get good value for money from our public services. I am talking now about sustaining efficiency and productivity improvements that have already been delivered, and ensuring that resources are effectively targeted at improving front-line services and delivering the best possible service to the public. That means even greater scrutiny by the Metropolitan Police Authority in assessing performance and ensuring that the commissioner is making the best possible use of his most valuable resource which, at the end of the day, is his work force. Let me say something about how the police service needs to operate in Croydon and elsewhere. This Government introduced neighbourhood policing teams, of which there are 25 in the borough of Croydon. That is a permanent and very welcome improvement in the way in which policing is delivered locally, not least because it is designed to ensure that the service is citizen-focused. That means being more responsive and more locally accountable than it has been in the past, and that is a key way of ensuring that public confidence in the police improves. The policing pledge, which will be implemented in all forces in England and Wales, including the Metropolitan police, by the end of 2008 signals our commitment to make further progress in that regard. It requires local forces to arrange regular public meetings at least once a month to agree priorities and ensure that they are then addressed. I am talking about how resources are directed and about ensuring that the necessary resources are there. The hon. Gentleman referred to crime statistics. I do not particularly want to get into a Dutch auction around statistics, but just in case anyone was left with the impression that crime has continued to rise in Croydon and is now rising irretrievably— particularly against the backdrop of an economic downturn—I will say that there is no inevitability about rising crime in an economic downturn, partly because of the changes that we have put in place. I suspect that the hon. Gentleman is looking at more recent figures. None the less, my figures show that overall, crime in Croydon has continued to fall. In mentioning burglary, he rightly identified one of the indicators about which we are particularly concerned. When we look at recorded crime statistics in Croydon, we see a slight increase in domestic burglary. I say that because sometimes there is a difference between the British crime survey figures and recorded police crime. However, that is the only indicator that shows an increase from 2006-07 to 2007-08 . That is why the Home Secretary recently announced a burglary initiative. As part of providing real help in hard times, we want to respond to the concerns of retailers, which the hon. Gentleman mentioned. I chair meetings with retailers, and we have recently decided to increase the number of such meetings so that we can focus particularly on their priorities. I accept the hon. Gentleman's point about their concerns. One of the important things we have done is started to improve the links between local businesses and their local crime reduction partnerships. In many cases, businesses do not know what crime reduction partnerships do or how to get in contact with them. Although it is very important that the police service regularly communicates with the community and addresses its concerns, it must acknowledge that the business community is an important part of the wider community. Retailers, who might be most concerned about acquisitive crime such as shoplifting and theft, must be at the forefront of their work, and I assure the hon. Gentleman that that is a priority for us. We hope to say something shortly about what more we can do to help that sector. The hon. Gentleman mentioned knife crime, and I want to say something about that before I conclude my remarks. He will know that, for the past year, we have run the tackling knives action programme, Launched in June 2008, the programme involves tough enforcement action together with support for parents and enhanced partnership working with schools and hospitals. The Metropolitan police service is one of the 14 forces now taking part in the second stage of that programme. In Croydon, the programme is showing some signs of success—I hesitate to use that word, but I am going to anyway. I hesitate, because I hate using such a word when young people are still using knives to stab each other, sometimes fatally. Therefore, saying that there has been "success" might give the wrong impression, but I think that progress is being made in Croydon, with a 17 per cent. reduction in the victims of knife crime in 2008-09. That does not mean that we are complacent in any way, shape or form, which is why the Government have recently announced that the programme will continue for a further year, with an extra £5 million to tackle knife crime and increase targeted police action aimed at the minority of young people who commit serious violence. Croydon has seen a significant investment in policing over the past years. As I would expect, the hon. Gentleman makes a strong case for a greater share of funding. That is not within our remit, but I am sure that there are people watching and listening closely to what he has said who will have heard his advocacy on behalf of his constituents. As he accepts, how resources are used is an operational matter for the local police leadership in an area. We are confident that many of the long-term measures in place, including safer neighbourhood teams, police community support officers and many of the other things that I have mentioned, will bear down on crime and on some of the problems that the hon. Gentleman has mentioned. We believe that there has been some success, which is linked to increased resources that we do not intend to see diminished overall. We believe that there is a job still to be done to bear down on crime further, and particularly on that minority of people who might wrongly believe that they are beyond the reach of the law. I assure the hon. Gentleman that both he and I share the view that such people are not beyond the law, and we must work at a local and national level to ensure that we do everything possible to bear down on crime further. Question put and agreed to.