Extract from
Westminster Hall debate on Antisocial Behaviour: Hull and the
East Riding of Yorkshire
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home
Department (Victoria Atkins):...The hon. Lady asked me
about a community response. She will know that as part of the
serious violence strategy we are pulling together across all
Government Departments, along with local government colleagues, the
Mayor of London, Police
and Crime Commissioners and Mayors across the
country, to try to have a more joined-up approach to serious
violence. That will have a beneficial effect on lower-level
offending behaviour as well, because if we can help young people
with issues at home, mental health issues and so on, as she
described, that will have an impact on their behaviour generally.
That is why I am delighted that not only are we helping the Vulcan
Learning Centre, a local charity in Hull, through the knife crime
community fund, which will help local children who are perhaps
falling into crime. There is also a bigger, national effort through
the early intervention fund for young people announced in the
serious violence strategy as well as the
endowment fund that the Home
Secretary announced last week—£200 million that will be invested in
long-term projects to help young people across the county. A great
deal of work is going on...
...That is a matter for the police and crime
commissioner. We brought in Police
and Crime Commissioners in 2012 precisely to give a
local person the power to hold the police and chief constable to
account and to spend the police budget in ways they feel are
priorities for their local electorate.
As I say, we are injecting more money into policing this year.
The Home Secretary has very much listened to the chiefs
and Police and Crime Commissioners across the
country. We know that policing is changing and that pressures on
the police through different crime types are developing. Ten
years ago, online child sexual exploitation did not feature, but
now, sadly, as the Home Secretary laid out in his recent speech,
it is an incredible pressure on policing...
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Extract from
Westminster Hall debate on Business Banking Fraud
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John
Glen):...Tackling fraud is a Government priority. I want
to reflect on a new theme raised today: access to justice and the
mechanisms by which it is delivered. The decision to investigate
a crime rests solely with law enforcement; I cannot make it
myself. Like any Member of Parliament, I can refer a crime to the
relevant chief constable, but they will take account of available
resources and the likely eventual outcome. It is the chief
officer of the local force who is ultimately responsible for such
operational decisions, and it is the responsibility
of Police and Crime Commissioners to set the
budget for local forces, which the chief officer must take into
account. Forces can apply for special grant funding to help meet
the cost of unexpected events, but I know from conversations with
my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton that there is
sometimes a gap between the costs covered and the actual costs
accrued. These are real matters that need to be addressed...
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