Extracts from End
of day adjournment debate on Crime and Antisocial Behaviour: Slade
Road, Birmingham
(Birmingham, Erdington)
(Lab):...We are doing everything we can in Birmingham, but
the Government have a responsibility. The police and crime
commissioner for Birmingham will visit Slade Road this Friday to
see at first hand what can and should be done next. Resource is
key, but resource alone is not enough: we need all agencies with
responsibility to come together and act. So, together with the
police, the police and crime commissioner and the local authority,
I will be convening a summit, at which we want to bring around the
table the national health service, the mental health trust, the
probation service, the Prison Service and the social housing
regulator, which, to be frank, has a lot to answer for in respect
of how the powers under the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 have
been used to register and deregister bad
landlords. It is going to be key to bring them together to get a
concerted action plan to make a real difference in Slade
Road...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the
Home Department (Victoria Atkins):...The hon. Gentleman
will know that we rightly debated the reasons for the very
difficult decisions that had to be made in 2010, but, as the Prime
Minister herself has said, we are now managing the economy so that
we can begin to invest more in the services that are so vital in
all our constituencies. Indeed, the hon. Gentleman will be pleased
that this year we have managed to put forward a settlement that
will increase police funding by more than £1 billion in the year
2019-20—with the help of Police and Crime Commissioners, as I am
always happy to say—including through the additional £100 million
serious violence fund that was recently announced in the spring
statement. I will return to that in a moment. I am pleased that the
police and crime commissioner has committed to increasing officer
numbers by 200 over the next two years, taking full advantage of
the police funding settlement that was passed just a few months
ago...
...We very much believe that the best way to tackle crime is
to stop it happening in the first place. That may seem obvious, but
removing the incentive for crime means offering young people
sustainable life chances and a real alternative to a life of
violence. That is why one of the schemes we have announced is the
early intervention youth fund totalling £22 million, which is
funding 29 projects endorsed by Police and Crime Commissioners. Of that,
£2 million has been allocated to the west midlands police and crime
commissioner until March next year to help West Midlands police to
communicate and disseminate key messages and to target those who
are most at risk of serious violence...
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Extract from
Oral answer (Lords) on Hate Crime: Homophobic and Misogynistic
Attacks
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether current statute is a
sufficient deterrent in preventing homophobic and misogynistic
attacks.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of
Trafford) (Con)
My Lords, crimes motivated by hatred are particularly abhorrent.
The Government have asked the Law Commission to review the
adequacy and parity of protection offered by the law relating to
hate crime. This review covers existing protected
characteristics, including sexual orientation, and whether other
strands, including gender, should be added.
(Lab Co-op)
My Lords, it is appalling to think that if you are gay or a
woman, getting on a bus or walking down a street puts you at risk
of abuse and physical attack for no reason other than you being
who you are. I know that the Minister will condemn these attacks.
But will she also speak to the Home Secretary and the Minister
for Policing to ensure that they are talking to the Met
Commissioner, chief constables and Police and Crime Commissioners
in England and Wales so that there is no doubt that these
criminal acts will not be tolerated in 2019, that firm action
will always be taken and that, where necessary, the law will be
strengthened?
The noble Lord is absolutely right that I join him in
wholeheartedly condemning the attacks in London and Southampton.
Perhaps the London one was the most surprising of all, given
London’s diversity and its generally tolerant and liberal
approach; it is being widely reported as both homophobic and
misogynistic. There may be other factors but that is for the
court to determine. The noble Lord will know that the hate crime
action plan sets out our plans to tackle all forms of hate crime.
We refreshed it last year; in addition, our VAWG refresh, which
was issued in March, includes sexual harassment. We are committed
to conducting a study of sexual harassment.
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