Asked by: Lord Selkirk of Douglas (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to make the theft of pet dogs a specific criminal offence.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government recognises the distress pet theft causes and will consider the evidence and what more could be done to prevent these cruel crimes. That is why we launched the Pet Theft Taskforce on 8 May. The Taskforce will:
Further information about the Pet Theft Taskforce, including its full terms of reference, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/taskforce-launched-to-investigate-reported-rise-in-pet-thefts
Asked by: Lord Selkirk of Douglas (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State for the Scotland Office on 9 May 1996 (HC27914) in which the Minister stated that about £4 million was made available to fund CCTV for the subsequent three years to reduce crime and fear of crime in Scotland, what assessment they have made of the impact of this funding in leading to an increase in detection and deterrence of crime and to a substantive reduction in crime.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
Evidence shows that CCTV can have a significant impact in deterring offenders and reducing overall crime. There has been no government assessment of the impact of this specific funding, which was made available to Scotland in 1996.
Asked by: Lord Selkirk of Douglas (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to roll-out CCTV in areas which have high violent crime rates, including of knife crime.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
While most public space CCTV systems are owned, monitored and managed by local authorities, the Government has supported local initiatives to inform the effective deployment of CCTV and is supportive of police and local authorities’ use of CCTV in helping to prevent and tackle serious violence. This is consistent with the focus of the Serious Violence Strategy, in using all available tools and techniques to respond to recent rises in serious violence. Since the launch of the Strategy in April 2018, we have, amongst a raft of activities, launched a £22m Early Intervention Youth Fund which is already supporting 29 projects in England and Wales, a national knife crime media campaign - #knife free; a new National County Lines Co-ordination Centre to tackle this violent and exploitative criminal activity; and the Offensive Weapons Bill to strengthen legislation on firearms, knives and corrosive substances.
On 2 October 2018 the Home Secretary announced further important measures including a consultation on new legal duty to support a multi-agency approach to preventing and tackling serious violence, a new long term £200 million Youth Endowment Fund, and an Independent Review of Drug Misuse
Most recently, on 13 March the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that an additional £100 million, including £80 million of new funding from HM Treasury, for serious violence in 2019/20 to help the police’s immediate response to the rise in knife crime, and to support investment in Violence Reduction Units, bringing together a range of agencies including health, education, social services and others, to develop a multi-agency approach in preventing serious violence altogether. It is important that we recognise that greater law enforcement on its own will not reduce serious violence and that we must continue to focus on prevention and early intervention alongside this.
Asked by: Lord Selkirk of Douglas (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of using CCTV in detecting, preventing and deterring the incidence of violent crime with weapons in built-up areas.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government fully supports the use of CCTV as a tool in helping to deter violence and other criminal activity and to assist in the investigation of crimes and the prosecution of offenders.
We have not undertaken any specific assessment in relation to knife crime and other violent crimes involving weapons, but we do not underestimate the contribution that CCTV can play alongside other investigative tools.