Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the possibility of communities providing funding for volunteer-manned community support facilities that are able to liaise directly with police stations.

The Government actively encourages local communities and volunteers to support police forces to prevent crime. To this end it provides grant funding to Neighbourhood Watch, a community-based volunteer led organisation that enables 2 million households across the UK to become directly involved in crime prevention. Individuals form local groups who often have direct communication with their local police.

It is common practice in many police forces to have designated Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators who assist in engaging directly with the groups. The government also grant funds Crimestoppers, a charity that provides an anonymous reporting system for communities to report and provide information about actual or suspected crimes. In addition, The government has also recently awarded funding to local areas as part of the £25m Safer Streets Fund. This fund is designed to reduce neighbourhood crimes and many plans contain community-based elements. Many successful projects will be setting up neighbourhood watch groups and other more informal networks within communities with the aim to help prevent crime in unison with the police in some of the highest acquisitive crime areas across England and Wales.’