asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what new initiatives the Home Office crime prevention unit is providing in the field of crime prevention.

The crime prevention unit will continue to stimulate and encourage a very wide range of activity aimed at involving the whole community in crime prevention. These at present include: strengthening the crime prevention element in central government policies, through the ministerial group on crime prevention; encouraging the private sector to engage more fully in crime prevention work; devising a new publicity campaign as part of an increased publicity budget of £4·8 million; working with the local authority associations and the police to establish a travelling conference to promote local crime prevention activity; completing research projects on a range of topics including aspects of autocrime, commercial robbery and crime in the inner city; and considering the problems of young people and crime by, among other things, the setting up of three new working groups to report to standing conference on crime prevention in November 1987.