Neighbourhood Wardens

Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)
7. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of neighbourhood wardens working in community policing teams in England and Wales.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (John Reid)
Neighbourhood wardens can be a very important element of a neighbourhood policing plan. An evaluation of 84 warden schemes in 2003 found that they reduced the fear of crime and had a positive impact on the rates of crime.

Ian Lucas
I am grateful for that helpful reply. In Wrexham, neighbourhood wardens are important parts of community policing teams, along with community support officers and police officers. Local residents tell me that they particularly value neighbourhood wardens because of their close relationships with young people in their areas. Can my right hon. Friend assist me with any evidence that would support the proposal by the Liberal Democrat-led local authority to sack the neighbourhood wardens in Wrexham?

John Reid
That is at one with the Liberal Democrats’ national position, which is to refuse to back every single measure that improves local police effectiveness and local antisocial behaviour campaigns. As ever, whether on local issues such as this or on their refusal to countenance the means necessary to combat terrorism and organised crime—on ID cards, for example, they share with the Conservative party a reluctance to back the necessary means to combat those things—the Liberal Democrats are always found wanting on the ground. They seem to want to will the ends, but never to will the means.

Nick Herbert (Arundel and South Downs) (Con)
We welcome community wardens as part of the mix of neighbourhood policing teams, but rather than the Government providing ring-fenced funding for them, should not chief constables and local communities be able to decide the right balance of wardens, community support officers and police officers for their areas, particularly when the council tax payer now finances more than a fifth of police force spending, which is double the amount funded in 1997?

John Reid
We are, of course, always prepared to look at giving more flexibility and devolving more control. However, it would help if the hon. Gentleman who asks for such flexibility were to support us when we put extra money into having a record number of police officers, or when we put extra money into supporting police community service, or when we put through antisocial behaviour orders, or when we do everything else necessary to supplement neighbourhood wardens in bringing real change in local communities. Once again, we have someone talking tough and voting soft on the Opposition Benches.