Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships

Mr. Dunne
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what crime and disorder reduction partnerships have been established in each local authority area in each year since 1997.

Mr. Alan Campbell
Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) in England and Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) in Wales were set up under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. These partnerships are organised on local government boundaries and are sited at unitary authority level in single tier authorities and district level in two-tier areas in England and county council or county borough council level in Wales. There are 346 CDRPs in England and 22 CSPs in Wales. Adjoining CDRPs/CSPs can formally merge if this is in the interests of reducing crime and disorder, subject to approval by the Secretary of State. Since 2005, six formal mergers of two or more CDRP areas have taken place.

Mr. Dunne
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of (a) business improvement districts, (b) crime and disorder partnerships and (c) town centre management schemes at reducing crime.

Mr. Alan Campbell
Business improvement districts and town centre management schemes are locally funded approaches that primarily aim to improve the trading environment and image of defined areas. Information is not collected centrally on the performance of these schemes. Each scheme is accountable to its funder(s) who in most cases are the local authority.

Under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Crime and Disorder Partnerships (or Community Safety Partnerships in Wales) were required to report annually to the Secretary of State on their activities. This duty was repealed in 2007 in recognition that partnership working practices had matured, to reduce bureaucracy and to enhance the response to the local community’s needs. It was replaced by statutory requirements for CDRPs/CSPs to produce a strategic assessment identifying local community safety priorities and a partnership plan which sets out the approach for addressing these priorities and is published locally (in summary form). Hallmarks of Effective Partnerships were also introduced to drive up standards.

Regional Government offices provide a link between CDRPs/CSPs and central Government and have a key role in improving the effectiveness of partnerships. They work closely with partnerships to monitor their work in relation to local and national priorities, and provide support and guidance on the implementation of the hallmarks of effective practice.