After much delay not least because of lockdown Downing Street partying revelations, the Boris Johnson Government has released its ‘levelling up plan that will transform the UK‘.
The document does include crime prevention, under the rubric of restoring ‘a sense of community, local pride and well-being’. In that area as in others it’s only repeating things that are already happening, such as the much-announced ‘20,000 more police officers on our streets by 2023’; and the Home Office’s Safer Streets Fund. It’s promised that the Fund will carry on, whereby Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), local government and police forces, and some ‘civil society organisations’ in England and Wales can bid for money, usually six-figures sums, to go towards things – whether physical security such as lighting, or training – to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
As for its ten year Drugs Strategy, launched late last year and featured in the November 2021 print edition of Professional Security, the Government says that it will work intensively with the local authorities of ten to 20 areas most affected by prolific neighbourhood crime; and that it is to deliver on Dame Carol Black’s independent review of drugs.
The paper speaks (repeatedly) of ’12 Missions to Level Up the UK’. One is to do with crime; that ‘by 2030, homicide, serious violence, and neighbourhood crime will have fallen, focused on the worst-affected areas’. Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove spoke of ‘calling time on the postcode lottery’ and said ‘our 12 new national levelling up missions will drive real change in towns and cities across the UK’.
In the detail of the document, it speaks (repeatedly) in general terms of how ‘urban areas and coastal towns suffer disproportionately from crime’; and saying the same thing another way, that ‘areas with low levels of social capital often have high levels of crime and anti-social behaviour’. Some of the document amounts to a ranging over the last couple of decades of the country’s history, such as the 2012 introduction of PCCs.
For the 332-page document visit gov.uk. In a foreword, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote of ‘a vision for the future’ that included ‘violent crime falling’.
He said: “From day one, the defining mission of this government has been to level up this country, to break the link between geography and destiny so that no matter where you live you have access to the same opportunities.
“The challenges we face have been embedded over generations and cannot be dug out overnight, but this White Paper is the next crucial step.
“It is a vision for the future that will see public spending on R&D increased in every part of the country; transport connectivity improving; faster broadband in every community; life expectancies rising; violent crime falling; schools improving; and private sector investment being unleashed.
“It is the most comprehensive, ambitious plan of its kind that this country has ever seen and it will ensure that the government continues to rise to the challenge and deliver for the people of the UK.”
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The Labour South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, saw two serious flaws in what the government is proposing for policing.
“First, part of the plan is to increase police numbers nationally by 20,000, but this only returns police strength to where it was in 2010, because for the past ten years we have seen a relentless levelling down.
“During this time, as police numbers fell, criminal gangs were able to establish themselves and expand their illicit drug markets and this requires a lot of police resource to tackle.
“Nevertheless, I welcome funding promised for work on drugs. Second, if crime and anti-social behaviour is to be reduced it will need other public services to be properly funded and supported as well, especially local authorities.
“A lot of police time is spent dealing with young people who go missing from private children’s homes or who get into trouble because have nowhere to go in the evenings or weekends or who have poor or no chances of a decent job.”
At the Local Government Association, James Jamieson, Chairman of the LGA said: “Councils want to work with the new Levelling Up Advisory Council and government on making sure that the role of local communities in delivering change and progress is evidenced well, including on the joined-up, sustainable funding settlement needed to empower councils across the country in support of these overall aims.”
Northumbria PCC Kim McGuinness complained that ‘ministers still want control of local decision-making from the centre’.
Pictured: Newcastle upon Tyne.
