Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Hilling Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising that issue. The question of khat has caused concern to a number of people for some considerable time. I have asked the ACMD to consider the use of khat. It will conduct a study and expects to be able to report back to me and the Home Office later this year.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

6. What assessment she has made of the level of crime since May 2010.

[Simon Danczuk (Rochdale) (Lab)]

9. What assessment she has made of the level of crime since May 2010.

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May)]

Crime remains too high. That is why we are reforming the police, so that they are free from paperwork and free to fight crime. We have also set up the national crime mapping website, police.uk, which now provides the public with street-level information about crime and antisocial behaviour on a monthly basis, allowing them to access crime and policing information in a way that is helpful to them.

[Julie Hilling]

With a 10% increase in robbery with knives, is this the right time to cut 16,000 police officers?

[Mrs May]

There is no simple link between the number of police officers and the level of crime. We can see that evidenced in the UK and elsewhere, with both police officer numbers and crime falling in a number of areas. I suggest to the hon. Lady that she might talk to the Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, her right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz), who last year said exactly this:

“We accept that there is no simple relationship between numbers of police officers and levels of crime.”