Oral Answers to Questions

Luciana Berger Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

As I said to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Steve Rotheram), in the particular instance of the Hillsborough investigation my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has already made that commitment on resources. There is clearly a wider point about the IPCC’s resources and how it operates, and a statement on that will be made very shortly.

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

10. What steps she plans to take to increase the use of CCTV in response to community demand.

[Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)]

11. What steps she plans to take to increase the use of CCTV in response to community demand.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (James Brokenshire)]

The Government support the effective use of CCTV to cut crime and protect the public. It is a matter for local agencies to determine how best to deploy and use CCTV systems to meet local needs.

[Luciana Berger]

In Liverpool, the City Watch team have used state-of-the-art CCTV to deter crime and antisocial behaviour and to identify and convict those guilty of offences. As a result, according to the UK Statistics Authority, Liverpool is now the second-safest city in the country. Given this success, why does the Minister want to make it harder for the police and other local authorities to get CCTV for communities who want and need it?

[James Brokenshire]

We certainly recognise the important part that CCTV can play in making communities safer, and the hon. Lady has mentioned the City Watch programme in Liverpool. The Government are not seeking to make it harder to use CCTV; rather, we are seeking to put in place steps to ensure that its use is effective and commands the support of the public and, in so doing, that it can continue to carry out its important work.