"The package of measures announced today aimed at preventing crime, reducing wait times in the criminal courts and improving services available to prison leavers provides funding for a wide range of areas the LGA has previously called for investment in."
Responding to the Government’s announcement in the Spending Review of a package of measures aimed at reducing and preventing crime, Cllr Nesil Caliskan, Chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said:
“The package of measures announced today aimed at preventing crime, reducing wait times in the criminal courts and improving services available to prison leavers provides funding for a wide range of areas the LGA has previously called for investment in.
“We are pleased to see the Government commit to funding to recruit 8,000 more police officers by 2023, and the Economic Crime Plan reforms are a positive step.
“Much of the funding announced, including the previously announced Safer Streets Fund, is already in the process of being distributed to those eligible.
“Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for local authorities and whilst we would have wanted a focus on greater investment in prevention and early intervention measures addressed in the Spending Review, it is pleasing to see a commitment to recruiting more Independent Domestic Violence Advocates and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors, and improving the prosecution rates in rape cases. However, there also needs to be a wider societal cultural shift towards preventing abusive and violent behaviour, so that it is ‘everybody’s business’ and not simply a criminal justice response.
“We are calling on the Government to put further emphasis on Violence Reduction Units – currently in 18 police force areas – which we would like to see extended to all police forces in England and Wales and for them to have five years long-term funding, rather than year-on-year commitments.”