Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31385 on 19 November 2002, which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for this can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search.

Figures on all forms of pre-school education and daycare for children under five were collected for the first time in 2001. Prior to that, figures for daycare services were collected every three years, whilst figures for pre-school education were collected annually. This means it is not possible to give accurate estimates between 1996 and 2000.For 2001 and 2002, the numbers and percentage of children who were provided with these services in the Renfrewshire council area is given the in following table.

Year	Under-fives in Pre-school Education or Daycare	% of Under-fives
2001	4,140	39
2002	4,500	46

We are not aware of any recent assessment of the impact of closed circuit television systems on levels of street crime commissioned centrally or by another research body in the areas referred to in the question. We have, however, received evaluations of the implementation of CCTV in Paisley Town Centre, Johnstone Town Centre and Renfrew Town Centre.In the main the evaluations refer to the increased likelihood of detection of perpetrators; the ability of operators to spot potential incidents before they develop; clearer descriptions of perpetrators; accused being more likely to plead guilty if caught on camera; police confidence in the system, and calmer feeling in the town centres.

While Scottish Police Forces record details of all drugs offences committed within their areas, statistics are not routinely recorded in respect of those crimes which it is suspected may be drug related.

Every local authority in Scotland has been asked to produce an audit of youth crime; to identify the number of persistent offenders in their area and to have programmes in place to tackle their offending behaviour. Renfrewshire's audit demonstrates significant progress in achieving these three requirements. Between 2000 and 2003, it will have received investment of £581,000 from the Executive to support its youth justice work.

The following table shows the incidence of violent crime in (a) Scotland and (b) Renfrewshire. There is no data collected centrally to indicate how many of these crimes were related to drug use.Crimes Recorded by the Police, 1999-2001

	Scotland			Renfrewshire
	1999	2000	2001	1999	2000	2001
Non-sexual crimes of violence	15,539	15,196	15,080	693	634	792

Excludes crimes of handling offensive weapons.In March 2002, the Executive set a target, for the police service across Scotland, for violent crime to be reduced by 2003-04 to a level 5% below the three-year average of 1997-2000. How crime rates are tackled locally is primarily an operational matter for chief constables to decide in consultation with the local communities.

Street crime is not classified separately within centrally collected statistics. In addition to the specific targets for police forces already announced discussions are on-going with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and police authorities on setting a target to reduce the fear of crime.

Spend by Renfrewshire Council on crime prevention is a matter for the Council. The information is not held centrally.Under the Make our Communities Safer CCTV Challenge Competition which ended in March 2002, the awards detailed in the table were made for fixed CCTV in the Renfrewshire area. These awards were made to local trusts. No bids were received for mobile CCTV.

1996-97	Paisley Town Centre	£51,695
1997-98	Johnstone Town Centre	£54,000
1998-99	Renfrew Town Centre	£70,000
1999-2000	Additional camera in Paisley Town Centre	£5,000
2000-01		£0
2001-02		£0

On 1 April we introduced a new Community Safety Partnership Award Programme for all council-led Community Safety Partnerships. For 2002-03, Renfrewshire Community Safety Partnership were awarded £147,521.59 to address local community safety priorities.

The information requested is given in the following tables.Crimes Cleared Up by the Police as a Percentage of those Recorded, Renfrewshire Council Area, 1997-2001

	Percentage
Crime category	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Total crimes	29	37	38	37	36
Non-sexual crimes of violence	60	62	68	66	66
Serious assault etc	51	49	57	55	57
Handling offensive weapons	100	98	98	99	99
Robbery	31	39	33	34	35
Other	82	69	85	93	87
Crimes of indecency	60	63	61	57	61
Rape and attempted rape	88	45	65	60	76
Indecent assault	54	58	44	56	43
Lewd and libidinous behaviour	55	66	64	54	60
Other	78	76	70	69	100
Crimes of dishonesty	22	28	30	30	30
Housebreaking	13	16	17	16	18
Theft by opening lockfast places	9	15	16	19	15
Theft of motor vehicle	18	22	25	21	26
Shoplifting	70	76	78	75	75
Other theft	14	19	19	17	18
Fraud	77	84	87	91	83
Other	97	95	95	99	99
Fire-raising, vandalism etc	14	16	18	17	14
Fire-raising	16	15	19	14	16
Vandalism etc	14	16	17	17	14
Other crimes	100	100	100	100	99
Crimes against public justice	99	100	100	100	98
Drugs	100	100	99	100	100
Other	100	78	125	67	-

Crimes Cleared Up by the Police as a Percentage of Those Recorded, K Division of Strathclyde Police Force Area, 1997-2001

Crime category	Percentage
	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Total Crimes	33	38	42	42	40
Non-sexual crimes of violence	60	62	69	68	73
Serious assault etc	53	49	58	56	60
Handling offensive weapons	101	98	99	99	100
Robbery	30	37	35	38	37
Other	80	71	88	70	97
Crimes of indecency	58	65	59	63	64
Rape and attempted rape	88	62	68	53	97
Indecent assault	49	62	49	64	49
Lewd and libidinous behaviour	54	65	59	62	61
Other	73	73	62	77	69
Crimes of dishonesty	25	30	34	33	31
Housebreaking	14	18	20	19	19
Theft by opening lockfast places	9	14	20	22	15
Theft of motor vehicle	20	22	27	25	25
Shoplifting	74	76	82	79	77
Other theft	16	21	22	19	19
Fraud	69	71	87	93	77
Other	95	94	98	97	99
Fire-raising, vandalism etc	17	18	19	19	16
Fire-raising	17	16	15	16	16
Vandalism etc	17	18	19	19	16
Other crimes	100	100	99	100	99
Crimes against public justice	100	100	100	99	99
Drugs	101	100	99	100	100
Other	100	82	120	60	33

Following the publication of the action plan, Renfrewshire Council received £113,506 from the Executive this year to prevent and reduce youth crime and a further £15,000 to help complete its youth crime audit. The council has now received a total of nearly £395,000 for investment in youth justice this year. This money and the national initiatives we are taking forward under the action plan will support local implementation. For example, the Safer Scotland police campaign (Action Point 4 of the 10-point plan) was launched across Scotland in October, offering public reassurance and higher visibility policing. Forces will also be focusing on key local issues such as youth disorder.The Executive published a report of a local authority youth justice mapping exercise which contains information about existing initiatives in Renfrewshire. The report is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 24541).