| Good morning. I’m delighted to be
given the opportunity to speak to such a wide ranging audience and would
like to begin by placing on record my thanks to the sponsors without whom
this event would not be taking place: Government Office for the West
Midlands, West Midlands Business Council, Advantage West Midlands and the
huge contribution made by Community Communication Network.
I would also like to thank Dave Suszek the
Regional Business Crime Advisor who I know has put an enormous amount of
work into making this event a success.
The impact of business crime should not be
underestimated. In 2001 the British Chamber of Commerce survey revealed
that business crime costs £19 billion each year. Recent surveys from
groups such as the Institute of Directors state that each incident of
crime costs business on average £5k. Business crime is not victimless. Not
only does crime affect the owner of the business, it affects staff and
customers, and ultimately the whole community.
Recently the British Retail Consortium survey
indicated that the total estimated cost of crime, including crime
prevention, across the retail sector nationally was £2.13 billion in 2004.
The recent Axa Insurance Index survey of its
members revealed that in the past 5 years 2,000 small firms were forced
out of business due to crime, 34,000 were closed for a time. A further
16,000 had to move, staff in 30,000 businesses were injured and 186,000
businesses said crime had hit their profits.
Who wants to shop in a retail environment which is
blighted by high crime? Who wants to trade on an industrial estate where
stolen cars are regularly dumped and burnt out? We need to ensure
agencies, partnerships and Government Departments are all actively
involved in reducing business crime and I am pleased to see the West
Midlands has taken the bold and adventurous step in establishing the first
Regional Business Crime Forum in the UK.
From a Government perspective Business Crime is a
cross departmental issue. Responsibility lies not with the Home Office
alone, but is shared with the DTI and a number of other government
departments.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has a role
in ensuring Design out Crime principles are considered when businesses
apply for planning permission. Regional Spatial Strategies need to
reinforce this. Sometimes the system doesn’t help. Why should a business
have to wait three months to put up external shutters if they know they
are likely to be victims of crime? We ought to consider fast tracking
planning applications in urgent cases.
The Government’s commitment to reducing Business
Crime has been galvanised in recent years with the formation of the Home
Office Business Crime Team and the subsequent appointment of Business
Crime Reduction Advisors in each region.
This has provided a much needed resource for the
business community.
In addition the Government has provided initial
funding for the Action Against Business Crime group. This draws its
experience from the British Retail Consortium. As part of this funding the
Action Against Business Crime (AABC) group is tasked with setting up 100
new business crime partnerships in England and Wales, many of whom are
represented here today. I look forward to meeting some of you later when I
present the Safer Business Awards. I also understand AABC are exploring
the introduction of a new Safer Socialising Award aimed at the night time
economy. Another welcome initiative.
My colleague, Hazel Blears, Minister of State for
Policing, Security and Community Safety chairs a national SME Forum. This
has established a number of working groups looking at several areas of
business crime.
For instance the Advice and Information Working
Group has produced a number of excellent guides for businesses which are
included in your delegate packs.
The Police Response Working Group is looking at
providing much needed crime reduction advice to new businesses. These are
often targets for the criminal element. Of crucial significance, this
Group is also looking at methods of gathering business crime statistics
which are currently outside of the classification for types of crimes
reported and recorded by the Police, and measured by the Government
through its Public Service Agreements.
And the impact of all of this? Since the
introduction of the Home Office Advisors, significant progress has been
made in reducing business crime. West Midlands Police reported a reduction
of 12% in business crime from 2003/04 to 2004/05. Warwickshire Police
figures show a reduction of nearly 10% for the same period. This means
that this year there are 15,500 fewer victims of crime. A tremendous
achievement.
I am glad to see here in the West Midlands that
the DTI and Advantage West Midlands are playing an integral role in
tackling business crime.
I want to congratulate everyone associated with
the formation of the West Midlands Regional Business Crime Forum which is
bringing together the business community, Police, Trading Standards,
Government Departments and Advantage West Midlands to influence regional
strategy impacting on business crime.
I know a lot of effort has gone into this and you
are really setting the benchmark for others to follow. I look forward to
monitoring your progress.
The Forum is a model for partnership working that
is working and I would encourage other regions to look closely at it.
The region is also at the forefront of developing
a unique approach. Called “Safety in Business”, it involves providing a
modular distance learning pack for people who work in business. This
embeds the crime reduction message into everyday business activities
around Health and Safety.
Coventry and Warwickshire is currently trialling
this approach and I will be presenting certificates shortly to individuals
who have already completed the course.
Again I am delighted to see the DTI, together with
the Home Office, Government Office for the West Midlands, Warwickshire and
West Midlands Police working together. This course is being delivered by
de Brus Marketing of Leamington Spa – a West Midlands company.
The region is also benefiting from excellent
support and engagement for the business crime agenda from within its 32
Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRP).
The Regional Forum, which is business led, will be
at the forefront of providing support to these partnerships. Each CDRP and
Local Strategic Partnership requires a co-ordinated approach to business
engagement. The Regional Forum provides much needed support in helping to
identify crime trends and solutions. Engagement with the wider business
community is widely recognised as an area where we need to do more as a
Government. In the West Midlands the Business Crime Forum is an excellent
example of how building partnerships can reap economic benefit and
influence Government Policy.
In my own Constituency, the Dudley Borough
Business Crime Partnership brings together many key stakeholders to tackle
the issues around business crime.
Over the past twelve months the Partnership has
issued 14 exclusion notices. Only two of these people have reoffended. One
person was jailed for 6 months; another is subject of a CRASBO. These
pro-active measures have resulted in shop-theft alone dropping by 19%
across the Borough over the last twelve months.
This Government is committed to providing
opportunities for businesses to engage with and influence what happens in
their local area.
Local Area Agreements (LAAs) bring together a
range of local public and private sector partners to tackle locally
identified issues. As a new approach, LAAs were piloted last year, and are
being rolled out over the next few years. Businesses need to take
advantage of these opportunities, and the Regional Business Crime Forum
provides a mechanism to drive this engagement.
The Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI), as
part of Local Area Agreements, provides funding opportunities to drive
local entrepreneurship. Business Crime can be a key feature of this.
The Regional Economic Strategy (RES) is another
and I am pleased to see the existing RES in this region includes reference
to business crime. I hope the revised strategy, to be produced next year,
will do the same and I understand the Regional Business Crime Forum will
be working in partnership with AWM to ensure regional and local strategies
include actions around Business Crime.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM)-led
Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) also provide opportunities for
Business Crime reduction initiatives to be implemented. Birmingham Broad
Street BID, for example, has included attaining the Safer Business Award
in year one of their 5-year plan. This will involve them using technology
to share information about criminal activity and provide an early warning
system between businesses and the police.
There are many initiatives dealing with business
crime, however poor communication can often hold up progress.
Far too often I hear businesses saying… “I know
it’s a problem, but I didn’t know who to speak to” or “Why should I report
it when I know nothing gets done”.
The West Midlands Regional Business Crime Forum
will assist in the creation of better lines of communication between
businesses, partnerships and statutory crime reduction agencies.
Some may also say the lack of a specific crime
reduction target for business crime is another factor holding up progress
and I’m sure the Police and the Home Office are looking into this.
In conclusion, I know there are some cynics who
say that business wants crime reduced simply to increase the bottom line.
I don’t think that’s right or fair. Businesses want their staff and
customers to have a safe and crime free environment. Government wants that
too. It is important for our economy, for the safety of our citizens and
for the stability of our society that we tackle business crime. Working in
partnership is the way to do it and I’m delighted to see the good progress
that is being made here in the West Midlands.
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