I created my 6-Point Plan for Loughborough at the 2019 General Election, to serve as targets for what I wanted to achieve for Loughborough Residents while in office. The 6 categories are: Town Centre Improvement, A Chance to Succeed, A Healthy Local Economy, Better Broadband for All, Tackle Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour, and A Place that is Home. You can read more about the details of each point on my website: www.janehunt.uk
One particularly important point is ‘Tackle Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour’, as I know the difficult impacts that these can have on residents’ lives. To get to the core of the issues that we face here in Loughborough, I have regular meetings with our Police and Crime Commissioner, Charnwood Police Commander, and other policing-related bodies.
One of the related bodies is the Leicestershire Policing Federation. We recently met in Westminster to discuss barriers that police face that can prevent them being out on the street fighting crime. I was told that a great deal of police time is spent redacting data for case files to be sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). So, I discussed with them how we might combat this. Of course, case files which result in someone being charged must be redacted to protect the data of everybody involved, however 25% of cases that are sent to the CPS do not lead to charge.
As a consequence of the meeting I have presented an amendment to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. The amendment aims to allow for the free-flow of data between the CPS and Police Force, meaning case files could be redacted after a charging decision is made, which is great news for our police here in Loughborough as well as the rest of the UK as they will have more time to be out on the streets and working with our communities.
Back in 2011, when I was a borough councillor in the constituency, I was calling for a reform of prison release dates. Recently, 12 years on, I was very pleased to support the ‘Offenders (Day of Release from Detention) Bill’ which will stop prisoners being released on a Friday and that they will instead be released on a Thursday, allowing them at least 24 hours to access services which can help them with a better chance of rehabilitation, which serves the dual purpose of ensuring ex-offenders have every chance to do make a change to their lives, but ultimately will also help to reduce reoffending right here in Loughborough, which costs the tax payer a significant amount and creates further victims.
During the 9 years that I worked as a caseworker my predecessor as MP for Loughborough, I had the pleasure of following a local resident’s noVANber campaign that drew attention to the shocking reality of how much theft of tools from vans harms tradespeople in our local community. As a direct result of this campaign I have supported the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill and followed closely its passage through parliament.
When the Bill was read at Second Reading, it was focused on measures preventing the theft of agricultural equipment and machinery. While this is definitely a problem and the Bill will certainly go a way to reducing the impact of that on farmers in Loughborough, I knew that the problem is, sadly, wider than agricultural equipment alone.
I called for the bill to be expanded to include measures to prevent the theft of tradespeople’s equipment, including tool theft from vans, in the hope it will stop both farmers and tradespeople in our local area being targeted for theft of their equipment and not impact their business.
I was pleased that the Minister took the issue seriously and is taking it further with a consultation currently underway to discuss the value of equipment that should be covered under the law. I very much hope that this bill will be able to practically improve the situation for farmers and tradespeople.
These three examples of taking national legislation and finding how it can best help Loughborough will be key to cutting crime and antisocial behaviour, and I look forward to finding other ways to improving this here in Loughborough.