Sutton police and councillors went to the House of Commons to be quizzed about preventing antisocial behaviour.

MP Keith Vaz , Chairman of the home affairs committee, invited the two authorities to speak at the meeting, after going on a tour of Sutton police station last October.

Sutton councillor Lord Tope spoke about a research pilot in Sutton in which police officers and PCSOs interviewed residents in their homes.

He said the interviews, around 600 a year, offered a detailed picture of crime and fear of crime in local neighbourhoods and are used by police on the ground.

At the meeting last October, Mr Vaz said he was impressed, and asked representatives to discuss the scheme with MPs.

Coun Lord Tope, executive member for community safety, said: “We have developed a national model of efficiency that should be replicated to make people feel safer and save the hundreds of millions of pounds that our national budget deficit requires.”