Antisocial Behaviour

: I asked the people at the meeting if they would talk to each other officially, and said that we would meet again in six to nine months' time. Sadly, at the resumed meeting at a different venue in the same borough, not one of those people had made the effort to speak officially to the others. That is a pity, because everyone in that room had a shared interest in dealing with the problem. Such situations require strategic management and require people to understand that such matters cannot be dealt with by one agency and not the other. If we have learned anything today, it is that; I do not suppose that you need to learn that lesson, Mr. Butterfill. If we can do that cheaply and effectively without the need for legislation, we have learned two things. The definition of antisocial behaviour is almost irrelevant. Rather like an elephant, it is easier to recognise than it is to define, and it may have different definitions in different parts of the country. A football being kicked against someone's front door in a crowded inner-city housing estate might be considerably less tolerable than if it were kicked against a farmhouse or barn door in the middle of nowhere. We need consistent local application of definition and response. I look with some interest at something that was brought to my attention by Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons, and which is mentioned in the report, namely, the Liverpool community justice centre. There one can get multi-agency access to a public disposer of justice. It is not the property of one particular aspect of the public services. From what I read in the report and learned yesterday from Anne Owers, it seems to me to be a sensible, practical way of dealing with matters. It is relatively new, but I have been encouraged by what I heard from Mrs. Owers yesterday and what I read in the report, and I shall make a point of going there as a shadow Minister, if I may, to see what is done there and whether that example can be used elsewhere. What we need is not necessarily a national strategy, but consistent local application of the powers that are provided under existing legislation and the opportunities that are provided by sensible co-operation, about which many hon. Members spoke this afternoon.