Antisocial Behaviour

: I join the chorus of welcome from both sides of the Chamber for the report with which the Home Affairs Committee has provided us. It is an excellent example of proper scrutiny. It does not nit-pick or point score, but takes a serious issue, analyses it properly, advances ideas and engages with the issue. The Government take that sort of contribution extremely seriously. The report contains a whole range of recommendations that, for the most part, were fully accepted. Some 25 of the recommendations have led to substantial work being done in the Home Office, and we will supply the Select Committee with a full update on all the actions that we have taken so that a substantial contribution is available for the annual report and so on. Probably the most important thing that the Select Committee did was to emphasise the fact that this is a crucial issue. We have all demonstrated that with examples from our constituencies, apart from the analysis of the problem as a national one. When the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr. Benyon) was speaking, I reflected that he was a new Member of Parliament entering the House with antisocial behaviour as probably the number one issue in his constituency surgeries, correspondence and discussions with the police. When I was elected in 1997, along with a number of my colleagues in this room, it was probably getting to that point. For earlier generations of Members of Parliament, it would not have been the issue that it is today. Its importance has increased, and it was right of the Select Committee to underline the fact that it is a high profile issue that needs an urgent response. I echo the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Blackley (Graham Stringer). Another effective contribution of the report was to slay some of the myths that, if they are not challenged, will perpetuate and grow into further distortions. Many thanks to the Committee for that. The challenge is to get beyond the sense of powerlessness that was around for so long in this place as well as in our constituencies and to begin to get the powers, resources and partnerships together to change people's lives. That is what it is about. We need to change the lives not only of the perpetrators of antisocial behaviour but, more fundamentally than that, of the victims, who live in their thousands in fear and trepidation about what may happen if antisocial behaviour is not challenged. There has been a danger of the debate polarising. In many instances, it has polarised. That is not helpful. We need all the elements that have been discussed this afternoon: the prevention and early intervention, the mediation and the enforcement, too. We need the enforcement to be carried through and to work. The trick is getting the timing right for the right intervention and the right person at the right time, so that we have the impact that we want. It is important to share some numbers with hon. Members this afternoon. There have been 6,500 ASBOs made, 13,000 acceptable behaviour contracts, and 800 dispersal orders—I noted the comment about the important role that they can play and police feedback is that they are effective in tackling disorder. There have been 500 crack house closures, which is a tremendously important development. A crack house in a community on an estate can cause absolute mayhem. It is where the drugs are dealt, and so much criminality and antisocial behaviour is connected with them that taking them out is hugely important. In one example the police, working with local communities, have been applauded in the street by residents because of the action that they have taken to close such places down. That work must continue. We are also using the penalty notices for disorder; 170,000 have been used as an effective, early, quick way of stopping people and penalising them for their unacceptable behaviour. I have given those numbers, but I emphasise that this is not a numbers game. We cannot say that we have tackled antisocial behaviour because we have had so many antisocial behaviour orders. It is an issue of how such matters are tackled locally with local strategies, and we should ensure that local people and their priorities are fed into that. I am pleased that the hon. and learned Member for Harborough (Mr. Garnier) has had the opportunity to find out more about the community justice centre in Liverpool. I encourage him to visit; there is a long line of people going, but it is important that people go and learn. There is a great passion at the centre for justice linked to the community in imaginative ways, not least because punishments should put something back into the community. I would encourage anybody who has not been to the centre to do so. Connecting justice, whether for antisocial behaviour or other forms of criminality, with the community is an important step that we need to continue to take. We are beginning to see the impact, not only in the numbers, but in perceptions and attitudes towards antisocial behaviour. The Home Office undertook a survey over a two-year period in 2002–03 to 2004–05. The general perception across the country is that antisocial behaviour is at a high level, but over that period, it actually fell from 19 to 16 per cent., which is welcome. In the 10 Trailblazer areas and the 50 action areas, where we have been doing the most intensive work on antisocial behaviour because of the level of the problem, the perception that antisocial behaviour was high fell from 25 to 19 per cent. Therefore, the fall in those areas was greater. As we engage and involve communities, they see and feel the difference, and we can measure that. We constantly need to move the gains we have made out from the intensive areas, so that we get through measures such as the national community safety plan and the respect plan. We want there to be that kind of impact throughout the country. Inevitably, resources have been discussed. I am pleased that Members have welcomed the extra £52 million to support work with parents. In the respect action plan, we have introduced the national parenting academy. There is also £28 million to support the development of a family support network, and there is extra money for the youth offending teams. All of that is important; it will pioneer new work that will make a real difference. However, as several Members have commented, in the end what is important is that we bend and shape the mainstream funding that goes into many of these areas in ways that prevent antisocial behaviour; we must intervene at the right time, and deal appropriately with situations. I warmly welcome the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Stockport (Ann Coffey) about the reforms of the Children Act 2004, and the development of children's trusts. A more coherent organisation of local services will help to bend and shape those mainstream resources in helpful ways. My hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Mrs. Dean) mentioned Home-Start. That signals to Members the important role that the voluntary sector can play. Home-Start operates in my constituency; parents help other parents to get through some of the difficult situations they face. That is welcome. Also, the NCH Dundee project has been a trailblazer in terms of interventions with families.