Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con) I beg to move, That this House has
considered Anti-social Behaviour Awareness Week. It is a pleasure
to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. It is also my pleasure
to host today’s debate on an issue that affects every part of our
nation, and touches every Member of this House, as can be seen from
the cross-party participation today. Recent YouGov research
commissioned by Resolve, an organisation that deals with
antisocial...Request free trial
(Redcar) (Con)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Anti-social Behaviour Awareness
Week.
It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. It
is also my pleasure to host today’s debate on an issue that
affects every part of our nation, and touches every Member of
this House, as can be seen from the cross-party participation
today.
Recent YouGov research commissioned by Resolve, an organisation
that deals with antisocial behaviour, found that over half of
people—56%—believe that
“more needs to be done”
to tackle antisocial behaviour in their community. It is a blight
on our towns, cities and neighbourhoods. It causes terror,
particularly for elderly and vulnerable residents, causes damage
to our community facilities, undermining pride of place, and
breeds a culture and perception of lawlessness, which ultimately
ends in only one way.
This is my second ever Westminster Hall debate, and I picked this
subject because antisocial behaviour is one of the most pressing
issues in my inbox every week. I am grateful to Mr Speaker for
granting the debate during Anti-social Behaviour Awareness Week.
As my constituents can confirm, antisocial behaviour comes in
many forms. One of the biggest problems that we face in Redcar
and Cleveland is linked to off-road bikes. The motorcycles are
often not roadworthy or registered, and the users are not wearing
the protective gear necessary to prevent serious injury.
The problem is particularly prominent in the TS6 postcode area,
around the High Farm Estate in Normanby and leading up to the
Eston hills, where people on such bikes are destroying precious
natural habitats on our hills. However, it is even more
disturbing to learn from speaking to the children at Green Gates
Primary School in Redcar that they see off-road motorbikes
driving past at great speeds, often around school opening and
closing times. We must also recognise the distraction that the
sound of motorcycles can be for young people as they try to focus
on their learning in school.
Another big issue often linked to the off-road bikes problem is
the drugs trade and the ease with which criminals can avoid
detection by using an off-road bike, as they know that, due to
safety concerns, the police are unable to intervene and stop
them. That laughable situation can see a yob on a bike mooning a
police officer on the trunk road in Eston, and the police officer
unable to do anything in that instant other than attempt to
identify the individual.
(Weaver Vale) (Lab)
I thank the hon. Member for giving way and for securing this
vital debate in this important week on antisocial behaviour
awareness. I concur; I have a similar problem with off-road bikes
in my constituency, in the Runcorn area, the Northwich area and
certainly the Frodsham area. Weaver Vale Housing Trust is
involved with various partnerships, and I know that Cheshire’s
fire service is involved—when it is not involved with the other
things that you referred to, Mr Sharma. However the police are
undoubtedly under-resourced. We need more neighbourhood policing,
such as neighbourhood hubs, which certainly the Opposition would
propose. Would the hon. Member concur?
I absolutely agree with the hon. Member, which is why I am
pleased that, in the Cleveland force area, we have increased the
number of police officers by 200 since the 2019 election. I also
agree with him on that focus on neighbourhood policing—a return
to common-sense policing, which I hope to come back to later in
my remarks.
As I was saying, those situations can leave my constituents
baffled. I have many law-abiding constituents who just want to do
everything they can to make our area a better place, and they
cannot understand how a problem as ridiculous as this is able to
continue.
Another element of antisocial behaviour that I wanted to touch on
was the criminal damage and vandalism that we see in communities
such as Grangetown and South Bank, and in areas of Redcar and
Marske. It was fantastic to see local children from Zetland
Primary School recently create a beautiful mural depicting our
town on a once-graffitied railway bridge. That is a great example
of a community-led approach to helping us improve our area.
Sadly, the following day vandals once again graffitied that
bridge, destroying all of the hard work the schoolchildren had
put in. I am sure hon. Members can understand how disappointing
that was for the young people, but I am sure it will not prevent
them making a difference in the future.
In Cleveland, our local police and crime commissioner, , is also the Association of
Police and Crime Commissioners’ lead on neighbourhood policing
and antisocial behaviour, which means we are in a unique position
to learn from best practice in this area. Steve has been able to
reduce reoffending rates among first-time offenders by a whopping
94% in parts of the force area, through the DIVERT programme,
using resources such as the safer streets fund, which we are
grateful to the Government for providing.
We cannot keep relying on one-off funding pots. We need the
Government to set out their plans for further reducing this
societal menace. For the first time since the establishment of
PCCs in 2014, 100% of published police and crime plans now
highlight preventing and tackling antisocial behaviour, which
proves we are giving it the attention it now deserves.
We know that antisocial behaviour is not just a policing problem;
it is a partnership problem. It is down to education providers in
tackling those not in education, training or employment. It is
the local authority failing to identify neglect and poor
parenting. It is the local health authority and its strategies
for tackling drug addiction and abuse in our communities. It is
housing associations that fail to act when confronted with
problem families and individuals who know the system better than
they do.
I congratulate the Minister on her appointment. Given I have her
in front of me, there are a few issues that I feel the Government
need to tackle. I appreciate not all of them may be within her
remit. First, on sentencing, it cannot be right that the police
spend hours of their time collecting evidence and processing
paperwork to arrest an individual, to see them get only a slap on
the wrist.
For repeat offenders of these crimes seemingly to face no
escalation in penalty only leads to further harm in our
communities. I refer to what I said earlier about antisocial
behaviour breeding a culture of lawlessness. If they know that
they can get away with it on their first try, their second try,
their third try, perhaps on the fourth attempt the criminality
begins to escalate. At that point, it is no longer a young lad
flying around on an off-road bike. He might try to shoplift and
ride off on his bike. Then it escalates and he mugs a woman in
the street and flies off on his bike once again. To some extent,
we have enabled that downward spiral to occur, as we have allowed
a culture of lawlessness to take hold among some of those
criminals.
To recognise the work that the Government have done so far, I
mentioned the safer streets fund, and they have also introduced
community behaviour orders. I say to the Minister that CBOs
simply do not go far enough. They do not have enough teeth to act
as an effective deterrent. Some officers tell me that they are
not worth the paper they are written on. As well as beefing up
CBOs, I would like to see the police feel equally empowered to
use parenting orders more frequently, to place responsibility for
looking after young people who are committing antisocial
behaviour back on to the parents.
The police can only be in so many places at any one time. As I
have mentioned, we are grateful in Cleveland for the extra 200
police officers we have gained since 2019, but it is
fundamentally the responsibility of a parent to ensure that their
child is not terrorising people in their area. That should also
be linked to social housing, and there should be a duty on
housing associations to seek to address problem tenants.
(Rutherglen and Hamilton
West) (Ind)
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. An
issue I see more and more, which I know others across the UK also
see, is a rise in youth disorder. Constituents and businesses in
Burnside in Rutherglen in my constituency are becoming
increasingly frustrated with the antisocial behaviour. The local
police have been excellent in doing what they can, but there are
various barriers to tackling the problems. Does the hon.
Gentleman agree that youth disorder presents its own set of
difficulties, which perhaps need more investment when it comes to
finding a solution?
I absolutely agree with the hon. Lady. Let us not forget that at
the end of every act of antisocial behaviour, there is always a
victim—someone who is feeling harassment, alarm or distress at
what has been done to them or their community. I continue to
believe that the core principles of both our justice and policing
systems should always put the victim first.
I will end on that point and allow other Members to come in, but
before I do, I will give a quick statistic. A recent YouGov
antisocial behaviour poll found that after witnessing or
experiencing antisocial behaviour 57% of people did not report it
to anyone. To speak directly to anyone watching this debate, the
most important thing that they can do if they are witnessing or
experiencing a form of antisocial behaviour is report it to the
police or the local authority. From my personal experience, I
know that sometimes it can feel that nothing is being done or
that intervention is meaningless. However, my message is that the
only way we can finally get a grip on the problem is by all of us
working together to resolve it.
2.40pm
(Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Redcar () on securing an important
debate.
This week marks a year since the end of all lockdown
restrictions. For most people who had been consigned to staying
at home away from loved ones, it was a most welcome development.
For the first time in what felt like eternity, people were able
to gather, catch up with friends and reacquaint themselves with
normal life. However, for some people, the ending of covid-19
restrictions has brought only misery, with a dramatic rise in
reports of antisocial behaviour in my inbox. From across my
constituency, I have received reports of graffiti, damage to
rugby pitches, off-road biking, drinking, drug taking and
threatening behaviour.
As we have moved into the summer months, things have got worse,
not better. A few weeks ago, I held a meeting with market
traders, shop owners, local councillors and the police in
Blackwood in my constituency. I also attended a meeting in
Newbridge, where I was told that antisocial behaviour was leaving
people fearful for their safety. In both meetings, constituents
were reluctant to report that behaviour, simply because of the
amount of time they spent waiting on the phone having rung
101.
Antisocial behaviour accounted for one fifth of all crimes
reported in May this year in my constituency, but I worry that
that is not the full picture. Antisocial behaviour can often lie
in a difficult place between a non-emergency crime and a time
sensitive one. Many people are mindful not to place undue
pressure on 999 lines, but are frustrated at being unable to
quickly report antisocial behaviour.
A few weeks ago, I spoke in an Adjournment debate about the
importance of having quick response times for 101 calls when
illegal off-road biking is reported, as often perpetrators speed
away before people can even make the call. I heard what the hon.
Member for Redcar said about antisocial behaviour. Very often, we
can be partisan on the issue, but I was pleased that the Policing
Minister agreed to meet with me and several colleagues from
across the House to discuss ways to combat off-road biking. It is
an issue that affects anybody with a patch of green grass in
their constituency and it is important to have a joined-up
approach in how we tackle it.
(Darlington) (Con)
I want to point out to the hon. Gentleman, as someone
representing an urban constituency, that off-road bikes cause a
problem on our streets and roads. It is not necessarily a
requirement to have a patch of grass.
I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman is saying that he has no
grass in his constituency, but I fully understand what he means.
Like I said, I do not think there is a single constituency that
is not affected by illegal off-road biking. My point was that we
need to come together, cross-party, to tackle it. I am pleased
that the Government have seen how important the issue is and have
agreed to meet with me and several colleagues in the autumn. With
the political situation as it is, I do not know who the new
Policing Minister will be, but I look forward to meeting whoever
they are once they are in post.
The inability to report these issues in a timely manner is
leading to the under-reporting of these crimes. I have heard from
many constituents that they have previously tried to report
incidents, but the inability to get through has deterred them. As
incidents are often reoccurring, many constituents continue to
suffer in silence as their previous attempts to report crimes
have been nothing short of hopeless. People can often go for
years without seeing any permanent action being taken against
perpetrators, as police and councils are often unaware of the
true extent of the problem.
Another issue that has been raised is the intimidation being
caused by antisocial behaviour, which makes people nervous to
visit their high street. I have long been concerned, even before
the lockdown, about the future of our high streets, due to the
competition from the internet and the rise of business rates.
They do not need people being intimidated to come to town
centres; that could prove the death knell of so many of our high
streets.
The fear of being approached and intimidated often leaves people
too scared to leave their homes to interact with the community.
One constituent described to me that they feel like they have
become a prisoner in their own home, unsure of what they will
face when they leave their house, having previously found
strangers in their garden, and having their family members
approached with a knife. That is no way to live. People deserve
to feel safe in their communities and in their homes.
Safety is one of the main concerns raised by constituents. Gwent
police have imposed dispersal orders, but they simply push the
problem into other villages. For example, when an order was
imposed on Newbridge recently, the neighbouring communities of
Abercarn and Crosskeys saw a spike in instances of antisocial
behaviour. What makes this worse is that many of the young people
do not live in the locality and take advantage of cheap rail
fares to travel into places such as Newbridge that have a train
station, cause havoc, then leave. That makes it difficult to
identify them.
(Sedgefield) (Con)
It is not just rail. In the north-east of my constituency, we
have very poor public transport of any kind. In terms of people
committing antisocial behaviour, it is often not in their
village, but a neighbouring village or somewhere fairly close by,
so I would agree with the hon. Member’s point.
I thank the hon. Member for his point, which proves how important
it is that we have a cross-party view on this, and that we get
together and come up with some solutions. He is right: there are
young people jumping on buses, jumping on trains, causing havoc,
and then leaving.
Or quad bikes.
Bikes as well; I have mentioned them.
The pandemic undeniably caused a lot of financial hardship for
businesses and many high streets, and things have only just
returned to normal. Antisocial behaviour around these businesses
now acts as another threat to their financial viability. Without
proper action to tackle antisocial behaviour, I fear many
businesses will struggle to survive.
As the hon. Member for Redcar said, victims are often elderly,
and struggle with mobility or health issues, which already makes
it harder for them to get out into the community. It also often
makes dealing with systems such as 101 much harder, and they
become more vulnerable, more isolated, and sadly experience the
worst impacts of antisocial behaviour.
I have heard from constituents about the worry of being
threatened by groups after reporting previous abuse to the police
or to their housing associations. One constituent told me they
once witnessed a neighbour being cornered and verbally abused
after reporting instances of drinking and drug taking; they now
fear for their own safety if they report an incident.
Perpetrators are often young people, and there has long been a
stigma around young people and antisocial behaviour, and a
perception that they are only out to destroy and cause chaos.
I do not know if the hon. Gentleman is aware of how serious this
intimidation can be. In the last year, there was an incident in
Wingate in my constituency, where a constituent waved at a quad
biker. As a result of that, his house, his caravan and his car
went up in flames. It is shocking the way that things can
accelerate to such a degree. The need to get to the root cause,
and to address this, is absolute, as the hon. Member says.
I am sad to say to the hon. Member that that is something I have
heard too, and I am sure that everyone receives accounts in their
inbox of terrible incidents like that. Such incidents are
occurring everywhere. I hope the hon. Member’s constituent has
found some peace, and that the perpetrators have been brought the
justice—I genuinely hope that, and I hope he can pass that
message on to his constituent.
The underlying causes of antisocial behaviour run much deeper
than just young people. Over the past several years, youth
services have been decimated, and only now are we trying to
rebuild those vital services back up in our communities. It is
crucial that young people have somewhere to channel their energy
to avoid getting involved in antisocial behaviour. Our plan to
tackle antisocial behaviour must include a plan to provide places
for young people to go. As a sports fan who—I will admit—has
written two books on boxing and football, I think that sports
clubs have an important role to play in that. I hope that in
future there will be a way of ensuring that young people
interested in sport in school have such an outlet in the
community.
The issue often spreads so much further than antisocial
behaviour. We know, as the hon. Member for Redcar said, that what
starts as lower-level crime can escalate into more serious
crimes, leaving communities feeling unsafe. A plan is needed that
addresses antisocial behaviour from multiple angles. We need
better support for young people to prevent them from turning to
this behaviour. We need shorter waiting times on 101 services so
that if incidents do occur, victims will not only be able to
speak to someone quickly, but feel empowered to report it again.
Everyone deserves to live in peace and go about their business as
they wish. It is finally time that we —together as a
Parliament—take meaningful action to combat the problem once and
for all.
2.50pm
(Darlington) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. I
thank my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar () for securing the debate. It
is a great pleasure to see my hon. Friend the Minister in her
place to respond to the debate. My hon. Friend the Member for
Redcar knows, as I do, that antisocial behaviour and the fear of
it is of great concern to our constituents. It is like a cancer
in our society that imprisons people in their homes, leading to
them fearing venturing out, and causes part of our community to
be perceived as a no-go area. That cannot be right in a civilised
society.
I want to concentrate on a problem specific to Darlington:
off-road bikes. From previous speeches, it seems that off-road
bikes are a perennial problem across the country. Off-road and
quad bikes are the vehicles of choice for those in my community
who want to tear around our estates and parks, creating noise
pollution, posing an intimidating danger to pedestrians and
making life grim for those who live nearby. Parents are fearful
of the danger to their children. Pedestrians are fearful of being
knocked over, and the all-pervading drone of the engines make
parts of our community inhospitable. We must do more to rid our
communities of this problem.
I praise Durham Constabulary’s Operation Endurance, which is
focused on tackling this scourge and, I am pleased to say, has
had an appreciable impact. Since February, section 59 warning
signs have been erected to notify offenders of the new powers.
Anyone seen riding an off-road bike, quad or 4x4 in Darlington
will have their vehicle seized straightaway by Durham
Constabulary. That has had an immediate effect. By 15 February,
24 fixed penalty notices, three speeding tickets and 18 barring
notices had been issued. Three illegal quads and one illegal
off-road bike had been seized, while two stolen mopeds were also
recovered. Furthermore, one vehicle was seized and the driver was
arrested for drug driving, while a further driver was reported
for careless driving. These actions are working, removing the
ability of offenders to offend and acting as a deterrent by
demonstrating real consequences to those involved. Durham
Constabulary, Darlington Borough Council and others are working
closely to tackle the problem.
On working together, one thing I see in Ferryhill, part of my
Sedgefield constituency, is groups of young schoolchildren coming
together as what are called ambassadors. They reach out to the
community and raise issues. One of the big issues they have been
raising lately is antisocial behaviour and the fact that
low-levels of it are affecting Ferryhill town centre and the way
that children are going from the primary school to the senior
school. It is wonderful to see these sorts of community-led
things starting to engage with the process. As the hon. Member
knows, my constituency surrounds his.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend and constituent for his valuable
intervention extolling the virtues of working together. I would
like to draw the attention of the hon. Member for Islwyn () to the proposal to bring
forward an all-party parliamentary group on this issue. I
encourage him to speak with his colleague the hon. Member for
Bradford South (), who I have had extensive
discussions on this particular topic with.
As the MP for Darlington, I have continued to share the powerful
messaging from Durham Constabulary and Darlington Borough Council
to ensure that everyone reports these incidents to the 101
service. I could say much more about the Labour police and crime
commissioner’s ability to improve response times on that service
in County Durham, but I will not. It is vital that local
communities play their part in tackling this scourge if
enforcement is to be successful. I repeat my message that every
sight and sound of off-road bikes should be reported, so that our
police can gather the intelligence they need to eliminate this
problem.
The problem, as we have heard, is not limited to Darlington. I
would ask the Minister to respond to some simple, practical and
sensible suggestions on how to tackle it. Compulsory insurance
for off-road bikes and quad bikes would dissuade the casual user
from illegal use of the bikes. Compulsory registration of
off-road bikes would make the identification of these vehicles
much easier for law enforcement. Mandating manufacturers to
install immobilisers to these vehicles would also help to reduce
theft and misuse by unauthorised riders. These suggestions have
been raised in discussion with the Minister’s predecessor, my
right hon. Friend the Member for North West Hampshire (), and I do believe that the time has come for Home
Office Ministers and Department for Transport Ministers to work
more closely on a package of measures to target this issue.
One further point on off-road bikes is the question of what
happens after the vehicle has been seized. Currently, the police
recoup their recovery and storage charges for seized vehicles by
auctioning them off. This leads to a ridiculous merry-go-round of
offenders buying back the very same vehicles the police have
seized. Our police forces need a ringfenced pot of money to
enable them to pay the recovery and storage charges, crush these
vehicles and get them off our streets. There are many other types
of antisocial behaviour, but the essence of today’s debate seems
to have concentrated on off-road bikes, which are a scourge on
all our communities.
Another issue I have seen in my constituency is graffiti. It
upsets residents, who take a lot of pride in their community.
Cambuslang Community Council has taken a great initiative in
brightening up Cambuslang with some beautiful murals. Does the
hon. Member think that cleaner, nicer surroundings that people
can take pride in can deter graffiti, or is it something we will
always see happening?
The hon. Member raises an important point. I think we can
summarise this as the “broken window” theory. We all want to live
in good, clean and smart communities. Graffiti is a symbol of
decline in our urban environment. I think we should continue to
double down on addressing it.
Darlington also faces illegal and unacceptable fly-tipping in our
alleyways by fly-by-night operators, who will rock up in a
Transit van or a flat-bed truck and take household rubbish away
for a tenner, avoiding the inconvenience of contacting the
council or taking a trip to the tip.
Will my hon. Friend give way?
I will give way to my hon. Friend one last time.
I thank my hon. Friend for his generosity. One of the biggest
areas affected by the scourge of fly-tipping are the farms that
surround Darlington. People take their rubbish and just dump it
in the middle of a farm. It can be very serious for that farmer.
It can block his access, destroy his crops and all sorts. I would
encourage my hon. Friend to reference the rural, as well as
urban, situation.
As my hon. Friend well knows, I have very little rurality in my
constituency. My job is to represent the people of Darlington. As
a constituent of mine, he knows the problems that Street Scene in
Darlington faces in cleaning up our streets, but I commend his
efforts in highlighting rural crime and the scourge on our farms.
I have spent time on our streets with Street Scene—Darlington
Borough Council’s environmental services department—and seen at
first hand the impact that this issue has on local residents and
on the town as a whole.
Since 2019, the now Conservative-led Darlington Borough Council
has been delivering for local people, and I want to take this
opportunity to praise it for all of its hard work. The new
administration has also been taking action on fly-tipping,
listening to the concerns of residents and working hard to tackle
this scourge, with increased prosecutions of those found to be
fly-tipping, and with Street Scene responding more speedily to
incidents and taking a more proactive approach to rooting out
those responsible.
While our Government, council and constabularies are tackling
antisocial behaviour, more could be done through cross-Government
working to tackle some of these issues, and with ringfenced pots
of money to support the steps taken. I know that the Minister is
a sound and sensible woman of integrity, and that she will have
listened closely to the debate. I would like to invite her to
Darlington, to see at first hand the problems, actions and
further solutions to our first-hand experience of antisocial
behaviour.
3.01pm
(Croydon Central) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. I
congratulate the hon. Member for Redcar () on securing this important
debate, which is timely and very pressing. My first job after
university was working for the former Member for Redcar, Mo
Mowlam, so I know his area a bit, and some of the challenges that
he talked about were similarly challenging back then.
Anti-Social Behaviour Awareness Week is a good initiative. There
are lots of groups that I could pay tribute to, but I will
highlight ASB Help and Resolve in particular —two really good
organisations that work year-round to tackle this blight on our
communities. Hon. Members who made contributions have spoken
about the lack of a co-ordinated approach to tackling antisocial
behaviour. The hon. Member for Redcar said that it was one of the
most pressing issues in his inbox, and I think that is probably
the same for all Members of Parliament, whether their
constituencies are rural, urban or a mix of both. His call to
return to a common-sense policing approach to antisocial
behaviour is the right one.
My hon. Friend the Member for Islwyn () talked about all of the issues
with off-road biking, as did others, and that is something that
particularly affects people across the country. I did not know
that he had written two books, but I do now—I will make sure that
I read them. The hon. Member for Darlington () talked about people feeling
imprisoned in their homes, and had some good suggestions on
off-road biking, which have been mentioned in this place many
times before. There is a package of measures on off-road biking,
and various Bills have been suggested by Members across the
House, so there is agreement there and I hope the Minister is
listening to those suggestions.
We are all aware of the real misery that antisocial behaviour
causes. Before Christmas, in the autumn, I made trips across the
country, in my role as shadow Policing Minister, to try to
understand the scale and diversity of antisocial behaviour: how
it affects different communities, the impact it has on them and
what is being done about it. Those were eye-opening trips.
Although each area was unique, everywhere I went it was clear
that antisocial behaviour is not low-level crime; it is massively
underestimated and massively under-prioritised in the way that
policing is done in this country. It ruins lives, makes people
feel unsafe and worried, and creates division in communities.
I would welcome the hon. Lady’s suggestions and ideas as to what
she, her party or any of us could do to encourage and improve the
reporting of antisocial behaviour.
That is an important question. Several things are linked to the
reporting. First, people do not believe that anything will be
done. Sadly, that is partly because twice as many people as 10
years ago now perceive that they never see a police officer on
the streets. People do not feel that it is worth reporting,
because they do not think they will get a response.
Secondly, at a national level, the Government do not collect data
on antisocial behaviour. There was a debate in this place a few
months ago where a Conservative Member made the case for the
Government to record antisocial behaviour nationally, because it
is not part of the metric so everybody reports and records it
differently. Everybody has different approaches—some people use
some interventions and some people use others—and there is no
consistency across the country. In answer to the hon. Member’s
question, people are loth to report it because they think that
nothing will be done, and they do not see it as something that is
prioritised at a national level.
I am truly enlightened by the hon. Lady’s response to my
intervention, and truly shocked that we do not have national
statistics and that there is not a level playing field across the
country to assess and deal with that. I wonder whether the
Minister, when she sums up, can address that problem and perhaps
suggest what more we can do to drive forward that change, from
which we would all benefit.
The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. The Minister has obviously
been in her position for only a short time, so we will all be
gentle with her today, but there is a good conversation to be had
about how we measure these things, which I will come to.
It is a hidden epidemic. Any constituent will say that antisocial
behaviour is an important issue, but the stats do not bear that
out. Polling by YouGov found that a third of the UK public had
experienced an increase in antisocial behaviour in their area,
with just 1% believing that the problem had decreased a lot.
Crime and its causes are complicated and we do not have time to
go into all of them now. Antisocial behaviour tends to be
localised—whether it is noise, fly-tipping or graffiti—and there
is a correlation between antisocial behaviour hotspots and
deprivation. The rolling away of some parts of public services
has had an impact on the support that is given to people with
mental health issues and on youth services, which we have talked
about many times, and that has had a knock-on impact on the
prevalence of antisocial behaviour. Where antisocial behaviour is
rife, other crime follows. We know that it can be the starting
point for real issues building up in communities.
Since the 2019 Government came to power, crime overall is up 18%
and prosecutions are down 18%. Rates of arson are spiralling:
incidents are up by 90,000 compared with 2019 but the charge rate
is just 4.3%, which is down from 8.3% in 2015, and nearly 60% of
investigations—more than 280,000 cases—are closed without a
suspect being identified. Arson does huge damage to local
communities. It ruins property, of course, and it ruins people’s
sense of safety and pride in their community, so the vicious
cycle continues. When I was in the north-east, there was a
particular issue with arson that local people were very concerned
about.
On the sense that nothing will be done if these issues are
reported, that is sadly now the case when it comes to some
crimes. Recent figures on car theft, for example, show that just
one in 100 thefts of cars resulted in a charge. If someone’s car
is stolen, and only one in 100 get a charge, the chances of them
reporting antisocial behaviour and thinking that something could
be done are quite low. Recent figures showed that in nearly half
of neighbourhoods in the country, no burglaries had been solved
by the police in the last three years at all, which is truly
shocking and shames us, and speaks to some of the struggles that
the police are having in doing the common-sense policing that we
all want them to be doing.
In this context, the presence of neighbourhood police officers is
very important. There are over 7,000 fewer neighbourhood officers
on the frontline now than there were 12 years ago. There is only
one neighbourhood officer for every 2,400 people in this country
now, whereas 10 years ago there was one per 1,600 people. That
does make a difference.
For the first time, the Government have introduced a new metric
for measuring neighbourhood crime, which is a combination of four
other crimes: vehicle-related theft, domestic burglary, theft
from a person, and robbery of personal property. It is an
interesting measure. The Government will say that neighbourhood
crime has fallen in the last year, but the metric does not
include any level of antisocial behaviour and it does not include
bike theft, criminal damage or arson, so it is not a clear and
complete picture of what neighbourhood crime is. I ask the
Minister to look at that issue in her new role.
We know that a third of 999 calls are now about mental health
emergencies and the police just cannot cope; they are responding
to mental health issues and not to the crimes that they should be
investigating. They spend significant time dealing with other
crises in the community, and the impact of noise, graffiti,
fly-tipping, drug dealing and vandalism is felt more and more
acutely.
Good work is being done in patches, and I am sure that all of us
would pay tribute to the police and crime commissioners who are
working hard to make a difference. When I was in Northumbria, I
saw the rural crime network with police and crime commissioner
, which seemed to be working
really effectively. When I was in Cardiff, I learned of a
reduction in antisocial behaviour through the Step into Sport
programme; my hon. Friend the Member for Islwyn mentioned the
importance of sport earlier. In Merseyside, there is a youth
diversion fund, which more than 6,500 young people engage with.
These are pockets of good practice. Sadly, because the police
simply do not have the resources to do what they want to do, they
are only pockets and not the norm.
I hope that neighbourhood policing will be a real focus for the
Minister. Last week, I had the pleasure of welcoming some police
community support officers to Parliament to celebrate the 20
years since PCSOs were introduced. That was under the last Labour
Government and , who was there to talk to
them. Those PCSOs’ insights were really interesting: they knew
their patch inside out, they had built up relationships with
local people, and they were able to intervene to de-escalate and
tackle some of the issues of antisocial behaviour in a really
effective way. Some of them told me stories of how they had dealt
with kids who had been antisocial who then, later in life, came
up to them in the street and told them how proud they were of
what they had become, in part because they had a good
relationship with a PCSO.
However, the number of PCSOs has been cut by nearly half since
2010. The peculiar thing about that is that it has not been a
Government policy; it has just happened because of cuts to
services. It was not deliberate. I ask the Minister to look at
PCSOs and consider whether we need to restore their numbers. I
think that we do, because they are the eyes and ears of the
police.
As I have said, hard data is not collected properly. I have made
a series of freedom of information requests across the country
about how forces deal with antisocial behaviour. They all do it
in different ways. The issue needs gripping at the centre, with
some good measurements in place.
The hon. Lady makes an important point about the value of our
PCSOs and the work they do in our community. In Darlington, we
have seen 136 new officers recruited to Durham constabulary, and
some of those new recruits to our police force were directly
recruited from among existing PCSOs. The skills, talents and
abilities that those PCSOs learned in their job have not been
lost to public service, as those PCSOs have gone on to work in
the police.
That is a really interesting point. The same has happened with
specials, but there is then a shortage of PCSOs and specials,
because they go up to become officers. Alongside that, we have
lost the experience of all the police who have been cut over the
last 10 years. Although we have the new recruits coming in, some
of whom are PCSOs and specials, the experience of local
communities and the knowledge that the police have built up over
many years has gone, and it will take some time to bring that
back.
Labour has made commitments to put police back into
neighbourhoods through police hubs. That way, there will be a
space in every community where people can interact with the
police, but with the infrastructure around them of local
authorities, enforcement officers and youth services. Such
neighbourhood prevention teams, as it were, could work
collectively to try to crack down on some of the antisocial
behaviour and its causes in the community. We think that would
have a big impact on presence, problem solving and focus on
antisocial behaviour. That is really needed, as are some of the
measures hon. Members have mentioned, such as changing
legislation around off-road biking and similar issues.
We also think that there should be a recruitment drive for
special constables. I was with the south Wales special constables
last night, who have won a Queen’s award for volunteering. They
give up their time for free and it is quite extraordinary how
proud they are of the work that they do. Their numbers have also
fallen by about 50% over the last 10 years, and it will be
interesting to see whether the Minister has any thoughts yet on
specials and whether those numbers need to increase.
There is much to be done. We talk about antisocial behaviour
often in this place, particularly in Westminster Hall, where
Members often feel the need to come and talk about it because it
is such an issue. Sadly, we do not get the response from
Government that we would like. I ask the Minister to think about
PCSOs and specials, about measurements of antisocial behaviour
and about how we grip the issue nationally and really understand
it.
I also ask Conservative Members to think about these issues when
they are considering who to vote for to be the next Prime
Minister. The right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorks) () wrote in The Daily Telegraph
yesterday that he would ringfence child exploitation teams from
any future policing cuts. Does that mean he is planning future
policing cuts? That is a question that hon. Members should ask
him and others, because it is an important issue for the next
Prime Minister.
The Home Office has a key leadership role to play, and I ask the
Minister to make sure that is happening. Criminals cannot be
given free rein. When low-level antisocial behaviour is not
tackled, it leads to greater and more significant crime—drug
running and all the other issues that have been mentioned. That
is not good enough for our communities; they need more support
and reassurance. I hope the Minister will take these issues
seriously.
3.17pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home
Department ()
May I begin by saying what a pleasure it is to serve under your
chairmanship, Mr. Sharma? I have only been in the role for a few
days; anything that I fail to answer I will take away and respond
to in writing. I will be delighted to pass on some of the
questions about policing to the Minister for Policing, my hon.
Friend the Member for Corby ().
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar () on securing this incredibly
important debate. He is always a forceful advocate for his
constituents, as he demonstrated in his remarks, but on this
occasion there is an added element of timeliness. As he and other
Members referred to, the timing of this debate is particularly
appropriate because it is Anti-social Behaviour Awareness
Week.
Antisocial behaviour plagues the lives of victims. It has an
adverse impact on the atmosphere and the environment of areas
where it is rife. It ruins law-abiding citizens’ enjoyment of
public places. It is not, therefore, something that we can focus
on for a week and then move on from; it must be a priority all
year. This awareness week is, none the less, a vital opportunity
to highlight the damage done and the misery caused by antisocial
behaviour, and to bring together the various agencies that have a
role in confronting them. I have been delighted to support the
awareness week, and I have sent messages to launch the event that
took place here in the Palace of Westminster and to the
conference that is going on today.
Antisocial behaviour should never be dismissed as low level. It
is a serious problem and the Government are serious about
addressing it. That is why this week, the Home Office is
launching a set of principles designed to galvanise and
strengthen the response to antisocial behaviour. The principles
will act as a kind of benchmark, setting clear expectations for
local agencies and guiding their approach to issues, such as how
they encourage reporting and delivering appropriate and effective
interventions. Ultimately, we are trying to get real consistency
in the understanding of and approach to antisocial behaviour
across the country.
I realise that to some this may be familiar territory, but it is
worth taking a moment to touch on the powers that can be used to
tackle antisocial behaviour. The police, local authorities and
other local agencies have a range of flexible tools and powers
under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.
There is a particular local dimension to the issue, which
manifests itself in different ways in different locations, as has
been mentioned. It is therefore for local areas to decide how
best to deploy the powers available to them, depending on the
specific circumstances. They are best placed to understand what
is driving the behaviour in question and the impact that it is
having, and to determine the most appropriate response.
To support local areas in making effective use of powers, the
Home Office published statutory guidance, which sets out the
importance of focusing on the needs of the victim and the local
community, as well as ensuring that the relevant legal tests are
met. The guidance was updated last month to include expedited
public spaces protection orders, and further guidance on the
community trigger, referencing the role of health agencies and
police and crime commissioners. As colleagues may be aware, the
community trigger gives victims of persistent antisocial
behaviour the ability to demand a formal case review. Further
clarification has also been added to the guidance on community
protection notices, and the role of restorative justice as an
option in the community remedy section.
We need to ensure that local areas are making proper and
effective use of these powers to tackle the underlying drivers of
antisocial behaviour and protect victims and communities.
I welcome the Minister to her place and thank her for giving way.
I think there is a link between the soaring cost of living and a
rise in antisocial behaviour. As more people are pushed into
poverty, mental health deteriorates and they become
disillusioned. Does she agree that better resourcing and funding
for drug and addiction services in communities is vital to
addressing that crucial contributory factor to antisocial
behaviour?
The reasons why antisocial behaviour occurs are incredibly
complex. The hon. Lady will know that I am a great advocate for
mental health and how we support mental health issues in the
community. That is why we continue to keep the issue under review
through the Home Office-chaired antisocial behaviour strategic
board, which brings together a range of partners and
representatives from key agencies and other Departments.
The Government are providing significant funding to drive efforts
to tackle antisocial behaviour. An important scheme in this space
is the safer streets fund, which was established to help local
areas put in place measures designed to prevent crime and improve
safety. Earlier rounds of the fund had a secondary focus on
tackling antisocial behaviour through initiatives such as
improved street lighting, increased CCTV and training. We are now
taking the emphasis on this problem a step further, with
antisocial behaviour one of the primary crime and issue types to
be targeted in the fourth and fifth rounds of the fund.
In addition, crime and antisocial behaviour form part of the
prospectus for the £4.8 billion levelling-up fund. The Government
are also funding diversionary interventions to help safeguard
young people away from crime. We have invested £200 million over
10 years in the Youth Endowment Fund, a charity whose core
mission is to fund interventions to identify what works in
reducing and preventing serious violence. It was a great pleasure
to listen to the hon. Member for Islwyn () talk about how interventions
such as boxing and sport can help in these situations. I, too,
will have a look at the book—I will be very pleased to look at
it.
Most Members mentioned off-road biking. We know that the
inappropriate use of off-road bikes can have a significant impact
on individuals and communities. I listened very carefully to the
suggestions by my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (), and I will look at those
more fully. Reckless use of these vehicles can cause people to
feel intimidated and fearful. Enforcement of road traffic law and
decisions about how to deploy available resources are rightly the
responsibility of chief officers.
A suitably trained police driver may undertake a pursuit of a
motorcyclist. The decision whether to undertake a pursuit is an
operational one, taking account of risk and proportionality in
each situation. It is worth noting, however, that the police have
the power under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002 to seize
vehicles, including off-road bikes, being used in an antisocial
manner.
I am grateful to the Minister for highlighting section 59
notices, which, as she will have heard in my speech, are having
an appreciable impact in Darlington. The specific problem my
local force has is the cost of disposing of the vehicle, to stop
the merry-go-round of seizing the vehicle and auctioning it to
cover the cost of disposal, which ends up with the perpetrator
getting their vehicle back and continuing to perpetrate the
problem.
I would appreciate a longer conversation and would, therefore,
love to take up the offer of visiting my hon. Friend in
Darlington. The police can also use the powers in the 2014 Act to
deal with antisocial behaviour involving vehicles.
On the point about motorcycle noise outside schools, the
Department for Transport is trialling noise camera technology to
understand whether it can be used to automatically detect when
vehicles are excessively noisy. The objective of that is to
provide local authorities and police with effective enforcement
tools capable of capturing sufficient evidence to support
successful prosecutions of offenders. That will further enable
local areas to enforce against vehicles that have been modified
or driven in a way to create excessive noise.
In closing, I thank all hon. Members for their contributions to
the debate. It is clear from speaking to constituents and others
just how important this issue is. I echo what my hon. Friend the
Member for Redcar said about how important it is to report these
crimes. Antisocial behaviour matters a great deal to constituents
and, therefore, to us as their representatives. It strikes at the
heart of how decent, law-abiding citizens want their
neighbourhoods and communities to feel. We will not tolerate a
situation where people have to suffer because of the actions of a
selfish minority. Antisocial behaviour is a blight. We are
determined to tackle it wherever, whenever and however it rears
its ugly head.
3.27pm
I thank everyone who participated in today’s debate. It is a real
pleasure to see the Minister in her place. When she is visiting
Darlington, I invite her to come along to Redcar and Cleveland,
where there will be a lemon top waiting for her. I have heard the
shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Croydon Central (), speak before about my
predecessor, Dr Marjorie Mowlam. It is right that we acknowledge
the great impact that she had on Redcar and the country.
It has been distressing to hear some of the stories, including
those from Wingate, where constituents of my hon. Friend the
Member for Sedgefield () were victims of arson, from
Darlington, where fly-tipping blights communities, and from
Newbridge high street, where businesses do not feel safe. I have
said for some time that the problems we face on the high street
include not only the fact that there are not as many shops any
more—we have to do more to create spaces that people want to
visit and make it easier for people to visit those spaces—but,
crucially, the fact that people have to feel safe when they visit
the high street. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Islwyn
() for mentioning that.
As I said at the start, this issue affects people across the
country. We heard from the hon. Member for Islwyn in Wales and
from the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West () in Scotland—there is
still time for the hon. Member for Strangford () to burst through the doors and intervene. I am
grateful to the new Minister for addressing some of the points
raised. I know that, as the diligent Member of Parliament for her
constituency of Derby North, she knows these issues all too well.
I hope that, in her new position, she is able to resolve some of
the sticking points that our local police forces face, as well
work with other agencies to tackle underlying causes of
antisocial behaviour.
Finally, I thank my constituents, who provided me with examples
of antisocial behaviour that they witnessed, and the charities
mentioned, such as ASB Help, Resolve and others, which do a lot
of work in this field to make a difference every day. I also
thank my local police officers and PCSOs, who do everything they
can in incredibly difficult circumstances. I am very proud to
represent Redcar and Cleveland and all my constituents who work
so hard to make our area the best it can be. We are let down by a
small minority with no respect, but that does not take away from
the amazing work that some do in our communities day in, day out,
and I pay tribute to them.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House has considered anti-social behaviour awareness
week.
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