Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the reasons why victims may not report anti-social behaviour to the police.

Tacking anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. As well as tackling the causes of ASB, we know that more must be done to help its victims. That is why the Government committed in its manifesto to ensuring that victims of ASB can access the information and support they need, and we are carefully considering how best to achieve this.

We collect data bi-annually on the reasons why victims have not reported their experience of anti-social behaviour (ASB) to a relevant agency (the police, their local authority or housing association) through the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). We have also published various pieces of qualitative research to understand in depth the factors that influence decisions on whether to report ASB which can be found on the gov.uk website.

These pieces of research have indicated that there are many factors which influence a victim’s decision on whether to report ASB. Notable factors include the type of ASB experienced, awareness of different reporting routes and the victim’s perceived severity of the incident.