Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of (a) the cost of legal aid and (b) other court costs arising from the introduction of injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance.

Injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance are introduced under Part 1 of the Anti-Social Behaviour and Crime Policing Act 2014 (ASBCPA). Part 1 injunctions replace anti-social behaviour injunctions (ASBIs) and anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs).

The Government's intention has always been to minimise the impact on the legal aid fund, whilst enabling legal aid services to be provided where required. Injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance under Part 1 of the ASBCPA broadly correspond with ASBIs, with remuneration for applications and appeals being paid at the same civil legal aid rates. The full cost to the legal aid fund cannot be estimated, as it is not possible to predict the number of breach proceedings that may be pursued for the Part 1 injunctions that correspond with ASBIs.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service does not separately record court costs in relation to anti-social behaviour injunctions and therefore cannot estimate the costs as a result of the introduction of injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance under Part 1 of the ASBCPA.

Although HMCTS are unable to provide figures in response to this PQ, Home Office have published an Impact Assessment which includes an assessment of HMCTS costs and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/197611/ReformingASBtools_and_powers__CBO-CPIandDispersal130509.pdf