Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has plans to introduce standardised national measuring of levels of anti-social behaviour.

The Government is committed to tackling and preventing anti-social behaviour (ASB). As set out in the Beating Crime Plan, we are working with local areas to ensure the powers under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, including the Community Trigger, are being implemented effectively and have recently updated Home Office statutory guidance, which supports local areas to make effective use of the powers.

The Home Office chairs the Anti-Social Behaviour Strategic Board which brings together key partners from relevant bodies across policing, local government and NGOs, and other Government departments, to discuss any arising ASB issues and share best practice. We do not routinely publish the dates of meetings, minutes nor names of those who attend this board.

We have recently published multi-agency principles which seek to describe a consistent approach to addressing ASB in local communities. The principles are intended to act as a guide in seeking to deliver the best possible outcomes for victims of ASB and we encourage local assessment on how processes and practices compare to the standard outlined in the principles. The principles were drafted and endorsed by the ASB Strategic Board who also wrote out to relevant organisations including police forces, local authorities and housing associations for feedback on the draft principles. We have provided partners with a Q&A document to support implementation of the ASB Principles. In line with usual practice, we do not propose to publish drafts of documents or other material prepared as part of the development of the Principles.

No additional funding will be available for implementing the principles however, the Safer Streets Fund aims to support local areas in preventing and tackling neighbourhood crime, ASB and violence against women and girls. Bidding for the fourth round has now closed but we look forward to seeing how relevant successful projects incorporate the principles into their activity.

We monitor the national statistics on ASB through the police recorded crime incident data and the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), which presents people’s perception of the levels of ASB. Given the localised nature of ASB, we do not currently plan to introduce standardised national measuring of levels of ASB, however the multi-agency principles included local reporting and referral pathways. Recommendations from Part Two of the Police and Crime Commissioner Review were published on Monday 7 March 2022. The overall package strengthens and expands the role of PCCs. We want to ensure that PCCs have sufficient tools and levers to more effectively scrutinise and challenge partnership activity on ASB. To do this, PCCs should be able to bring partners together on ASB, direct local ASB strategy and request local data on ASB.