Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of anti-social behaviour in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last three years; and what steps her Department is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in those areas.

The Government is committed to tackling and preventing anti-social behaviour (ASB). We know the serious impact that persistent ASB can have on both individuals and the wider community. Last year the Beating Crime Plan laid out the Government’s plan for tackling crime and ASB and committed to working with local agencies and partners to drive down ASB using the full range of powers and tools in the ‘2014 Act’.

The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides a range of flexible tools and powers to local agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour. Local areas decide how best to deploy these powers depending on the specific circumstances. The Office for National Statistics annually publishes anti-social behaviour incidents reported to the police by Police Force Area and no further lower level breakdown is currently available.

Police recorded ASB incidents for West Midlands were on a steady decline pre-Covid-19 with a 40% fall in 2019-20 when compared to 2016-17. The overall number of ASB incidents in England & Wales also fell (24%) pre-Covid-19 but to a lesser degree than in West Midlands. The year to March 2022 reports a drop in ASB incidents for both England & Wales (-6%) and West Midlands (-17%) when compared to the 2019-20 (pre-Covid-19) period.

Home Office statutory guidance, which was updated this year, supports local areas to make effective use of these powers, setting 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 Home Office announced in March that ASB would be one of the primary crime and issue types being targeted in the next rounds of the Safer Streets Fund. We announced the outcome of Round Four of the Safer Streets Fund in July, investing £50 million to support 111 projects across England and Wales, aimed at increasing the safety of public spaces for all with a particular focus on addressing neighbourhood crime, anti-social behaviour and tackling violence against women and girls.