Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to give the police increased powers to tackle antisocial behaviour.

Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are strengthening the powers available to the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies to tackle ASB, including introducing new Respect Orders to tackle the most persistent ASB offenders.

Unlike the existing Civil Injunction, which the Respect Order partially replaces, breach will be a criminal offence, enforceable by arrest and tried in the criminal court. Penalty for breach will include community sentences, unlimited fines, and prison time for the most serious breaches.

We are also introducing, through the Crime and Policing Bill, the following measures:

• Removing the requirement for a police officer to issue a warning before seizing a motor-vehicle being used to cause ASB.
• Extending the maximum exclusion period for dispersal directions from 48 hours to 72 hours, with a mandatory review at 48 hours.
• Increasing the upper limit for a fixed penalty notice for breaches of a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) or a Community Protection Notice (CPN) from £100 to £500.
• Extending the timeframe that relevant agencies can apply to a magistrates’ court for a closure order from 48 hours after service of a closure notice to 72 hours.
• Extending the power to issue closure notices to registered social housing providers.
• Extending the powers available under the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) to allow CSAS officers to issue fixed penalty notices for breach of CPNs and PSPOs.
• Creating a duty for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to promote awareness of the ASB Case Review in their police force area and provide a route for victims to query decisions via their office.

Introducing new ASB data reporting requirements by creating a power for the Home Secretary to make regulations requiring local bodies, such as councils and social housing providers, to report specified ASB data to the Home Office.