Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms exist for victims to challenge decisions on whether thresholds for anti-social behaviour case reviews are met.

The Home Office provides statutory guidance to support local agencies in the use of the powers and tools in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act, including the ASB case review. The guidance makes clear how information should be shared between relevant agencies to ensure the effective operation of the case review. The guidance sets out that relevant agencies should develop agreements for information sharing, risk assessments and a common understanding of the aims of the ASB Case Review.

Victims can query decisions with the lead agency for the ASB case review where it has been decided that the threshold has not been met. Where the local council has led the review, victims may also submit a complaint to their using the councils’ formal complaints system. If exhausted or no response is received, victims can also contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are creating a new duty for police and crime commissioners (PCCs) to provide a route for victims to query decisions via their office. This includes victims being able to ask the PCC to review decisions made by the lead agency in an ASB case review where they have deemed that the threshold has not been met.