Debate on Anti Social Behaviour

House of Commons

Thursday 18th January 2007

Mr. Nicholas Soames (Mid-Sussex) (Con): My hon. Friend and I are neighbours and I have discussed the matter with him before, but does he agree that part of the problem of people’s lack of confidence in how antisocial behaviour is dealt with is knowing who is responsible-who actually takes responsibility-for it. There is no doubt that the multi-agency approach is essential, but it is absolutely vital that the people concerned know who is accountable for delivering a solution to this wretched curse of antisocial behaviour.

Nick Herbert (Shadow Minister for Home Affairs): My hon. Friend is exactly right. People do not know who is responsible and that is part of the problem. The crime and disorder reduction partnerships are, as I have said, intensely bureaucratic and usually invisible to the public. Police authorities are essentially invisible to the public-though the police have made great strides in advancing their own visibility-and if neighbourhood policing is going to be withdrawn as a result of cuts in promised PCSO numbers and so forth, it will obviously not be a solution. As the partnership approach becomes increasingly important, we believe that it is essential to rebuild the bridges between the community and the agencies that are delivering community safety. The community must be given a real say-with respect to budgetary control, where appropriate-in terms of the delivery of community safety in local areas.

We believe not just in having more police out on the streets taking effective action-rather than keeping them in police stations, tied up in bureaucracy-but in tough enforcement against persistent offenders. We want fast justice, not soft justice. We believe in empowering communities and in taking serious action to tackle the drivers of crime.

The Government have created a new criminal offence for every day that they have been in office and we have seen 29 criminal justice Acts, reorganisations of the prison service, the probation service and the courts, yet antisocial behaviour still persists and crime rates remain among the highest of our peer-group countries. Out on the streets and in the communities, people know that the Government’s approach is not working. It is time for a fundamental rethink.

Hansard Volume 455

No 28

Columns 964

18th January 2007