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Fifth Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation
Tuesday 13 July 2004
[Mr. Mike Hancock in the Chair]
Draft Anti-social Behaviour (Northern Ireland) Order 2004
2.30 pm
The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr. John Spellar): I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Anti-social Behaviour (Northern Ireland) Order 2004.
The Chairman: With this it will be convenient to consider the draft Criminal Justice (No. 2) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004.
Mr. Spellar: To inform hon. Members more fully, I have made additional material available in advance of today's debate. Hon. Members will have received a copy of the draft order and explanatory memorandum, and I have also provided copies of a summary of responses to the consultation.
Antisocial behaviour is an increasing cause of anxiety and concern in Northern Ireland, as it is elsewhere. More than half the respondents to the 2001 Northern Ireland crime survey, all of whom had been living in their area for more than three years, felt that antisocial behaviour had increased in their area in the previous two years. That fear can have a destabilising and disabling effect, particularly for those who are older and more vulnerable. It is interesting that in the same survey such fear was not confined to older people. Indeed, younger respondents felt antisocial behaviour to be a greater problem than older people did. That is important in the light of the debate that has been going on in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland Office community safety unit held an antisocial behaviour count day in June 2003, when 3,150 incidents of antisocial behaviour were recorded. I have been made aware of the concerns of the community in Northern Ireland about antisocial behaviour, and I remain convinced that the Government must now deal with the issue legislatively.
Evidence from elsewhere is convincing about the effectiveness of such measures. A Home Office research study found that in many areas antisocial behaviour orders were considered by those using them to be an effective response to antisocial behaviour. In a study commissioned by the Scottish Executive to monitor the use of ASBOs in Scotland, 62 per cent. of local authorities that responded reported a perceived improvement in the behaviour of those who were subject to ASBOs.
In Manchester, the evidence available is that 60 per cent. of people who have ASBOs against them have been prosecuted for a breach or any other offence. Hon. Members will be aware that The Irish News has reported fully and favourably on the Manchester experience.
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I am very interested in the innovative ways in which ASBOs have been used in England and Wales. For example, Camden council acted against music companies for fly posting, as a way of dealing with the blight of illegal advertising. A recent survey by the environmental group Tidy Northern Ireland identified areas where graffiti and illegal advertising were a significant problem. We shall need to consider that aspect in future.
What have the Government been doing? We have already done quite a bit. Legislation is an important part of the matter, although we also want to provide some context. Measures to tackle antisocial behaviour, in the form of ASBOs, were introduced in England and Wales by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. They were aided by the Police Reform Act 2002, which gave criminal courts the power to issue an ASBO on convicting a person of a criminal offence, and increased the number of bodies that may make a relevant application. The most recent relevant measure is the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003.
Mr. David Trimble (Upper Bann) (UUP): Let me take this opportunity to say what a pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Hancock, and at the same time to apologise for the fact that duties elsewhere take me away from the proceedings.
The Minister has referred to the 1998 Act relating to England and Wales. We are delighted that it is now being replicated for Northern Ireland, after a six-year wait. He has also referred to a measure passed in 2002 and to the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003. Will we have to wait six years for an equivalent to the 2003 Act? I must acknowledge that the Minister has pushed through the order that we are considering with greater expedition than we at first expected, but will there be a Northern Ireland equivalent of the 2003 Act or of the Home Office action plan on antisocial behaviour, which has been in operation for several years on this side of the water? Those are the measures that we want—
The Chairman: Order. The right hon. Gentleman is getting close to making a speech.
Mr. Spellar: Thank you, Mr. Hancock—but it saves us a speech later.
I take the right hon. Gentleman's point about an action plan. As I keep saying, ASBOs are part of a package of restorative justice measures that also includes acceptable behaviour contracts and parenting orders. We have to make sure that ASBOs are implemented, because it is certainly true that experience in England in that regard has been variable. In some areas, where police forces and magistrates have been proactive—Manchester is an extremely good example—ASBOs have had a significant effect. In others, there has been a halting start, although improvements are taking place. We therefore need to learn from experience. I take the right hon. Gentleman's point that learning from and spreading best practice by the sorts of methods that he described is important. There have been advantages in waiting to see how the measures have bedded down in England and Wales, however. We have been able to draw on and benefit from that experience, although, as I have
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acknowledged, perhaps we should have been a little more forward in dealing with the matter.
Among other things, the 2003 Act provides that the evidence used for ASBOs made on conviction does not have to have been admissible in the proceedings at which the offender was convicted. When the 1998 Act was being prepared, consideration was given to extending the provisions relating to antisocial behaviour orders in Northern Ireland, but we have benefited from the intervening experience.
In 2002, a consultation paper on community safety in Northern Ireland was published by the then Secretary of State. As a result, a community safety strategy was published in March 2003. In addition, through the challenge competitions, the community safety unit has allocated £3.3 million to 55 groups in communities to run projects that are designed to be local solutions to local problems of antisocial behaviour. Alongside that, the criminal justice review proposed a range of restorative and rehabilitative responses to low-level crime. Progress is being made on those. They include youth conferencing and a youth diversion scheme, and are designed to divert youngsters from prosecution by way of a caution using a restorative framework.
The Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 created introductory tenancies with a trial period of a year. Those are already starting to have an impact on behaviour. The order also provides for the power to grant injunctions against antisocial behaviour, including that of those who are not tenants but are visiting the homes of tenants. We aim to deal with the problems on a number of fronts, so that the people of Northern Ireland can enjoy a quality of life that is not ruined by fear of antisocial behaviour. These orders will be part of a range of measures tackling antisocial behaviour. They are designed not to replace existing legislation or sanctions, but to complement them.
Mr. Nigel Dodds (Belfast, North) (DUP): The Minister refers to the housing order. I am pleased to say that I played some part in the Assembly in drawing that up and considering it. How will those powers relate to the powers of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive under these orders? There appears to be some overlap, so how will it work in practice?
Mr. Spellar: I do not think that it matters that there is an overlap, because it gives the Housing Executive a range of possibilities. In the role that I described under the housing order, it is acting as a landlord. Therefore, we have increased its powers as a landlord, particularly by creating introductory tenancies that require people to spend a year in the tenancy and to be of good behaviour before they acquire more established rights as tenants. Therefore, if they show antisocial behaviour—particularly if they have been rehoused in uncertain circumstances, or sometimes even because of antisocial behaviour that has driven them out of their previous area—they have a chance to improve. It also gives the Housing Executive, acting in those circumstances as a landlord, to act in defence of the community.
The Housing Executive will apply for ASBOs in partnership with the police and local councils. It will
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therefore be able to take action concerning the problem behaviour of not only its tenants but residents on its estates, such as owner-occupiers of privately owned property, tenants of privately rented property, or, as is often the case, a member of their family. In that respect, the Housing Executive will be responsible for the area and its tenants generally, although in some cases will not be the landlord. The hon. Gentleman is right that there is an overlap, but it is quite a useful one which gives the Housing Executive a range of powers. For example, someone might have gone through the second year of their tenancy, and then reverted to their old ways. Those powers are important for many communities, which are blighted by such behaviour.
Concerns about antisocial behaviour in Northern Ireland were borne out in the responses to the public consultations on policy proposals and the draft legislation. We consulted for a period of 18 weeks in total, with a shortened consultation on the draft legislative proposals in order to bring them forward expeditiously for consideration by this Committee.
We received responses from a wide range of bodies, and I would like to place on record my thanks to all those who contributed. Most respondents were in support of what we are trying to do, and many urged us to act quickly. Concerns came, in the main, from organisations involved with children. I considered carefully what they had to say, and also met some of their representatives. As a result of those consultations, I included a provision in the draft order, for example, for the courts to have discretion on reporting restrictions for young people, and to ensure that where reporting restrictions were applied, they would cover the whole application from start to finish. The wording of the final draft order is explicit in that respect. I concluded, however, that in the interests of the protection of all the community, young and old alike, it was necessary to act to bring forward the legislation for the Committee's consideration today.
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