Local authorities, social landlords and the police issued joint guidance providing a framework for co-operation between them to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Source: Together We Can Beat It!: Partnership working on anti-social behaviour, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000), National Housing Federation, and Association of Chief Police Officers
Links: Guidance (pdf) | LGA press release
Date: 2003-Nov
The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 received Royal assent. The Act gave the police and local agencies new powers to deal with anti-social behaviour, including: expanding the fixed penalty notices scheme to cover noise nuisance, truancy and graffiti, and apply it to young people aged 16-17; enabling schools, local authorities and youth offending teams to offer a package of support and sanctions for parents to help them address anti-social behaviour by their children; making it an offence to sell spray paints to under 16s and stronger powers for local authorities to tackle fly-tipping, graffiti and fly-posting; extending the powers of environmental health officers to shut down noisy establishments, such as pubs and clubs; and ensuring courts considered the impact of anti-social behaviour on the wider community in all housing possession cases.
Source: Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | Home Office press release | LGA press release
Date: 2003-Nov
The government published an action plan on fighting anti-social behaviour, focusing on nuisance neighbours, begging and environmental crime. It also began consultation on guidance covering the implementation of parenting orders, contracts and penalty notices contained in the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill. Campaigners said that the key to tackling anti-social behaviour was to strengthen communities as a whole, rather than criminalising the few. Housing associations called on the government to speed up court orders to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Source: Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan, Home Office (0870 000 1585) | Consultation on Guidance for Parenting Orders and Contracts, Home Office | Consultation on the Education-Related Provisions Included in the Anti-social Behaviour Bill, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260) | Press release 14 October 2003, National Children s Bureau (020 7843 6029) | Press release 13 October 2003, National Housing Federation (020 7278 6571)
Links: Action plan (pdf) | ASB webpage | Home Office consultation document (pdf) | DfES consultation document (pdf) | Home Office press release (1) | Home Office press release (2) | NCB press release | NACRO press release | NHF press release (pdf) | Shelter press release | Anti-social Behaviour Bill | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2003-Oct
A report said that anti-social behaviour was a serious problem in local communities in Scotland, and that there was widespread support for official measures to tackle it.
Source: John Flint, Rowland Atkinson and Suzie Scott, A Report on the Consultation Responses to Putting Our Communities First: A strategy for tackling anti-social behaviour, Department of Urban Studies/University of Glasgow (0141 330 5048) | Press release 30 October 2003, Scottish Council for Single Homeless (0131 226 4382)
Links: Report (pdf) | Report | Summary | SE press release | Consultation document
Date: 2003-Oct
A Bill was published to tackle anti-social behaviour in Scotland. Key provisions of the Bill included: extension of anti-social behaviour orders to under-16s; parenting orders; electronic monitoring (tagging) of under-16s; a ban on the sale of spray paint to under-16s; anti-social behaviour strategies in local authority areas; more effective anti-social behaviour orders; targeted powers to disperse groups; enhanced noise nuisance powers; environmental measures tackling fly-tipping and litter; community reparation orders; and fixed penalties for anti-social behaviour. Campaigners said the Scottish Executive should recognise its own responsibility to invest in long-term solutions which tackled the root causes of anti-social behaviour.
Source: Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566) | Press release 30 October 2003, Scottish Council for Single Homeless (0131 226 4382)
Links: Text of Bill (pdf) | Explanatory notes (pdf) | Policy memorandum (pdf) | SE press release | SCSH press release
Date: 2003-Oct
The government reportedly carried out a secret one-day 'census' of anti-social behaviour in England and Wales (on 10 September 2003), in an attempt to assess the scale of problems such as street drinking and vandalism.
Source: The Guardian, 10 September 2003
Links: Guardian article
Date: 2003-Sep
A former social security minister said that all benefit payments should be made conditional on acceptable behaviour. He proposed a contractual benefits system which emphasised the reciprocal nature of both society s and the individual s own duties, so citizens had a clear idea of how they should behave to one another. As well as making welfare contractual, he suggested a series of other measures to tackle anti-social behaviour, including an increase in police powers, and a renewed emphasis on parenting skills and citizenship within schools.
Source: Frank Field MP, Neighbours From Hell: The politics of behaviour, Politico's Publishing (0870 850 1110)
Links: Guardian article
Date: 2003-Sep
Researchers in Scotland found that mediation in neighbour disputes had a high proportion of positive outcomes, although outcomes recorded by mediation services were not necessarily consistent with the views of participants. Legal action could produce positive outcomes in the short term for neighbours affected by anti-social behaviour, but could also displace problems into other areas.
Source: Alison Brown, Aileen Barclay, Richard Simmons and Susan Eley, The Role of Mediation in Tackling Neighbour Disputes and Anti-Social Behaviour, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Date: 2003-Sep
A coalition of 27 organisations said that government plans to use reductions in housing benefit as a deterrent to anti-social behaviour would not work, were wrong in principle, and should be dropped.
Source: Press release 12.8.03, Shelter (020 7505 4699) and other organisations
Links: Shelter press release | ADSS submission | Consultation document (pdf)
Date: 2003-Aug
A joint statement was issued by 13 children's charities calling for urgent changes to the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill. The charities said that, according to legal advice obtained by them, certain proposals in the Bill could breach human rights law - including police powers to disperse groups of two or more people, police powers to return a child under the age of 16 to their home in certain circumstances, and removal of reporting restrictions for children subject to anti-social behaviour orders.
Source: Press release 18.7.03, Children s Society (020 7841 4415)
Links: Children's Society press release | Legal opinion (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jul
The Scottish Executive published a consultation document on measures (similar to those in England) to combat anti-social behaviour, ahead of promised legislation. Proposals included extending anti-social behaviour orders to children aged 12-15; 'focused, visible' community reparation orders; parenting orders requiring parents to act in the best interests of their children; and extending the availability of electronic tagging of children. A children's charity attacked the proposals for failing to tackle the root causes of the problem.
Source: Putting our Communities First: Strategy for tackling anti-social behaviour, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566) | Press release 26.6.03, Abelour Child Care Trust (0131 669 5190)
Links: Consultation document | SE press release | Aberlour Child Care Trust response
Date: 2003-Jun
A Bill to combat anti-social behaviour was given a third reading. The Bill proposed a range of measures, including a wider use of fixed-penalty notices (such as their application to children aged 16-17) and support and sanctions to enable parents to prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour by their children.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 24.6.03, columns 895-992, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Text of Bill
Date: 2003-Jun
A joint committee of MPs and peers said that the use of the term 'anti-social behaviour' in the Anti-social Behaviour Bill - without any definition to limit its meaning- was an 'unacceptably vague' term to use when authorising an interference with a right under the Convention on Human Rights.
Source: Anti-social Behaviour Bill, Thirteenth Report (Session 2002-03), HL 120 and HC 766, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons), TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Text of Bill
Date: 2003-Jun
Details were published of an Anti-social Behaviour Bill in Scotland. Key measures included provision for: an extension of anti-social behaviour orders to children under 16; parenting orders for use where parents 'refuse to take their responsibilities seriously'; a ban on the sale of spray paint to children under 16; and tagging for children under 16.
Source: Press release 28.5.03, Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400)
Links: Press release
Date: 2003-May
The government began consultation with local authorities and other bodies on the possible use of housing benefit sanctions to tackle anti-social behaviour. Campaigners attacked the plans, saying that they would not solve the problem and would simply cause homelessness.
Source: Housing Benefit Sanctions and Anti-social Behaviour: Consultation paper, Department for Work and Pensions (020 7712 2171) | Press release 28.5.03, NCH (0845 7626579)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | DWP press release | Shelter press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-May
The Anti-Social Behaviour Bill was given a second reading. The Bill proposed a range of measures, including a wider use of fixed-penalty notices (such as their application to children aged 16-17) and support and sanctions to enable parents to prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour by their children. A dozen leading agencies, including the Local Government Association, issued a joint statement saying that the Bill placed an undue emphasis on enforcement. They said that, while enforcement measures had a role to play, more emphasis needed to be given to prevention and to developing effective interventions that involved working with people to resolve their problems. They expressed particular concern over plans to impose housing benefit sanctions. The House of Commons Library published a briefing paper on the Bill.
Source: Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 8.4.03, columns 136-240, TSO | 'Balancing prevention, rehabilitation and enforcement', Joint statement 8.4.03, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000) and eleven other organisations | The Anti-social Behaviour Bill, Research Paper 03/34, House of Commons Library (web publication only)
Links: Text of Bill | Hansard | HO press release | Joint statement | HOC Library research paper (pdf)
Date: 2003-Apr
The Scottish Executive began consultation on detailed proposals for neighbourhood wardens and other community-based initiatives to tackle anti-social behaviour
Source: Building Strong, Safe and Attractive Communities, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | Consultation document
Date: 2003-Mar
The government published a White Paper (and introduced a Bill) containing proposals for tackling anti-social behaviour. Measures were proposed to develop a 'package of support and sanctions' to enable parents to prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour by their children; to widen the use of fixed-penalty notices (for example for noise nuisance, truancy, and graffiti) and apply them to young people aged 16-17; to make begging a recordable offence, with a community penalty after three convictions; and to make it easier for local authorities to fine noisy neighbours, end their right to buy , and evict them. The government also said it would consult on new powers to introduce housing benefit (but not child benefit) sanctions for anti-social behaviour. A children's charity said the proposals were more likely to push children towards a career of crime than guide them away from it, and attacked plans to extend curfew powers for children under 16. Homelessness campaigners said clamping down on begging would lead to an increase in petty crime.
Source: Respect and Responsibility: Taking a stand against anti-social behaviour, White Paper Cm 5778, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, Home Office, TSO | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 12.3.03, columns 291-307, TSO | Press releases 12.3.03 and 27.3.03, Children s Society (020 7841 4415) | Press release 12.3.03, Centrepoint (020 7426 5300)
Links: White Paper (pdf) | Text of Bill | Hansard | HO press release | Guardian report | CRAE briefing paper (pdf) | Centrepoint press release | NHF press release (pdf)
Date: 2003-Mar
A research report said that youth nuisance and anti-social behaviour are widespread problems frequently found in high-density, low-income areas, many of which suffer from multiple deprivation. It recommended a number of measures which crime and disorder reduction partnerships could take to tackle the problem.
Source: Judy Nixon, Sarah Blandy, Caroline Hunter, Kesia Reeve and Anwen Jones, Tackling Anti-social Behaviour in Mixed Tenure Areas, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | Research summary
Date: 2003-Mar
The Scottish Executive said it will amend the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill to help curb anti-social behaviour. New interim anti-social behaviour orders will be available pending application for a substantive order. The power to apply for orders (including interim orders) will be extended to registered social landlords, including housing associations. There will be a new duty on police and councils to exchange information and work together to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Source: Press release 17.2.03, Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400)
Links: Press release | Text of Bill (pdf)
Date: 2003-Feb