Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Antisocial Behaviour: Town Centres

Monday 25 November 2024 · 8 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 5 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Government are introducing new powers to tackle antisocial behaviour and shop crime.
  • The Home Secretary supports prioritizing neighbourhood policing and giving officers the necessary powers to address antisocial behaviour.
  • The Government plans to increase neighbourhood policing and introduce respect orders to ban repeat perpetrators from town centres.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Danny Beales Lab Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Crime & Law Enforcement Community Security
Context

Recent years have seen high levels of shoplifting, street crime, and antisocial behaviour impacting town centres.

Question

What steps she is taking to improve safety in town centres. Too many town centres and high streets have been hit in recent years by soaring levels of shoplifting and street crime, at the same time as neighbourhood police have been heavily cut.

Answer from Yvette Cooper

The Government are introducing new powers to tackle antisocial behaviour and shop crime, and rebuilding neighbourhood police on our streets.

Answered
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Q2 Becky Gittins Lab Clwyd East
Crime & Law Enforcement Community Security
Context

Antisocial behaviour has blighted high streets, impacting local businesses and communities negatively.

Question

Does the Home Secretary agree that rather than writing off such offences as low-level and leaving communities to deal with them alone, we must prioritise neighbourhood policing and give officers the powers they need to tackle antisocial behaviour head-on? In Prestatyn, the recent work of North Wales police has led to positive youth engagement and criminal charges.

Answer from Yvette Cooper

My hon. Friend is exactly right; when town centre crime gets out of control, it impacts local businesses and communities badly. We are bringing in respect orders under which repeat perpetrators can be banned from town centres, and setting out plans to have 13,000 more neighbourhood police and police community support officers on our streets.

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Q3 Kevin McKenna Lab Sittingbourne and Sheppey
Crime & Law Enforcement Community Security
Context

Residents in the constituency face real problems with antisocial behaviour, including smashed windows and shoplifting incidents.

Question

Can she please tell me what help she is offering Kent police to support my residents facing this behaviour? Many residents flag up real problems with antisocial behaviour in both Sheerness and Sittingbourne town centres. Windows have been smashed in church halls, and shop windows were smashed when the Christmas lights were being put on.

Answer from Yvette Cooper

As well as our plans to increase neighbourhood policing and introduce respect orders, we are getting rid of the £200 rule which means that shoplifting is very often not properly investigated. That needs to be taken much more seriously.

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Q4 Danny Beales Lab Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Policing & Resources Community Security
Context

The Met Police's time is heavily taken up with London-wide and national policing issues, impacting resources available for local high streets.

Question

Will the Home Secretary assure me that the 19% of the Met Police's time that is taken up with London-wide and national policing issues will be taken into account when allocating the Met's budget, so that we have the resources we need? During a meeting with the Hotel Chocolat store manager in Uxbridge, he shared stories about shoplifting and antisocial behaviour blighting our high streets.

Answer from Yvette Cooper

We have already provided the Met Police with an initial £30 million this year to fund the police pay increase that was not funded by the previous Government. We are also supporting neighbourhood policing right across the country and much stronger action on assaults against shop workers.

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Q5 Andrew Snowden Con Fylde
Community Security
Context

Operation Centurion focused on antisocial behaviour through visible patrols and better partnership working.

Question

What measures do the Government intend to bring in as part of their new zero tolerance zones that will be different from what currently exists, to make it really zero tolerance? A small minority makes life a total nightmare for everyone else. Current antisocial behaviour injunctions just are not strong enough because they often do not come with a power of arrest.

Answer from Yvette Cooper

We are introducing respect orders which mean that repeat perpetrators can be banned from town centres and will have a power of arrest so swift action can be taken if they are breached.

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Q6 Jessica Brown-Fuller Lib Dem Chichester
Policing & Resources Crime & Law Enforcement
Context

Police officers spend a four-hour round trip taking those they arrest to Worthing custody centre.

Question

Does the Home Secretary agree that opening Chichester custody centre would reduce the time that police officers spend sitting in traffic and get them back on our streets? Police officers are spending a significant amount of time travelling for arrests, reducing their availability.

Answer from Yvette Cooper

Many issues around the location of centres are operational decisions for police forces. However, maintaining and increasing neighbourhood policing right across the board in all areas is important.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Opening Chichester custody centre specifically

How: Operational Decisions

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Q7 Graham Stuart Con Beverley and Holderness
Housing Children & Families
Context

The Cherry Tree community centre provides support to up to 150 young people but lacks permanent premises.

Question

Could I please meet the right hon. Lady or one of her colleagues to discuss how we can find the funding for the right premises to support young people in Swinemoor and across Beverley? The Cherry Tree community centre has planning permission and some money from the National Lottery, but needs additional funding.

Answer from Yvette Cooper

I will happily ensure that the right hon. Member is able to have a meeting with one of the team. We need youth hubs as part of new prevention work, particularly as part of new prevention partnerships, and a stronger law on child criminal exploitation.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Meeting specifically for funding discussion

How: New Prevention Work

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Q8 Luke Taylor Lib Dem Sutton and Cheam
Crime & Law Enforcement Community Security
Context

Incidents of antisocial behaviour, violent muggings, and phone theft are increasingly common in London due to the use of illegal high-powered Sur-Ron type e-bikes by criminal gangs.

Question

The use of illegal high-powered Sur-Ron type e-bikes by criminal gangs on and around our high streets is causing significant concern, particularly in London, with incidents of antisocial behaviour, violent muggings and phone theft becoming increasingly more common. Can the Home Secretary please update the House on discussions her Department has had with the Mayor of London and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police on what they are doing to reduce these incidents and make our streets safer across London?

Answer from Yvette Cooper

The hon. Member is right to refer to the issues around antisocial and criminal use not just of e-bikes—sometimes e-scooters are used illegally on pavements and off-road bikes cause havoc in local neighbourhoods. That is why we will strengthen the law around vehicles used for antisocial behaviour, so that they can be seized when that antisocial behaviour takes place and the police do not have to go through a whole ritual of a series of warnings which delays action.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific discussions with the Mayor of London and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police were not addressed.

How: Changed Subject

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