§ 16. Maria Eagle (Liverpool, Garston)What measures he is taking to encourage local partnerships between the 760 police and local authorities to make better use of orders available under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to prevent anti-social behaviour. [130337]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office(Mr. Charles Clarke)My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary recently published guidance in the form of a booklet entitled "Anti-Social Behaviour Orders: Guidance on drawing up Local ASBO Protocols", and a copy has been placed in the Library. That guidance is supported by training seminars and a variety of other means.
§ Maria EagleI welcome the fact that an increasing number of local authorities and local crime partnerships are making use of these orders. However, does my hon. Friend agree that it is not enough to have one or two orders per local authority area? They should be used where appropriate, and they should be seen by local crime reduction partnerships as a tool of early intervention and not as a last resort.
§ Mr. ClarkeI entirely agree with my hon. Friend. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work done by her city council, Liverpool, which I have visited. It has developed co-ordinated work between a variety of different agencies, which delivers in that way. There is a need to examine the range of orders that is available, and not only the anti-social behaviour order, in taking the action that my hon. Friend recommends.
§ Mr. Tim Collins (Westmorland and Lonsdale)Does the Minister accept that one of the issues relating to the use of these orders is the overall level of police resources? In that context, will he tell us when he expects to be able to announce final conclusions on the overall element of rural sparsity funding in the police funding formula?
§ Mr. ClarkeI refer the hon. Gentleman to the announcement that we made last Thursday. I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman is aware of it. The announcement included about £650,000 for Cumbria, which I think will be well appreciated.