§ Dr. KumarTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been obtained and how many further orders are awaiting court hearings, broken down by area, since their introduction; and if he will make a statement on their impact on antisocial behaviour. [17127]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 22 November 2001]: Official statistics on the number of Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBO) taken out are based on quarterly returns received from Magistrates' Courts Committees. A review identified an undercount and my Department therefore undertook an exercise with the police to obtain more reliable figures. As a result of this reconciliation exercise the total number of ASBOs issued up until the end of September this year was 466, which is 184 more than previously reported. A breakdown by area is given in the table.
Information is not held centrally on the number of applications for ASBOs awaiting court hearing.
Since their introduction in April 1999 ASBOs have been used successfully in a variety of cases and have made a real difference for the better in people's lives.
1126W
Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued as from 1 April 1999 to 30 September 2001 by police force area ASBOs Police force area Issued Avon and Somerset 28 Bedfordshire 2 Cambridgeshire 8 Cheshire — Cleveland 10 Cumbria 2 Derbyshire 12 Devon and Cornwall 10 Dorset 4 Durham 10 Essex — Gloucestershire 4 Greater Manchester 24 Hampshire 4 Hertfordshire 9 Humberside 11 Kent 15 Lancashire 16 Leicestershire 5 Lincolnshire 1
Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued as from 1 April 1999 to 30 September 2001 by police force area ASBOs Merseyside 17 Metropolitan Police1 40 Norfolk 17 Northamptonshire 3 Northumbria 15 North Yorkshire 10 Nottinghamshire 16 South Yorkshire 6 Staffordshire 10 Suffolk 5 Surrey 4 Sussex 7 Thames Valley 7 Warwickshire 3 West Mercia 47 West Midlands 65 West Yorkshire 15 Wiltshire — Dyfed Powys — Gwent 1 North Wales 1 South Wales 2 England and Wales 466 1 Including City of London.