§ Mr. RandallTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders have been issued in each London borough in each three month period since their introduction. [29364]
§ Mr. DenhamAntisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) are community-based civil orders, which can be applied for by the police or local authority, in consultation with each other against an individual or several individuals whose behaviour is antisocial. Applications are to the magistrates court acting in its civil capacity.
Information held centrally on the number of Antisocial Behaviour Orders issued up to 31 May 2000 is by police force area. Up to that date there were nine ASBOs issued within the Metropolitan Police area (including City of London).
From 1 June 2000 official statistics on the number of ASBOs issued are based on quarterly returns from Magistrates Courts Committees(MCCs) and are presently designed not to give figures below MCC level. A review of these statistics 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 within England and Wales up to the end of September this year was 466, 184 more than previously reported. Within this total the quarterly figures for the Greater London Magistrates' Courts Authority are:
Period Total June 2000 0 Quarter ending September 2000 10 Quarter ending December 2000 9 Quarter ending March 2001 4 Quarter ending June 2001 4 Quarter ending September 2001 4 Total 31