| POLICY BRIEFING |
The Education Network | 23 December 2003 44/03 |
Anti-social behaviour act
Summary. This briefing produced with our sister organisation LGIU, outlines the new Anti-Social Behaviour Act, which has recently received Royal Assent and will come into force in 2004. The new Act gives the police, local authorities and other local agencies new powers to tackle anti-social behaviour. It is a key part of the government's national anti-social behaviour action plan, launched earlier this autumn.
This Act may ne downloaded from: http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030038.htm
The information in this policy briefing applies to England and Wales.
You are encouraged to circulate this policy briefing to anyone in your authority who may find it useful, including headteachers and school governors.
Background
The government's Anti-Social Behaviour Act has now received Royal Assent, and will come into force in 2004. Many of the measures in the Act give the police and key local agencies new powers to deal with anti-social behaviour.
This briefing summarises the key provisions relating to children and young people contained in the Act and highlights the implications for local authorities.
Part 1 Premises where drugs used unlawfully
Part I introduces police powers to close down premises being used for the supply or use of Class `A' drugs where there is associated nuisance or disorder. Local authorities must be consulted on the closure notice.
Part 2 Housing
These provisions apply to local authorities, housing action trusts and registered social landlords. Landlords will be required to prepare anti-social behaviour policies and procedures for dealing with occurrences of anti-social behaviour.
Amendments to the Housing Act 1996 give social landlords the right to seek injunctions against anti-social behaviour or conduct which is capable of causing nuisance or annoyance, and which may affect their housing management functions. It will also be possible to obtain an injunction excluding a person from an area, and attach powers of arrest if their behaviour includes violence or the threat of violence.
Part 3 Parental Responsibilities
Parenting contracts
The Act introduces parenting contracts in cases of children excluded on disciplinary grounds from school (for a fixed or permanent period) or where the children fail to attend school regularly. A local education authority (LEA) or the governing body of a relevant school can arrange a voluntary parenting contract with the parent of a pupil or child. Such a contract may include a requirement on a parent to attend a counselling or guidance programme. Although the contracts are voluntary, the parent is required to sign it, as well as the LEA or governing body.
In this context, a 'parent' includes someone who is not a parent but who has parental responsibility, or who otherwise has care of the child or young person. These provisions apply only to individuals, and not, for example, to the local authority itself in the case of looked after children.
Parenting orders
If the LEA considers that a contract is unlikely to be an effective way forward they can apply to the magistrates' court for a parenting order against the parent of a pupil. In making a parenting order the court must satisfy itself that making the order would be desirable in the interests of improving the behaviour of the pupil. In the case of pupils under the age of 16, the court must also obtain and consider information about the pupil's family circumstances and the likely effect of the order on those circumstances.
Similarly, where a child or young person has been referred to a youth offending team, the youth offending team may enter into a parenting contract with a parent of the child or young person, or apply to a magistrates' court for a parenting order.
Fixed penalty notices
As an additional measure, fixed penalty notices may be issued to parents in the cases of truancy, or where they fail to secure the regular attendance at school of a registered pupil. Penalty notices can be issued by an authorised officer such as a constable, an LEA officer who is authorised to give penalty notices or a headteacher (or member of staff authorised by the headteacher). Penalties under this section are payable to local education authorities in England and sums received may be used by the authority for the purposes of any of its functions which may be specified in regulations.
Part 4 Dispersal of Groups
This part of the Act extends the police powers to disperse groups of two or more people and to return to their homes any young people under 16 who are unsupervised in public places after 9.00pm. These powers will only apply in specified localities, and where authorised by the police with agreement of all relevant local authorities.
Notice of the authorisation must be given in the local press and posted in the locality concerned. Authorisation can be made where:
a) members of the public have been intimidated, harassed, alarmed or distressed by the presence or behaviour of the group, and
b) anti-social behaviour is believed to be a significant and persistent problem in the area.
Disobedience can lead to a fine and/or 3 months imprisonment. There is also provision for power of arrest without warrant.
Part 5 Firearms
This part of the Act makes a number of amendments to the Firearms Act 1968. It will now be an offence to carry an air weapon or imitation firearm without lawful or reasonable excuse.
In respect of air weapons, the legal age at which they can be acquired is increased from fourteen to seventeen. It will be an offence to give an air weapon or ammunition as a gift to an under 17 year old (14-17 year olds can still shoot on private land with the consent of the landowner).
Part 6 The Environment
Noise
The Act will allow local authorities to make a closure order against premises where a public nuisance is being caused by noise coming from the premises and it is necessary to close the premises to stop the noise nuisance.
Graffiti and fly-posting
Enables local authorities to issue fixed penalty notices to those who have carried out acts of graffiti or fly posting. Authorities will also have the power to issue graffiti removal notices, requiring people to remove graffiti if, on certain surfaces, it is detrimental to the area's amenity or is offensive. If they do not remove the graffiti within the specified period, then the local authority can intervene and clean it.
Part 7 and Part 8
The Act sets out some new measures respectively on public order and trespass and on high hedges.
Part 9 Miscellaneous powers
Miscellaneous matters include an extension of the bodies that can apply for Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) to County councils and Housing Action Trusts (HATs).
Also the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 will be amended to incorporate penalty notices for disorderly behaviour by persons aged 16 and over. It also allows the Secretary of State to make regulations to amend this provision to allow penalty notices to be issued against young people aged 10 or over. In cases where the young person is below 16 and unable or unwilling to pay the penalty, their guardian or parent can be served with the notice and made liable for any payment.
Comment by TEN
The comments in the earlier TEN policy briefing (PB 14/03) on the Anti-Social Behaviour White Paper are still relevant.These questioned whether the introduction of fines for parents whose children do not attend school regularly would reduce incidents of truancy as LEAs and schools might be reluctant to use these because fines might undermine future parent/school relationships and might be bureaucratic and time consuming to impose.The parenting contracts, which may include a requirement on parents to attend counselling, or guidance programmes where their children have not been regularly attending school or have been excluded on disciplinary grounds may be more widely used and may prove more effective.
This briefing can be found on www.ten.info in Policy briefings and in the following advance search categories: Behaviour and Legislation.
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Ten Website
Many of the current issues about improving attendance and reducing exclusion were discussed at recent meetings of the TEN Social Inclusion Learning network. These are reported on the TEN homepage. Click on `Events and Seminars' and look at the section on Social Inclusion Learning Network meetings.