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Antisocial Behaviour: Prosecutions

Volume 470: debated on Thursday 24 January 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 there have been for (a) noise, (b) graffiti and fly-posting and (c) waste and litter in (i) each local authority and (ii) each police authority area, broken down by basic command unit, in each region of England and Wales in each year since the introduction of the powers. (176312)

I have been asked to reply.

The offences in the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 include graffiti and fly-posting. Other offences are taken under different legislation.

The number of prosecutions taken at magistrates courts is held by the Ministry of Justice. The offence class of ‘other’ criminal damage includes, but cannot separately identify, offences of graffiti. Data on fly-posting offences cannot be separately identified from the data held by the Ministry of Justice.

Prosecutions for ‘other’ criminal damage

Police force area

2003

2004

2005

2006

England

Avon and Somerset

814

652

576

240

Bedfordshire

35

58

53

206

Cambridgeshire

309

252

233

152

Cheshire

12

51

51

177

City of London

16

11

11

Cleveland

162

75

29

12

Cumbria

28

49

91

83

Derbyshire

362

346

244

185

Devon and Cornwall

12

6

63

1,016

Dorset

2

2

4

Durham

195

156

76

88

Essex

565

522

561

486

Gloucestershire

141

162

178

245

Greater Manchester

1,329

1,467

1,424

1,457

Hampshire

667

767

374

510

Hertfordshire

48

135

189

108

Humberside

39

185

90

81

Kent

539

718

656

713

Lancashire

25

24

39

183

Leicestershire

67

81

91

62

Lincolnshire

9

68

95

106

Merseyside

271

201

70

85

Metropolitan Police

1,970

1,798

1,465

1,422

Norfolk

362

318

356

245

North Yorkshire

241

372

365

305

Northamptonshire

299

259

289

308

Northumbria

14

11

15

29

Nottinghamshire

14

10

136

200

South Yorkshire

404

422

442

412

Staffordshire

615^

551

543

520

Suffolk

14

52

168

417

Surrey

93

72

196

404

Sussex

587

367

463

513

Thames Valley

478

370

410

356

Warwickshire

81

59

42

22

West Mercia

102

145

162

161

West Midlands

1,269

1,409

1,090

1,024

West Yorkshire

467

441

440

410

Wiltshire

85

61

68

44

Wales

Dyfed-Powys

9

11

15.

10

Gwent

345

223

74

98

North Wales

297

326

378

315

South Wales

459

96

66

53

DEFRA collects data annually from local authorities on Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs). FPNs can be issued by local authorities for graffiti and fly-posting offences. A FPN can be offered as an alternative to prosecution but prosecution can still be taken in instances of non-payment of a FPN. Police Community Support Officers can issue FPNs if they have the relevant approval; such notices are issued on a local authority’s behalf, and are incorporated into the local authority’s figures. For ease of reference, nil returns have been omitted from the following tables, which include the number of prosecutions taken following non-payment of FPNs.

FPNs for graffiti

Offence: graffiti

Local authority

Prosecutions following non payment

Reporting period: April 2006 to March 2007

Gateshead BC

1

Kingston upon Hull City Council

1

Sandwell BC

2

Reporting period: April 2005 to March 2006

Gateshead BC

5

Newcastle upon Tyne CC

2

Reporting period: April 2004 to March 2005

Newcastle upon Tyne CC

2

FPNs for fly-posting

Offence: fly-posting

Local authority

Prosecutions following non payment

Reporting period: April 2006 to March 2007

Canterbury CC

1

Castle Point DC

2

LB Bexley

20

LB Ealing

5

Manchester CC

4

Milton Keynes BC

1

Newcastle upon Tyne CC

1

Nottingham CC

1

Peterborough CC

14

Rochdale BC

8

S Ribble BC

2

Selby DC

1

Sheffield CC

2

Solihull BC

1

Thurrock BC

1

Reporting period: April 2005 to March 2006

Nottingham CC

1

Peterborough CC

1

Solihull BC

1

Southampton CC

1

Tameside BC

3

Reporting period: April 2004 to March 2005

Cheltenham BC

2

Gloucester CC

1

Newcastle upon Tyne CC

2

Thurrock BC

1

Westminster CC

7

The House Library has been furnished with data on prosecutions and fixed penalty notices issued for other offences under the relevant legislation.

The data are also currently published online.