Antisocial Behaviour: Dudley

16:00:00

I will call Sonia Kumar to move the motion and then the Minister to respond. I remind other Members that they may make only a very short speech with the prior permission of the Member in charge and the Minister. There will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up, as is the convention for a 30-minute debate.

I beg to move, That this House has considered the matter of anti-social behaviour in Dudley. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Furniss; I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this important debate on antisocial behaviour in Dudley. Antisocial behaviour strikes at the heart of every community in the UK. In Dudley, residents are increasingly concerned about vandalism, intimidation, dangerous driving, off-road bikes, groups engaging in persistent disorder, theft, drug dealing and—my pet hate—fly-tipping. Antisocial behaviour erodes community confidence and makes people feel unsafe. It not only undermines trust among neighbours but hinders our local businesses and tarnishes our towns’ reputations as vibrant, welcoming places to work and live. The impact on our high streets and businesses is significant. Some estimates show that the cost to businesses and individuals of the heightened fear of crime is in excess of £70 billion a year. That is simply unacceptable. We must be better at reducing the cost and consequences of antisocial behaviour. Why do we have antisocial behaviour? It is a complex issue with social, psychological and economic factors. Poverty and deprivation are consistently identified as primary root causes. High levels of poor mental health, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress, especially among teenagers, can contribute to it. This issue is not just for the Minister here today; it should be tackled cross-departmentally. If people in my constituency thought that they had a genuine say in their community and equal opportunity for jobs, housing and a better quality of life, they may feel differently.

I recently spoke to one of my Halesowen constituents who faced problems with antisocial behaviour. Somebody frequently smoked cannabis outside her property, and although she reported it to Dudley council and the police, little was done. In fact, it was only after my office became involved that something happened. Does my hon. Friend agree that although that might seem a minor incident to the authorities, it is really important for our constituents, and it is absolutely imperative that they strive to tackle antisocial behaviour?

I agree. Many people have said to me that the smoking of cannabis and drug dealing across the constituency is causing them not to want to go out, and they are really worried about their children. It is also just wrong, and we need better rehabilitation services. A question we should reflect on is why people have such high levels of antisocial behaviour. I would like to highlight the crucial role of prevention in tackling antisocial behaviour. Effective prevention is about not just responding to incidents after they occur but addressing the root causes and stopping them before they start.

We all have, in our constituencies, the antisocial behaviour issues to which the hon. Lady refers. Does she agree that the prevalence of antisocial behaviour throughout this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland suggests that we need to do more to engage with the youth and give them a stake in the community? I believe that that is the thrust of her ideas. In my constituency, church organisations such as the Boys’ Brigade, the Girls’ Brigade, campaigners and other church youth groups have given young people routes to greater support to ensure that more young people are taught skills, thereby improving social cohesion. Churches have a role, and if we let them play it, we will all benefit.

I agree. Engagement in all aspects of the community is important, whether we are talking about the church, the gurdwara, the mosque or the synagogue. It does not matter what the community forum is—it could just be the youth centre—but if youth are engaged in that, we should pursue those routes to get them to take a more active role in society. Early engagement with young people in schools to address adverse behaviour before it escalates is paramount. We should look particularly at regular, high-visibility foot and vehicle patrols in hotspots to deter offenders. Close collaboration with local businesses and residents to identify persistent offenders and intervene early is essential. It is about building community cohesion and providing job opportunities and rehabilitation for people who have committed antisocial behaviour offences. Too often, there is a lack of outlets where our youth can enjoy safe and entertaining activities, including participating in sport. Without sports, youth or activity centres, young people are left with limited options, which can lead to antisocial behaviour. This is why I am fighting to bring back Dudley Town football club and why community assets such as Sedgley library must be saved. These assets are essential for our community, and that is also why I oppose the closure of Meadow Road youth centre in my constituency. I am hugely grateful to the Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, for securing the west midlands as a youth guarantee trailblazer area, focusing on supporting young people who are not in education, employment or training. That programme is just part of the solution and will reduce antisocial behaviour over the long term. This is why I am fighting for it to be in Dudley. There are other reasons why antisocial crime has proliferated in Dudley. Like much of the west midlands, Dudley has seen crime increase dramatically over the past decade. We have witnessed a 76% increase in crime locally, while the west midlands as a whole has seen an increase of 79%. That trend is deeply worrying. Chronic underfunding and a significant cut to police numbers over the past 14 years have hampered our police forces, with 700 fewer deployed police officers in the west midlands compared with 2010. Despite these challenges, our police officers continue to do a fantastic job, and I want to take this moment to thank them for their unwavering commitment to keeping us safe, even under the most challenging circumstances. I firmly believe that by supporting our local police, we can turn those troubling statistics around.

My hon. Friend and constituency neighbour is delivering an excellent speech. Does she welcome the fact that 150 extra neighbourhood police officers are coming to the west midlands as part of the Labour party’s commitment to providing 13,000 extra neighbourhood police officers? Will that not help us to tackle the antisocial behaviour we are seeing across Dudley?

I thank my hon. Friend. That is why I welcomed the Government’s announcement of £200 million for neighbourhood policing as part of the wider £1 billion boost. This investment will reassure communities as they once again see local police officers patrolling our streets. By supporting our local police forces, we will turn around the worrying trend in crime statistics. I was delighted to see locally that our police and crime commissioner, Simon Foster, secured an extra 150 neighbourhood police officers for the west midlands, alongside a further 139 officers redeployed into neighbour-hood policing. Neighbourhood policing must be at the heart of our approach. The actions taken by the PCC are exactly what we need to ensure policing once again serves our community. That is part of the PCC’s new police and crime plan, which I wholeheartedly support, but we can and must go further. We in this House must demonstrate that we take the concerns of our constituents seriously when it comes to antisocial behaviour and tackling crime in the 21st century. That is why I was delighted to support the Crime and Policing Bill on Second Reading earlier this year. The Bill introduces respect orders, which will allow police and local authorities to target persistent offenders through tougher restrictions. It extends closure powers to help to shut down premises that are a magnet for crime and disorder, and increases the penalties for repeat offenders, ensuring that those responsible for making people’s lives a misery are held to account. Crucially, the Bill ensures that victims’ voices are at the heart of the process and are heard. When reporting incidents, victims can feel confident that authorities will act and take their voices seriously with the introduction of new reviews of antisocial behaviour complaints. That is particularly important for housing estates and high streets in Dudley, where persistent disorder can drive businesses away and disrupt families trying to go about their daily lives. The Bill will also support local authorities to search and seize vehicles linked to fly-tipping. Antisocial behaviour in Dudley is an issue that I receive emails about every single day. One case that stuck with me happened on Oak Street, where a resident wrote to me about drug dealing, vandalism and threatening behaviour by gangs who frequently gather near Silver Jubilee Park. Residents became so worried that they remained in their homes, frightened to go out and complain for fear of retaliation. Sadly, when those issues were raised with the council, it refused to reinstall temporary CCTV. That was incredibly frustrating and disappointing. I hope that my Conservative council is listening and will change its decision. Regrettably, that is not an isolated issue. In Upper Gornal, there are repeated incidents of joyriding on motorbikes late at night around the green, disrupting local residents and making roads too dangerous to use in case of an accident. Fly-tipping is also a constant issue for my constituents, with Kates Hill in Dudley singled out to me as a significant problem area for residents.

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. This issue affects not just Dudley but the whole of Dudley borough, an area that covers the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger) and my Stourbridge constituency. Fly-tipping is absolutely prolific in the Lye ward of my constituency, and the council is really struggling to enforce against much of it because a lot of it associated with organised crime. Does she agree that we need to support and resource councils to tackle this antisocial environmental crime in collaboration with stakeholders?

I agree with my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour. We need to ensure that the local council is engaging with residents in community forums and working with local police, and that we have more police on our streets. Car theft is another serious issue. In my area in particular, I am too often told by email about cases of car theft and burglary. People send me emails and Facebook messages saying that, time and again, those issues are not being properly reviewed. Constituents are frightened, and it adds unnecessary stress for local residents. I could go on and list the issues that residents have raised with me through email and social media, whether that is racial slurs being shouted, public urination, vandalism of public gardens, drug dealing or roads covered by litter. It is entirely unacceptable, and that behaviour is a blight on the communities of Dudley. It causes terror, particularly for elderly and vulnerable residents, causes damage to our communities, undermines pride of place and breeds a culture and perception of lawlessness, which ultimately leads only one way. I am grateful for the work that the Government have already done and their plans to increase police numbers and tackle antisocial behaviour. My concern, however, is that when announcements are made about resources being allocated to the west midlands, Dudley often does not get its fair share. Can the Minister reassure me that any extra police officers, resources for youth centres, and support for young people that are directed to the west midlands are fairly shared with towns such as Dudley? We can reassure residents that not just big cities, but our towns, get the funding, and that they will not miss out. Can she also reassure me that Dudley will have the opportunity to be home to a youth trailblazer? Antisocial behaviour is a multifaceted issue that demands a comprehensive response. We must invest in prevention, support our police, ensure the fair distribution of resources and give our young people hope and opportunities. Only then can we restore pride, safety and confidence in Dudley’s communities.

16:13:00

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Furniss—I always say that, but it actually is a pleasure. Let me start by thanking all the Members who have come today and contributed. I am especially grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley (Sonia Kumar) for securing the debate. As a fellow midlands MP, I am delighted that her constituents have someone fighting so diligently on their behalf. Just because I have a bit of time, I have a good Dudley-related antisocial behaviour story from my childhood—or rather, from the ’70s, before I was born. My mum and dad lived in the Black Country at the time. When the younger of my two older brothers bit my elder brother, my mum said that if he was going to behave like an animal, he would have to go with them, and she drove him to Dudley zoo and left him there. It was the ’70s, Ms Furniss—things were different in the ’70s. He is fine, to be clear, but I like my mother’s direct action with antisocial behaviour, doling out immediate action to prevent it. I do not think he ever bit my brother again. My hon. Friend the Member for Dudley and others have powerfully set out how antisocial behaviour remains a constant menace in communities around the country. Whether in Dudley or anywhere else, it has a damaging effect on people and places, which is why we are pushing strongly to tackle it. I know this is an area of focus for the Minister for Policing and Crime Prevention, my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham (Dame Diana Johnson). My hon. Friend the Member for Dudley mentioned her support for some of the efforts in the Crime and Policing Bill; the Policing Minister will currently be on her feet in that Bill Committee, which is why I am here today and not her—it is not just because it is a midlands matter. Antisocial behaviour has a strong local dimension, which came through in various contributions from my hon. Friend and colleagues in neighbouring areas, and it manifests itself in different ways. I will come to specific points shortly, but before I do, I want to set out the national context, because it is such a widespread problem. We heard, as we so often do, from the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who is no longer in his place, that this is a problem in Northern Ireland, as it is in Wales, the west midlands and everywhere. We all know from our interactions with constituents that antisocial behaviour causes distress, concern and fear among residents, communities and businesses. It plagues town centres and neighbourhoods. It spoils people’s enjoyment of parks and other spaces. Let us get it right: antisocial behaviour is not low level, trivial or minor. To minimise it in that way is an insult to the many people who suffer every day as a result of the selfish actions of others. As a constituency Member of Parliament, I am not sure that anything is brought to me as much as antisocial behaviour. It could come from a neighbour—I especially like it when both neighbours come to me, although that is tricky to deal with at times—or from other people in the local community. This is genuinely a problem that can make people move out of their family homes. This not low level: it is incredibly serious. Antisocial behaviour eats away at people’s sense of security and local pride, and it needs to be dealt with as the serious threat that it is. For too long, the response has been weak and ineffective, and this Government are putting that right. The Prime Minister has placed safer streets at the heart of his plan for change. Through that mission, we are determined to address the scourge of antisocial behaviour. We are backing up our words with action, including by restoring and strengthening neighbourhood policing, which has been badly eroded in recent years. We are also introducing the respect orders mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley. My hon. Friend the Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger) mentioned cannabis. I am sure that everybody here has heard the same complaints about kids and adults constantly smoking cannabis outside their houses. That is why tackling illegal drugs is key to delivering the Government’s mission to make our streets safer, to halve knife crime, to crack down on antisocial behaviour and to go after the gangs who are luring young people into violence and crime. We know from the crime survey for England and Wales that people using or dealing drugs is among the top three antisocial behaviour issues that people most commonly think is a problem in their area. I have been door-knocking in streets not too far away from Dudley where people were openly dealing drugs. For quite some time it has felt like there is no deterrent, and that has to change. Half of crimes such as shoplifting and burglary are driven by drugs, which is why the Government are determined to crack down on ASB and drug misuse. The police have a critical role to play in cracking down on drug misuse and antisocial behaviour, and when individuals are found in possession of drugs, they must face appropriate sanctions. We are working with the police and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to support and increase voluntary referrals into treatment. We firmly believe that diverting those who use illegal drugs into interventions such as drug treatment services is the key to reducing drug misuse, drug-related crimes and reoffending. We support the use of drug testing on arrest and out-of-court resolutions, to ensure that individuals who commit drug-related offences are given the opportunity to change their behaviour by diverting them to meaningful and appropriate interventions. The whole tone of the speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley was not about demonising some of those who might perpetrate such crimes, but about recognising that this is a societal problem that requires a multifaceted approach. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are taking forward proposals to expand both the trigger offences that can lead to a drugs test and the range of drugs that can be tested for—I was in the Bill Committee as we discussed that this morning. Beyond enforcement, we know that treatment works to reduce reoffending. Giving offenders greater access to treatment services helps to break the underlying cause of their reoffending and increases public safety. We are committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug problem can access the help and support they need, and we recognise the need for evidence-based, high-quality treatment. The prevention of drug and alcohol-related harm is vital for saving lives and making our streets safer. As my hon. Friend said, this work will not be done by just the Home Office—it has to be a cross-Government endeavour—and the Department of Health and Social Care continues to invest in improvements to local treatment services for children and young people, and for adults with drug or alcohol problems, to ensure that those in need can access high-quality help and support. My hon. Friend also mentioned the need for hotspot policing. If we are to make preventing crime and antisocial behaviour a top priority, we have to put our money where our mouth is. That is why I was very impressed to hear about the great work being done through the hotspot action funding, such as deploying police and other uniformed presence to target areas with the hottest crimes in order to clamp down on antisocial behaviour and serious violence. As part of the Government’s plan for change, and to support making the country’s streets safer, £66.3 million has been available for hotspot policing action in 2025-26, and West Midlands police have been allocated £3.7 million of that funding. This will ensure an enhanced uniformed presence in the town centres and neighbourhoods across the country with the densest concentration of knife crime and ASB. Young people were mentioned a number of times. I used to do some youth work in Upper Gornal, and I got really good at table tennis—I have lost the skills now, I am afraid to say. We understand that no single agency holds all the levers to tackle antisocial behaviour, and that effective multi-agency working is crucial. We are committed to intervening earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime, and an essential part of achieving that will be carried out through the Young Futures programme. We will establish a network of Young Futures hubs and prevention partnerships across England and Wales, to intervene earlier and to ensure that children and young people are offered support in a more systematic way, as well as creating more opportunities for young people in their communities through the provision of open access to mental health and careers support. My hon. Friend mentioned the trailblazers scheme. I, too, hope that it will come to Dudley and that the west midlands will be able to exhaust all the support we can. I cannot make her any promises about Sedgley library from the Dispatch Box, but I am with her in her campaign to maintain the library. My hon. Friend also talked about respect orders. We recognise that the powers in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 do not currently go far enough, so we are putting that right by introducing respect orders in the Crime and Policing Bill, to help to ensure that our communities are free from harm. Under the new measures, persistent adult perpetrators of antisocial behaviour will face tough restrictions, including bans on entering the areas where they have behaved antisocially, such as town centres or other public places. On the questions my hon. Friend asked towards the end of her speech, in expecting the Policing Minister to respond to the debate and not me, I suspect she might have been more explicit in stating that Birmingham gets all the money in the west midlands. [Interruption.] I hear from a sedentary position that that feels true to other people. I appreciate my hon. Friend’s diligent diplomacy because I am the Minister. It is funny: I spend a lot of time in my day job bashing London for getting all the money, so it is nice to get some just deserts. When it comes to the metrics that get used to ensure that funding is given out fairly, I can imagine what it feels like in a town next to a large city. When there is a behemoth like Birmingham next door, I imagine it can feel as though Birmingham gets the money. While I am in the Home Office, I will always use my voice to stand up for extra resources for the whole of the West Midlands police force area. It is safe to say that the Home Secretary, a Member of Parliament who represents towns that surround a big city, is only too aware of the plight of towns. I absolutely hear the calls from my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley, although obviously I also think Birmingham should get some money for services. I am not suggesting we should get rid of all of our resources and give them to Dudley, but I am happy to share. I will wrap up by thanking everyone who has contributed to the debate, which has been yet another reminder of the strength of feeling around this issue and the harm that antisocial behaviour causes in communities across the country. It has been a pleasure for me to be among those who sound like me, which is not an experience I often get; it has been a pleasure to take part in this wholly west midlands-related debate. Whether in Dudley or anywhere else, decent, law-abiding people rightly want this problem gripped. The Government agree with them and we are determined to deliver the safer streets that they want and deserve. Question put and agreed to.

16:27:00