Written question asked by Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour) on Tuesday, 22 May 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 4 June 2007. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Tuesday, 5 June 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

Antisocial Behaviour

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of levels of perception of antisocial behaviour in (a) England and Wales and (b) West Bromwich East constituency in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: [holding answer 4 June 2007]: The perception of antisocial behaviour is measured by the British Crime Survey (BCS). In 2005-06 the percentage of people perceiving a high level of antisocial behaviour according to the BCS in England and Wales was 17 per cent. In 2004-05 the figure was 17 per cent. and in 2003-04 the figure was 16 per cent.The BCS data is not broken down to constituency level, only figures for the police force area are available. These figures show that for the West Midlands police force area the percentage of people perceiving a high level of antisocial behaviour was 26 per cent. in 2005-06 and 21 per cent. in 2004-05. There are no published figures for the perceptions data for the West Midlands police force area in 2003-04 as at that time the reporting of antisocial behaviour was measured using five strands of behaviour rather than the seven strands used currently. However, the BCS detected no statistically significant changes in the overall level of antisocial behaviour between 2003-04 and 2004-05 in the West Midlands police force area.

Secondary information