Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Neill of Bladen (Crossbench). It was answered on Monday, 26 October 2009.

Families: Bullying

Question: My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. He is aware, I believe, that the Home Secretary has said that we have slipped behind on this and that the Government took their eye off the ball. Can they now get their eye back on to the ball and think a little more about the victims? I have a specific question. We have acceptable behaviour contracts, which can be entered into in writing, and anti-social behaviour orders, which can be obtained from the courts. However, no one seems to pay any attention whatever to what happens at the house of the victim on the night. Mrs Pilkington appealed 33 times over a decade for help and assistance, but the local authority took almost no interest in her. She told social workers that she had suicidal tendencies, but they ignored that information. There should be a system—will the Minister undertake to look at this?—whereby the police and local authorities know which homes are being targeted by bullying and some sort of force, obviously the police, can be deployed to the house on the night? Some of these attacks last for about eight hours.

Answer: My Lords, the noble Lord makes a very good point about the victims. We have extended the victim support service to victims and witnesses, and have put up funding for 85 new victims’ champions in pioneer areas and in areas with anti-social behaviour perceptions of more than 25 per cent. There is also a national training campaign for co-ordinators to improve their victim work, but I will take away that point and get back to the noble Lord in writing about what happened on that evening.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 713 c978-9
Session: 2008-09
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Anti-social behaviour Protection Victims Suicide Victim support schemes Pilkington, Fiona
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk