Question
I thank my hon. Friend the Policing Minister for her visit to Coventry last month to see the brilliant work done by the Labour council’s trading standards officers, in partnership with Coventry police, to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour on Foleshill Road, and the public spaces protection order for Edgwick Park, which has cleared that park, which is next to a school, of the drug dealers who used to blight it. Will she say what more respect orders can do to tackle this level of low but persistent antisocial behaviour that blights our streets?
Answer
It was a pleasure to visit my hon. Friend’s constituency and see the good work being done and the partnerships being forged. She asks what more respect orders can do. They are there to help tackle vandalism, public drunkenness, aggressive begging, irresponsible dog owners—I think all of us agree that is very irritating—and noisy or abusive behaviour. The Environment Agency can also use them for fly-tipping and persistent fly-tippers, so there is a whole raft of measures for which we can use respect orders. I look forward to seeing the results.43% vibes
Verdict: AMBER (38/100)
The reply names the kinds of low-level behaviour that respect orders can target, such as vandalism, public drunkenness, aggressive begging, dog fouling, noise and fly-tipping, and says a wide range of measures exists. It does not explain what additional steps could be taken against persistent low-level behaviour, which was the core of the question. A member of the public would likely need to ask again to find out what more could be done.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| What more respect orders can do to tackle this level of low but persistent antisocial behaviour on the streets. | Partially Addressed | Direct | The reply names concrete behaviours respect orders can target (vandalism, public drunkenness, aggressive begging, dog fouling, noisy behaviour, fly-tipping) and says there is 'a whole raft of measures', which speaks to the scope of what they can do. However, it describes existing uses rather than what more they could do against low-level persistent behaviour, so the 'more' element is only indirectly answered. |