Scottish Government

4 Characteristics of ASBO perpetrators, Location and Prohibitions

4.1 This section looks in more detail at the ways that ASBOs are being used in Scotland. It examines the situations in which ASBO-trigger incidents take place, the housing tenure of ASBO perpetrators and the nature of ASBO prohibitions.

Source of ASBOs requests

4.2 The majority of ASBOs continue to be led by the social rented sector - just over half of all requests considered as meriting an ASBO in 2003/04 (54%) originated from local authorities or RSLs themselves, with a further 29% originating from complaints by social sector tenants (See Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1:Source of ASBO requests in 2003/04 (%)

Not to chart
Base = 360 ASBO requests
Source: Email Survey

4.3 The 'originator' profile illustrated in Figure 4.1 is reflected in the housing occupancy of alleged perpetrators. Whilst private sector residents accounted for a small proportion, the vast majority of alleged perpetrators subject to ASBOs sought in 2003/04 were LA or RSL tenants. This is very much in line with previous years.

Table 4.1: Housing tenure of alleged perpetrator, 2003/04

Note to table
* Including those initially awarded on an interim basis
Source: Email Survey

4.4 There are some notable variations by local authority area with respect to the tenure of alleged perpetrators. In Edinburgh, for example, five of the 15 applications in 2003/04 involved private sector residents. The same was true of four of Dumfries & Galloway's 13 applications.

4.5 The reasons for the continued focus of ASBOs on social rented tenants were discussed in the focus groups. An important set of factors cited by a number of participants concerned organisational arrangements and funding. As illustrated by Table 2.7, most authorities continued to task housing departments with corporate responsibility for tackling ASB. In many cases this reflects the fact that the staff concerned were largely or wholly funded from the Housing Revenue Account. Hence, their function was seen as intimately linked with the LA's landlord role and its main focus, inevitably, on council housing. However it should be noted that during 2004/05 the Scottish Executive provided funding to Local Authorities for cross tenure ASB services.

4.6 Post-stock transfer, however, the picture can change markedly. In Glasgow, for example, the RSL perception was that the City Council's recent activity in countering ASB was exclusively focused on the private sector. ASB in social rented housing was seen as entirely a matter for the RSL concerned. Whilst this position contains an obvious element of logic, Glasgow RSLs see this as problematic in terms of ASB taking place in mixed tenure areas. RSL focus group participants believed that the City Council saw such incidents as entirely an RSL responsibility, irrespective of the actual tenure of alleged perpetrator or victim - a state of affairs considered most unsatisfactory.

4.7 Another factor cited by some focus group participants as helping to explain the continuing ASBO focus on social renters was that - unlike LA tenants - owners subject to ASB were unaccustomed to contacting the Council to complain about such matters. Instead, owners were believed more likely to contact the police. Hence, such offences may be more likely to be treated as a criminal matter, right from the start, whereas a similar incident experienced by a council tenant might be reported to the LA and be treated as a possible ASBO case. If this analysis is accurate it may, in some cases, reflect poorly developed liaison between local authorities and police colleagues. This is not, however, a universal problem. Focus group participants reported that in North Lanarkshire, for example, it is standard practice for the police to refer home-owner complaints of ASB to the Council's ASB team ¹².

ASBOs by location of offences

4.8 Table 4.2 shows that ASBOs continue to be used mainly to counter ASB involving offences committed in residential areas close to the perpetrators home. In only four local authorities were ASBOs sought in 2003/04 in connection with incidents taking place outwith residential areas. In these authorities (Aberdeen, Highland, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian) a total of four ASBO cases involved offences in or around retail or commercial premises, whilst two were 'in public areas' (e.g. parks).

Table 4.2: Main location of incident by organisation type, 2003/04

Source: Email Survey

4.9 Local authority focus group participants reported increasing council interest in using ASBOs as a remedy for a wider range of offences - e.g. to tackle shoplifting, prostitution, begging, stalking and 'boy racers'. In most councils thinking along these lines, however, this seemed to be a fairly recent development, and one which could be more strongly reflected in the figures for 2004/05. However, whilst some local authorities may be looking at making more 'creative' use of ASBOs it seems highly unlikely that the incidence of ASBO applications triggered by incidents outwith residential areas will rise substantially in the immediate future.

Prohibitions

4.10 The email survey asked about the different 'prohibited acts' specified within ASBOs. As ASBOs may have more than one specified condition the data relates to all prohibited acts, not total ASBOs. The most common type of prohibited act specified by Orders granted in 2003/04 was noise. Desisting from causing specified types of noise was an instruction contained in 46% of 2003/04 ASBOs (see Table 4.3). A fifth of ASBO conditions were classed as 'other'. These included requirements to desist from acts such as threatening behaviour or vandalism. At the level of individual local authorities, noise prohibitions generally predominated. In a small number, however, (e.g. Dundee, Dumfries & Galloway) most Orders focused on other issues.

Table 4.3: ASBO Conditions, 2003/04

Note to table
Based on responses from 20 LAs and 5 RSLs
Source: Email Survey

4.11 Focus group participants confirmed that noise was the most common element of ASBO cases. However, it was noted that this pattern may be partly explained by the relative ease of evidencing noise complaints. It was also reported that there has been a recent national initiative to tackle noise nuisance in residential areas and there was some concern at the possibility that parallel structures may be established to deal with this problem in some areas.