To ask the Minister of Justice pursuant to AQW 21865/17-22, to detail any plans she has to review anti-social behaviour policy and legislation.

Responsibility for addressing anti-social behaviour (ASB) sits across a number of statutory agencies and my officials are currently leading a cross Departmental, multi-agency Review Delivery Group to review ASB Legislation.

A total of nine powers are being considered by the Group, four of which have been added as a direct response to feedback received via the 2018 consultation on ASB legislation.

Policy responsibility for any potential new powers arising from the review, and consideration of the effectiveness of equivalent powers in Northern Ireland, sits across three government departments – Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), Department for Communities (DfC), and Department of Justice (DoJ). Whilst my Department leads on the legislative review, we do not own the levers to ensure delivery of those powers which sit outside the remit of the DoJ.

The timescale for implementation of any new or amended power(s) for addressing ASB will, where relevant, depend on each Departmental lead and their legislative work programme.

It is still a relatively early stage to know which, if any, of the existing powers will need to be amended or if any new powers will need to be introduced. At this point in time, officials are at the review and evidence gathering stage of the process, including considering if a non-legislative mechanism can be used just as effectively to address an issue instead.

The review process will be considered complete when recommendations have been agreed for all nine powers under consideration. Where this results in proposed legislative change, each Departmental lead is responsible for taking forward any subsequent legislative process relating to these powers and within the timeframe set by their individual Department’s legislative work programme.

In tandem with the above review, the Group also seeks to inform discussion on any barriers and solutions to manage non-legislative responses to ASB, including any structures to allow for partnership and collaborative working. The outworking of these discussions will help inform policy decisions as the review progresses.