Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of changes in police officer numbers on the ability of police to respond to anti-social behaviour.

The number of police recorded incidents of anti-social behaviour has declined year-on-year from 2.7 million incidents in 2011/12 to 1.9 million in the year ending June 2015. The number of anti-social behaviour incidents recorded by police in England and Wales in the year ending June 2015 decreased by 9% compared with the previous year. However, we recognise that anti-social behaviour continues to blight too many communities. This is why new and more flexible powers were introduced in the Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 to make it quicker and easier for police forces and local authorities to protect communities from unacceptable behaviour.