Chamber and committees

Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) are provided for in Part 2 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004. They are preventative orders intended to protect people from further acts or conduct that would cause them alarm or distress. An order contains conditions prohibiting the person named in the order from doing anything specified in the order. Unless the landlord commits the acts of antisocial behaviour, we do not believe an ASBO offers an appropriate mechanism to tackle the antisocial behaviour of tenants of a private landlord.

Antisocial Behaviour Notices (ABN) are provided for in Part 7 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. They provide the power for a local authority to act against a private landlord in connection with antisocial behaviour by the tenant of a house let by the landlord, or by another occupant or visitor to the house. The antisocial behaviour notice requires the landlord to take specified management actions in relation to the tenancy. This would be a more appropriate mechanism to tackle the antisocial behaviour of tenants of a private landlord.

Information is not held centrally on how many applications for Antisocial Behaviour Orders against private landlords have been made.

The Football Co-ordination Unit for Scotland (FoCUS) was formally established on 11 July 2011, following the First Minister’s announcement on the Joint Action Group’s recommendations, and was in place for the start of the 2011-12 football season.

This unit’s remit is to promote and coordinate a consistent and effective approach to policing at football across Scotland and tackle football related violence and disorder. It will do this by providing support to police forces through the management of football intelligence at a national level; the operational deployment of trained police officers at football; post match investigations and investigations into internet based hate crime. It will also have responsibility for the national management, coordination and enforcement of Football Banning Orders.

Yes. The Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland (ACPOS) circulated good practice guidance to all Scottish police forces, and to members of the ACPOS Football Sub-group, on Thursday 14 July. This covers matters including the relevant legislation, unacceptable behaviour guidance, evidential requirements for cases requesting Football Banning Orders, reporting requirements post-FBO and the role of Football Intelligence Officers.

The following table provides information from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland about the number of sexual offence liaison officers (SOLOs) employed by each police force:

Five of the eight Forces: Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary, Fife Constabulary, Northern Police, Strathclyde Police and Tayside Police, engage fully with a Domestic Abuse Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) process within the respective Force areas. The remaining three Forces: Central Scotland, Grampian Police and Lothian and Borders Police, are in the process of considering and/or developing MARAC “pilots”.

Retailers should avoid making a sale where they have reason to believe that the purchaser is acting as a “proxy” for a person under 18. If they fail to sell alcohol responsibly then the relevant licensing board will take action against them.

It is already an offence to sell alcohol to a person under 18. The Scottish Government is looking at going further and making it an offence to supply alcohol to a young person under 18 in a public place.

We also support local initiatives such as “Bottlewatch” which involves tagging bottles so that it is possible to identify the specific retailer who has sold alcohol, if it is subsequently found in the possession of a young person.

Proxy purchasers are often around the legal age limit themselves so we believe the “Challenge 25” requirements included in the Alcohol (Scotland) Act 2010 can also play a part in reducing access to alcohol by young people.

No. Any investigation into whether or not a criminal offence has taken place is a matter for the police, subject only to any direction the Lord Advocate might give.

Information sharing protocols are already in place between a number of football clubs and local match commanders.

Discussions are well underway between the police and football authorities on the development of a standard Information Sharing Protocol which will be adopted by all SFA member clubs. It is intended that this standard Information Sharing Protocol will be in place by the end of the 2011-12 football season.

The ACPOS Domestic Abuse Working Group is developing a protocol outlining the procedures for transferring cases between MARACs across Forces in Scotland. It will be used when high risk victims of domestic abuse, already involved in the MARAC process, move from one Force area to another. It will endeavour to ensure a consistent and safe approach to the transfer of cases between MARACs and to promote the safety of victims regardless of where they live. It will also aim to ensure that all agencies involved in the MARAC are clear about their role and responsibility in relation to each stage of the transfer process.

I was informed of the existence of the material that has been made available to Strathclyde Police in July.