Scotland's approach to antisocial behaviour: review findings

Annex B: Participating stakeholder list, glossary, and methodology summary

List of Participating Stakeholders

This is the list of stakeholder groups/organisations who submitted feedback (most participated via Teams discussion or in person).

*Denotes written feedback only. The general public were not directly consulted at this stage. But a wide representative cross-section of interested community and stakeholder groups, including practitioners for different sectors, participated in providing their views and people with ‘lived’ experience.

The number of representatives for each group/organisation varied, some contained large numbers and not all invited reps attended.

Community / criminal justice bodies

Criminal Justice Voluntary Sector Forum.

It was hoped the following would participate but this was not possible - Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) and Community Justice Scotland (CJS).

Community / victim support reps

Neighbourhood Watch Scotland; Scottish Community Councils (all were invited)

Victim Support Scotland (VSS)

Emergency services

Police Scotland*; Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS)

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS)

Equality groups

Age

Young people: 6VT; older people: Glasgow’s Golden Generation*

Disabilities

Disability Beyond Borders*

Gender

Glasgow Council for Alcohol LGBTQ Group (see substance use groups)

Men Matter; Scottish Women's Convention

Faith

Edinburgh Interfaith Association; Hindus in Scotland

Scottish Council of Jewish Communities

Race

African Women in Scotland; Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights

Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council

Grampian Regional Equality Council

Refugee / diverse lifestyle

Refugee / asylum group at Mental Health Foundation

It was hoped a Gypsy Travellers group could participate but this wasn’t possible.

Health support groups

Mental Health

Mental Health Foundation* hosted refugee / asylum group (see Refugee/Diverse lifestyle groups)

Substance use

Glasgow Council for Alcohol LGBTQ+ Group (see gender equality groups)

Housing and homeless sector (social housing)

Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers

Social Housing Provider reps: Glasgow West of Scotland Housing Forum;

Osprey Housing; Scottish Federation of Housing Associations; Wheatley Group.

It was hoped homeless groups could participate but this wasn’t possible. No specific discussion was held concerning private sector housing.

Local Authority sector reps - officers and elected members

ASB Lawyers’ Forum; ASB Officers’ Forum; Community Safety Partnership Leads; Community Wardens’ Network; Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) - senior councillors - Wellbeing Board; Edinburgh Family Support Service (Social Work); Society of LA Chief Executives* (SOLACE).

People who have committed ASB (names of groups only)

Via Fife ASB Team

Transport sector (bus / rail)

Bus Task Force - First Bus, Lothian Buses, Community Transport and other reps.

Strategic Transport Safety Group members - British Transport Police, ScotRail, Strathclyde Regional Partnership and other reps.

Transport Scotland were at both bus and rail focused meetings.

SCVO Gathering

The engagement work began with an event at the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations’ (SCVO) Gathering conference.

Abbreviations and Glossary of Terms

Note - this table is an informal guide to some common terms used in the ASB sphere and/or within the report.

Antisocial behaviour (ASB)

A person is involved in ASB if they: act or behave in a way that causes or is likely to cause alarm or distress to anyone (at least one person not of the same household as them). In this definition 'conduct' would include speech, and a course of conduct must involve conduct on at least two occasions.

Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs)

ASBOs can be applied for (to the courts) for the most persistent/serious ASB in order to impose conditions on a person (aged over 12) to manage their behaviour and impact on other people. Breach of an ASBO is a criminal offence. Interim ASBOs can be applied for prior to a full ASBO application.

Acceptable Behaviour Contract

An informal (voluntary) agreement to help manage, and support, a person with their behaviour.

Children's hearings system

The Scottish system which deals with the needs and behaviour of children and young people, usually under 16 but in some circumstances up to the age of 18, who need care and protection or who have committed an offence.

More information is at Children's Hearings - mygov.scot.

Fixed penalty notices (FPNs)

Police Scotland and Local Authorities may issue ‘on the spot’ fines for some behaviours/offences to people aged over 16 or over.

Formal Warnings

If you've been charged with a minor crime the police can decide to:

• send you and your parents a warning letter
• get you help for a problem – for example, for drugs or alcohol
• give you a restorative police warning – a police officer will help you understand the effect of the crime and take responsibility
• give you a recorded police warning – if you're 16 or over and not on a compulsory supervision order

Police warnings or help from a support organisation will not become part of your criminal record. More information is at http://www.mygov.scot/young-people-police.

Non-statutory service providers

These are services not required by law, i.e. discretionary services, which are generally not funded by government unless through grants. These may be registered companies or other forms of governance.

Reporter to the children's panel

The reporter is a locally based official to whom all referrals must be made relating to children and young people who may need compulsory supervision. If, after an investigation, the reporter decides compulsory measures are needed, the child will be referred to a children's hearing. The reporter is employed by the Scottish Children's Reporter's Administration (SCRA).

Registered social landlords (RSLs)

Commonly referred to as housing associations (social housing providers).

Scottish Children's Reporter's Administration (SCRA)

Non-departmental public body responsible for managing the reporter system and providing suitable accommodation for children's hearings.

Statutory service providers

These are mandatory services required by law and funded by government, e.g. the police, fire service and NHS.

Some other terms can be found at Guide to the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Methodology Summary

At the outset, this review was a first stage of work seeking views from all sectors (public, private and voluntary/community) as well as both urban and rural environments.

Careful consideration was given to mapping out the wide range of interests to ensure that views were sought from a solid representative cross-section to properly inform the review. These included practitioners - relevant local authority (council) staff, emergency services’ staff, housing and transport bodies etc. Also wider public input - people with ‘lived experience’ from equality groups representing a wide range of people and interests as well as victim support bodies.

In addition, elected members’ (councillors) views were sought from all 32 Local Authorities and their representative body - Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) and all local community councils were invited to participate.

This was a qualitative approach to get a strong picture of what people’s experiences were and their views and suggestions both from a practitioner’s perspective and that of people from different groups and as many walks of life as possible, covering the broad range of different population demographics. Inevitably, not all groups were available but nevertheless there was a strong spread of interests.

The same discussion paper was used for all sectors (see Annex A). Within that paper were the core basic questions of interest. We also provided a template for people to prepare their thoughts and/or send written feedback (same questions). A third document was a privacy statement to provide assurance that people’s views would be collated and not personalised.

Between SCSN and Scottish Government, 25 engagement sessions were held including the initial Gathering event (part of the Scottish Council of Voluntary Organisations’ annual event held at the Scottish Events Centre, Glasgow). In addition, some attendees also sent written feedback and five organisations/groups sent written feedback only.

Some sessions had a few attendees whilst some were large with multiple attendees including umbrella groups representing numerous members. Close to 250 people took part directly in the engagement sessions but far more were represented through the umbrella groups and the Gathering was also a multiple attendee event.

Unfortunately, some groups we contacted were unavailable to participate within the given timescales, so we acknowledge that the report does not necessarily represent the views of the entire population or all communities and all under-represented groups. We sought business/retail sector feedback but they had other live priorities.

The scope of people, including senior reps, as outlined above was widespread for a good representative cross-section of interests and views providing for quality engagement. The findings have provided the basis for this report and next steps (future work).