My Lords, I thank the noble Lord and my noble friend for their amendments. This group again relates to the balance that needs to be struck in ensuring that the appropriate consultation takes place, but relates specifically to cases involving young people under the age of 18.
Amendment 21H is concerned with the duty on applicants for injunctions under Part 1 to consult with the local youth offending teams in the case of under-18s. Crucially, that consultation must take place before the application is made to the court. That is an important change to the process where young people are concerned. Therefore, youth offending teams will help to ensure that the prohibitions in the order are appropriate and understood by the young person, and that any positive requirements are tailored to meet his or her needs. As we all recognise, as do I from my time in local government, youth offending teams are an important and established part of the youth justice system. They are well used to working with young people in these sorts of circumstances.
The noble Lord raised the issue of consultation. This would be an ongoing process and I would expect the consultation with the youth offending team to take place swiftly for the benefit both of the victims and of the communities that require protection. One of our
primary objectives in reforming the response to anti-social behaviour is to speed up that response and I would not expect this consultation requirement to prevent that.
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I share the sentiments of the noble Lord. Like him, I want to ensure that this legislation is effective. As was the case under the previous Administration, it is standard practice to undertake post-legislative scrutiny—as he is well aware—three to five years after Royal Assent. It is of course open to us to undertake a review sooner should there be a case for doing so, and I expect the Government to be held to account in the House through the usual parliamentary channels. Based on this, I am therefore not persuaded that there is a case for a statutory duty to undertake a review of this requirement, as in the amendment.
Amendment 21J, tabled by my noble friend Lady Hamwee, seeks to add a further consultation requirement to ensure that the local authority is consulted in each case where a young person finds themselves the subject of injunction proceedings. It is, of course, open to the applicant to inform the local authority. In the case of someone under 18, it is highly likely that they would. However, there may also be occasions where this is not necessary and it is certainly not the Government’s intention to tie the hands of the police or social landlords in these cases. As such, I believe that this kind of duty is better served by guidance. As my noble friend Lord Taylor has already said in response to earlier amendments —and as I have said previously in Committee—in light of the debates in your Lordships’ House we are going to review the guidance that will be issued.
As I have said, we are trying to make the new powers as streamlined as possible and that is why we have included a general duty to inform relevant agencies, rather than prescribing consultation. The requirement to consult the youth offending team on applications against young people is the only exception. We believe that this recognises the particular and vital role that local youth offending teams play, and we want to ensure that they are fully involved at an early stage in the process. While it may be appropriate to inform other agencies, we recognise that sometimes there is an urgent need to act to stop anti-social behaviour and to protect victims.
In closing, I return to the issue of consultation. The statute book contains many duties to consult and we leave it to the good sense of the police and other bodies to consult youth offending teams. Of course, anyone who has experience of youth offending teams will expect them to respond in a timely manner. I hope, in the light of the explanations and assurances that I have given, both the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, and my noble friend will be content not to press their amendments.