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Louise says: Hi. Thanks for your questions. Looking forward to answering them when I get to see them. At the moment they are being hidden from me. This is worse than Question Time! Pleased to be here.

Jon Land: Is the ‘Supernanny’ agenda merely an attempt by the Government to deal with anti-social behaviour in an over-simplified, headline grabbing manner that fails to address the underlying issues, as some critics have suggested?

Louise replies: First up, this is a very serious drive to make sure that we get help to struggling parents many of whom know that the behaviour of their children is out of control. The term "supernanny" is one used by the media. We are serous about ensuring 77 areas of the country get parenting experts who can help families who are seriously struggling.

Toni: Which are the 77 areas where the parenting experts will be available, and how will parents gain access to them?

Louise replies: Toni, if you log on to the "respect" website, the breakdown of all the areas is there. The key thing is that over the next few months local authorities will be upping the number of parenting classes available and will be publicising those classes. Again, don’t hesitate to log on to the DFES website where they have a parenting section or call Parentline Plus.

The 77 areas can be seen here:
http://www.respect.gov.uk/members/article.aspx?id=9254

Jose Kirby: What is the argument against making parents responsible for their children? If a child behaves badly, then the parents should take the punishment for allowing them to be unruly.

This seems a simple solution.

Louise replies: Four out of five members of the public agree with you in that they think that parents need to be responsible for the behaviour of their children. That was in the Mori poll produced for the Respect Taskforce last week. Parents who can’t control their children are held responsible using parenting orders and parenting contracts but I do think that it is important to make sure that in this difficult age of bringing up kids, we help people as much as we can.

Anne Aitchison: Given that the RESPECT agenda is all about engendering values of mutuality and shared responsibility, plus factoring in effective public services, are there plans to keep the momentum going on support for parenting over and above the original "Supernannies" idea?

Louise replies: Tough question! The Respect drive is all about trying to help everyone across the community take responsibility for themselves and each other- hence the work in schools, youth groups, community organisations and also on helping parents who are struggling. In addition to the "supernannies" as they are being called, DFES will be setting up contracts with three training provider organisations to train around 1,000 practitioners in parenting.

Alongside this though, is an unrelenting drive to make sure action is taken to prevent and tackle anti-social behaviour without which it is impossible to promote these values as communities feel out of control.

Robbie Goacher: People often complain about the ‘nanny state’, and certainly this proposal is indeed bordering on the literal meaning of that phrase. I totally agree that something needs to be done to assist parents in raising repectful members of society, but what would you say to convince people that such a proposal is necessary?

Louise replies: The evidence speaks for itself. In one study alone, children who were at the top end of behaving badly, when their parents went on a simple 8-12 week parenting course, their bad behaviour reduced by over 50 per cent, and a year later that was still the case. Put bluntly, it is also a lot cheaper for the taxpayer to get help to parents at this stage than to pay for their kids when they end up in prison let alone the cost to the wider community of their bad behaviour.

Jonathan Seller: Being a parent is extremely difficult, it is now made even harder by the constant blame parents receive from all stakeholders. We now seem to be in a position where being a parent means trouble. When are the government going to realise that parenting is core to the society and provide non judgemental parent to parent support.

Louise replies: One of the great things about last week was the Top Tips that was produced by parents who had been on courses for parents. This is just one of the many ways that the Government wants to help parents get help in a non-stigmatising way. I think we have got to be clear though that sometimes people need a wake-up call to make them see that they are struggling and they need help and that these courses and support can help them. The parents I met in Hillingdon had been referred on to courses by teachers of their kids, not forced, not stigmatised but helped.

shbib: my impression (and from a quick straw poll of the office) is that most people are unaware of the respect agenda, what it stands for and what the benefits are. what are your plans for changing this and raising people’s awareness and engagement?

Louise replies: We haven’t spent a lot of money or time on promoting "ourselves". I am more concerned to ensure that people understand the values and what it is we are trying to do. So for example, wanting people to know that action can be taken to tackle anti-social behaviour using things like ASBOs, Acceptable Behaviour contracts and other measures, but also preventing any problems in the future by taking action on things like parenting.

Louise Siwoku: This ‘drive’ seems to be aimed predominently at the ‘disadvantaged’? What are the government policies on parenting problems for those who do not fall into this category?

Louise replies: Our core job is to help those who are most affected by anti-social behaviour and you are four times more likely to experience problems if you live in a poor area. Thererfore, our resources from the Respect Taskforce are targetted in those sorts of areas. The DFES, through funding, organisations like Parentline, provide wider support to parents.

You can visit Parentline Plus here:
http://www.parentlineplus.org.uk

Alex Stevens: 1. What proportion of parents who are involved in programmes to improve their parenting will be there under some form of compulsion?
2. What evidence is there to suggest that compulsory (rather than voluntary) attendance leads to improved parenting?

Louise replies: It is not for Government to prescribe how many parents will need to be forced onto parenting courses. It is my view that in many cases, often what is needed is a wake-up call alone from teachers, housing officers, the police etc and parents will willingly take help. Evidence from the Youth Justice Board shows that parents forced onto courses, although initially reluctant, had equally as positive outcomes as those who attended voluntarily.

Overall, our strategy is to offer support where necessary and enforcement as a last resort when required.

sam rule: The 77 areas chosen for the family intervention projects are overwhelmingly urban. 60% of the 77 are in urban districts and 4% are in rural districts despite 34% of districts overall being urban and rural districts making up 35%. As the project aims to tackle the causes of anti-social behaviour (drug and alcohol misuse, poor health, domestic violence, unemployment and debt) which are not solely urban issues, why are rural districts so under represented in the initial stage of the project?

Louise replies: The 77 areas are targeted on an indices of deprivation, school exclusion/truancy, teenage conceptions and perception of anti-social behaviour. Overall, the Government has funded anti-social behaviour co-ordinators in every crime and disorder partnership across the country, rural and urban, and the DFES guidance on what every local authority can and should be doing in relation to parenting was issued nationally.

Simon Page: Louise
The Respect Agenda outlines how government intend to deal with the most persistant offenders by specifically focusing on the role of parents which i personally consider the right direction. However, i would like to ask your opinion on what you think should happen when this has no impact to protect the wider community? More specifically what do you feel about the idea of removing persistant offenders from the community to a type of sin-bin as highlighted by Frank Field MP?

Simon Page

Louise replies: Firstly, on parenting, we are targeting the support to parents who are struggling and whose children are at risk of future anti-social behaviour. The 77 experts and the other funding in those areas is aimed at a wider group of people beyond those you refer to as persistent offenders. We are, as outlined in the Respect Action Plan, setting up around the country, a network of projects called "Family Intervention Projects" where families who are behaving very anti-socially are given a last chance by being offered intense help and support in an environment with tough rules and sanctions. We know that these projects have an excellent success rate and bring enormous relief to communities.

Richard Sibley: We hear so much about what needs to be done for all those children who cause concern, disrupt classes, are abusive,drunk and totally disrespectfull, but what about those who want to get on with their work at school but find it so hard due to the disruptive group or person in the classroom?

Louise replies: The key reason for making sure that we get parents to parent is precisely so kids in school can get on with the job of learning and growing up successfully. We must make sure that swift, firm action is taken against bad behaviour in regard to both children and adults so that not just children in school but people in the wider community, can go about their lives peacefully.

Ian Robinson: Why are magistrates allowed to issue ASBOs and withhold the name of the person receiving it from the public as, for example, in the case of Hartlepool Magistrates? Surely this defeats the object of an ASBO? What is the point of issuing an ASBO if no one knows about it?

Louise replies: Government guidance is very clear that people who end up on ASBOs must face the consequences of their names and pictures being publicised. The communtiy must know that an order is in place in order for them to be able to report breaches of those orders. I can only hope in the case of the Hartlepool magistrates that they were persuaded that the person on the ASBO was so vulnerable that publicising them would be detrimental to the public interest.

Martin Smith: Isn’t it a problem that ASBOs are being used to widely and beyond their original remit. There is a danger that ASBOs are unenforcable and that they lose any authority that they have. Also they are shifting from dealing with anti-social behaviour to covering a whole range of activities that are criminal.

Louise replies: I think that it is important to keep a sense of perspective that ASBOs, though very popular with the media, are not used as widely as people think. There are under 10,000 ASBOs nationally. The key thing is that when they are put in place it is often at the end of a long road of warnings, meetings, contracts and other ways to try and stop the behaviour so often the agencies who have asked the courts for them are very aware of the need to monitor them closely and make sure if and when they are breached they are back in court. On the range of activities, the Home Office issued guidance this summer clarifying again the purpose of ASBOs and the types of prohibitions that should be used.

Steve: is it possible to evict anti social families from their own house or is it only tenants that can be evicted,as we have a anti social family who have bought their ex council house ?

Louise replies: I feel really, really strongly that anti-social behaviour has to be tackled no matter where you live or who you are. There is a range of laws in place to make sure now that we can tackle bad behaviour regardless of whether the perpetrator lives in a council house or owns their own home. Eviction is, for me, sometimes not the answer because it moves the problem around rather than getting the family to change their behaviour. But at the end of the road, we do promote tough action and we are currently asking the public if they think we should have the power to be able to shut people’s houses down if they simply won’t stop behaving badly. They do this in Scotland already and I would like to see this happen here too.

The consultation paper can be found on the Home Office website:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-asb-powers/

Alexander Gordon: Why don’t you bring back Conscription for 2 years in the Army, Navy or Air Force this will teach them Respect. To me this "Respect" problem has been bubbleing for 10 years or more, I would also like school’s to teach Respect as well.

Louise replies: My starting point is most people do treat each other with respect in society and it is the minority of people who flout the rules of common decency so I don’t think conscription is the answer.

Where I agree is that the evidence shows children and young people need to grow up in a loving, disciplined environment with rules and boundaries hence - our drive on parenting, discipline in schools and volunteering for young people in teenage years.

David, London: How far would you accept that the real reason for bad behaviour is a lack of social equity with many people seeing a lacklustre life stretch before them where they just won’t have the chance to achieve what they’d like to?

Louise replies: I look at this from a different perspective. Poor people are four times more likely to experience anti-social behaviour and therefore we need to tackle it in those areas and for those people. I also feel that poverty is not an excuse for bad behaviour, and the poorest often don’t have an opportunity to escape from such persistent distress and harassment.

Anne: Hi Louise,
Finally someone with the courage to state the obvious! The way that children are raised is absolutely fundamental to their future behaviour. Your carrot and stick approach of parenting support and ASBOs is spot on! But how will you ensure that there is long term support for this iniative because even you can’t change a generation overnight?

Louise replies: I do think we have put a bit of a spotlight on the obvious! Although the government is committed to funding this sort of work and see its benefit over a long period of time, I think the "cultural revolution" is something happening beyond Government, local or central, with the public wanting their communities to be safer and understanding the need to take any help they can to bring up children.

Keith, Reading: Why is an unelected civil servant commenting on the direction of the state’s policies?

Louise replies: I have been charged by ministers in Government to drive the Government’s policy and action in relation to this area, and I think it is a positive thing to communicate directly to the public about what we are trying to achieve.

aaron devereaux: As a practitioner working in community safety in a busy city environment, it still amazes me that the ASB toolbox of remedies is so fundamentaly misunderstood by the press and social commentators of the day. Do you think this is because they use a practical common sense approach to tackle anti-social behaviour or is it something else entirely?

Louise replies: Hello Aaron. I hope Brighton is anti-social behaviour free today. I think the fact that ASBOs appeared on Eastenders and a parenting course on Coronation Street is an example of our methods being understood by the public at large which we should celebrate. But we can’t get away from the fact that the media sometimes look for the bad stories and rarely celebrate the fantastic courage of people across the country standing up to anti-social behaviour, or those people who have changed their ways.

Daniel Morris: What do you believe are the main causes of anti-social behaviour in the country- for those commonly blamed, such as poor education and poverrty are not new problems. Are we perhaps ignoiring a greater cultural shift, something which education may do nothing to help?

Louise replies: The Respect Action Plan promotes action in families, schools and communities. By doing so, we can start the cultural shift needed to be a modern culture of respect.

Becky Hallett: What is the next step with the Respect agenda?

Louise replies: Tomorrow we start listening to a 1,000 people across the country - in Bristol, Southampton, Birmingham and Liverpool - all of whom have stood up against anti-social behaviour in their communities. They are the people who have won their Taking a Stand Awards. They will be the people who will inspire the rest of the nation that we can beat anti-social behaviour and create a country where everyone can live safely and well. We will shortly be launching our next wave of Taking a Stand Awards.

You will soon be able to nominate people who have stood up against anti-social behaviour in your area on the Respect website: http://www.respect.gov.uk

Louise says: Thanks to everyone. Number Ten are going to send any questions we haven’t got to over to us and will try and email you back. I am really grateful to have had the chance to do this, to colleagues at No 10 and everyone emailing in. WIthout the public believing it is possible to prevent anti-social behaviour and to deal with the problems we have got today, then we can’t win the battle against the small minority of people who think they can get away with their bad behaviour. We have all got to take responsibility and stand together. Thanks again. Louise.