THE Government is to launch a new strategy that aims to tackle the root causes of anti-social behaviour, according to policing minister Chris Philp.

He told GB News: ”Well it’s about tackling antisocial behaviour which includes nitrous oxide or laughing gas.

“Anti-social behaviour blights some communities, like it has reduced in the last few years but it still does cause a lot of concern amongst people. It makes people feel unsafe in their own communities.

“Sometimes it creates an environment in which worse behaviour can then later flourish. So we are committed to tackling anti-social behaviour.

“There’s an action plan being launched by the Prime Minister which includes providing funding for hotspot policing, so police and others can patrol anti-social behaviour hotspots.”

In a discussion during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, he said: “There have been some cases of people becoming paralysed when taking large quantities.

“It’s very sort of early amounts of evidence, but it is there in small amounts. And then secondly, there’s evidence that nitrous oxide consumption does fuel this antisocial behaviour problem that I’ve mentioned.

“People marching around taking this stuff, littering and creating a slightly menacing atmosphere for other citizens who want to feel safe in their own neighbourhoods, so that’s why we’re taking action.

“The public will welcome the fact that this government is committed to clamping down not just on high level high harm crime, but also on anti-social behaviour.”

Asked by Eamonn Holmes about reports of police officers strip-searching children, he said: “We only received a copy of it from the Home Office team late last night so I’m going to look at it very carefully.

“I’ll take it very seriously indeed to see if there are any changes we need to make. I think the numbers I’ve seen suggest that over the last three or four years there are on average about two strip searches per day.

“Very often they uncover drugs that have been hidden in intimate body cavities and quite often the young people concerned, most of whom are boys males aged 16 and 17, very often they’ve been coerced into carrying drugs.

“I’m going to take this report seriously. I will study it carefully and if we need to make changes obviously we will.”