The Respect agenda was launched in September 2005 by Tony Blair

Tony Blair

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Tony Blair described it as being about "putting the law abiding majority back in charge of their communities" http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/Page8819.asp. Its aim was to help central government, local agencies, local communities and citizens to work together to tackle anti-social behaviour more effectively.

In a speech in January 2006, Tony Blair acknowledged the work of sociologist Richard Sennett

Richard Sennett

Richard Sennett is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and University Professor of the Humanities at New York University...

, particularly his 2003 book Respect: The Formation of Character in a World of Inequality http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4600156.stm.

In late December 2007 it was reported that the government of Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

 had effectively ended the Respect programme by closing down the Respect Task Force and moving its head to another job inside the Cabinet Office

Cabinet Office

The Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom....

 http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2232055,00.html. However, much of the Respect Agenda was incorporated into a Youth Taskforce Action Plan in the Department for Children, Schools and Families

Department for Children, Schools and Families

The Department for Children, Schools and Families was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education...

.

Respect Task Force

The agenda was co-ordinated by the Respect Task Force, a cross-governmental unit based at the Home Office

Home Office

The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...

. Louise Casey, former director of the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, headed the Task Force.

Respect Action Plan

The key policies of the Task Force were published in the Respect Action Plan in January 2006. The report advised tackling the underlying causes of anti-social behaviour, intervening early where problems occur and broadening efforts to address other areas of poor behaviour.

Anti-social behaviour

The agenda promoted a range of tools including Anti-Social Behaviour Order

Anti-Social Behaviour Order

An Anti-Social Behaviour Order or ASBO is a civil order made against a person who has been shown, on the balance of evidence, to have engaged in anti-social behaviour. The orders, introduced in the United Kingdom by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998, were designed to correct minor incidents that...

s, Parenting Orders, Family Intervention Projects and Dispersal Orders. The Task Force claimed use of a combination of the available tools can be effective when tackling the problem, although Anti-Social Behaviour Orders have encountered some controversy.