§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to curb under-age drinking as part of his strategy to tackle anti-social behaviour. [118684]
§ Ms BlearsUnderage drinking is one of the forms of behaviour that can be tackled by the use of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs), as was confirmed in the guidance "A Guide to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts" issued on 12 November 2002. In addition, the White Paper "Rights and Responsibility—Taking a Stand Against Anti-Social Behaviour" made clear the Government's intention to introduce, in the Criminal Justice Bill, a new Individual Support Order that will extend the protection that ASBOs provide to the community by requiring children and young people subject to such orders to undertake individually tailored activities, which could include attending treatment for substance misuse.
The Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, currently before Parliament, contains measures to extend the penalty notice for disorder scheme, initially to 16 and 17-yearolds, with an option to extend it to cover all juveniles over 10. This will make it possible for juveniles involved
Proportion of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts or cautioned for offences of arson1 who were aged 10 to 17 England and Wales 2000 and 2001 Proceeded against Cautioned Year all ages Age 10–17 % of all ages who were age 10–17 All ages Age 10–172 % of all ages who were age 10–17 20003 2,375 1,005 42 1,034 936 91 2001 2,475 1,134 46 1,144 1,022 89 1 These data are on the principal offence basis. 2 From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and final warnings. 3 Staffordshire police were only able to supply a sample of data for magistrates courts proceedings covering one full week in each quarter for 2000. Estimates based on this sample are included in the figures, as they are considered sufficiently robust at this high level of analysis.