§ 5. Mr. David Drew (Stroud)What steps he will take to ensure that support and guidance is given to the parents of young offenders. [44246]
§ The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Jack Straw)Our radical reform of the youth justice system will ensure greater focus on support and guidance to parents of young offenders. We are introducing parenting orders to encourage parents to accept their responsibilities for their children's behaviour. These orders will allow courts to direct that parents exercise control over their children, and require parents to receive training and guidance.
§ Mr. DrewIs my right hon. Friend aware of the recent Audit Commission report, which highlighted the serious shortcomings in the juvenile justice system? With that in mind, how will he respond to the report and, in particular, deal with the minority of serious offenders who clearly need much more help from their parents?
§ Mr. StrawThe recent Audit Commission report, which brought up to date the findings of the Audit Commission in 1996, painted a lamentable picture of the state of the youth justice system. Our proposals in the Crime and Disorder Bill represent the first stage of our major reform of the youth justice system. One way in which we shall deal with persistent young offenders is by the fast track for persistent offenders. I am pleased to tell the House that, although at the last election there were only eight pilot schemes for fast-tracking such offenders, there are now more than 100 schemes.
§ Mr. Richard Allan (Sheffield, Hallam)The new parenting orders to which the Home Secretary referred may be a useful tool in combating crime, as long as they distinguish between parents who will not parent and those who simply cannot parent. Will the Home Secretary assure the House that, through guidance and other measures, he will ensure that the parenting orders do not set individual parents up for failure, when it is apparent that their circumstances make it impossible for them to control their children?
§ Mr. StrawIf there are parents who cannot parent, they should not have responsibility at all for their children, and those children ought to be in the care of the local authority. The overwhelming majority of parents must accept responsibility for their children. That responsibility lasts as long as the children are children.
8 The purpose of our proposals for parenting orders is to ensure that parents no longer seek to excuse their own behaviour and lack of control of their children or the behaviour of their children who are young offenders, and accept that all too often their children's misbehaviour is partly to do with their own failure to exercise proper control over those children. Such parents will be offered advice and guidance on how to improve their parenting skills.