§ Miss Joan Lestorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Government have completed their consultations on Recommendation 23 of the Eleventh Report from the Expenditure Committee on the Children and Young Persons Act 1969, concerning conditions and sanctions relating to supervision orders; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. Merlyn ReesMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services, my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Wales, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science and I have consulted the various bodies involved in the making and administration of supervision orders. In consequence I propose to put down amendments at the next appropriate stage of the Criminal Law Bill which would modify the existing law on the lines suggested in the report.
It should be open to a court when making a supervision order in criminal proceedings in respect of a child or young person to require him (1) to be of good behaviour or (2) to comply during the whole or any part of the supervision period with such requirement as the court, having regard to the circumstances of the case, considers necessary for preventing a repetition by him of the same offence or the commission of other offences. No requirement involving the co-operation of a third party should be imposed save with that party's consent, and a requirement in the second category should be imposed only with the consent of the juvenile or, in the case of a child under 14, the consent of his parents.
In the event of a breach of any of these requirements, or any others imposed under Sections 12 and 18 of the 1969 Act in criminal proceedings being proved to the satisfaction of the court on the application of the supervisor, it should be open to the court to impose a fine on the supervised person or in the case of a boy and where an attendance centre is available to the court, to make an attendance centre order. The imposition of either of these sanctions would not affect the continuance in force of the supervision order.
The Government further propose, in the interests of greater flexibility, to remove, subject to an overall limit of 90 days, the existing restrictions on the maximum period in any one year for which residential treatment may be ordered by way of intermediate treatment under Section 12(2) of the 1969 Act. The court would retain the power to lay down the maximum period—of 90 days or less—for which the supervisor could give such directions.