§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the extent of unsupervised gatherings of children aged under 10 years at night. [41210]
§ Mr. MichaelResearch by the Home Office and others has shown that one of the strongest factors in relation to the commencement of offending by juveniles is poor parental supervision. One of the measures which the Government will introduce as part of their youth justice reform programme will be the local child curfew.
The Crime and Disorder Bill [Lords] will give local authorities a permissive power to introduce local child curfews for unsupervised children under 10 who are out on the streets late at night. The aim of such curfews is two-fold. They will address the need to protect young children from being drawn into anti-social or criminal behaviour, and they will protect communities from the misery and distress which can be caused by groups of unsupervised children.