§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many(a) local child curfew schemes, (b) parenting orders and (c) anti-social behaviour orders have been made under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. [77016]
§ Mr. BoatengThe power to impose a local child curfew is a permissive one. The decision as to whether or not a local child curfew is appropriate will be one which must be made by a local authority following appropriate local discussion.
The relevant provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 were brought into force on 30 September 1998. Before imposing a local child curfew, local authorities, in consultation with the chief officer of police and such other persons or bodies that they consider appropriate, must first draw up proposals for a local child curfew scheme, 591W including arrangements for consultation with the residents in the area in which the curfew is to apply, and submit these to the Home Secretary for approval.
No applications for local child curfew schemes have been received at this stage. Such schemes are designed to be part of an integrated response to reducing crime and disorder in local areas. In considering their potential use, local authorities will wish to take into account the wider crime and disorder reduction strategies, also required under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which are currently being developed.
Parenting orders have been available since 30 September 1998 in the nine areas which form the greater part of the youth justice pilot exercise. By the end of January 1999, courts in these nine pilot areas had made 12 parenting orders.
Although the parenting order will be available in several different court arenas, that is, the family proceedings court, a civil magistrates court and all criminal courts, the order has been introduced gradually throughout the youth justice pilot areas. This has been done partly to allow pilot areas to focus initially on the need to establish and operate satisfactorily the new youth offending teams across the full range of existing and new work with juvenile offenders. Also, to see how the parenting order will operate alongside Children Act 1989 based work with children and families in need and to put in place provision for counselling and guidance sessions required under the parenting order.
The provisions in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 in relation to anti-social behaviour order do not come into force until 1 April 1999.
§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there have been for(a) racially aggravated assaults and (b) racially aggravated harassment under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. [77017]
§ Mr. BoatengThese offences came into force on 30 September 1998. Provisional data for the last quarter of 1998 from the Home Office Court Proceedings database should be available in June with provisional data for each quarter of 1999 becoming available at three monthly intervals thereafter.
§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many drug treatment and testing orders have been made under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. [77014]
§ Mr. George HowarthThirty drug treatment and testing orders had been made in the Crown Court and magistrates courts in the pilot areas (Croydon, Gloucestershire and Liverpool) as at 12 March 1999.