§ Lord Tebbitasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many child curfew orders have now been made. [HL2167]
§ Lord BurlisonThe Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 extended curfew orders backed by electronic monitoring to 10–15 year old young offenders. Pilots started on 1 January 1998 in Norfolk and the City of Manchester magistrates' court and 1 April 1998 in other Greater Manchester magistrates' courts. So far,58 boys and six girls have been subject to such orders: one aged 11, seven aged 13 years,14 aged 14 years and 42 aged 15 years.
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 provided for local child curfews to help local authorities develop their community safety strategies—specifically to help protect young children from being drawn into anti-social or criminal behaviour and communities from the misery and distress which can be caused by groups of unsupervised children. They are intended for use only as part of an authority's community safety strategy where it identifies a problem involving disruptive young children. So far, no applications have been made to the Secretary of State since the new provisions came into effect on 30 September 1998.