HC Deb 28 October 2002 vol 391 c612W
Mr. Ben Chapman

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the powers of the police to confiscate drink in the possession of young people. [75347]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth

The police have powers to confiscate alcohol from under-age drinkers in public places (Confiscation of Alcohol (Young Persons) Act 1997). Section 29 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 further clarified the confiscation powers. This enables the police to deal with situations where young people's drinking is causing a nuisance to others or may lead to bad behaviour. We have taken careful note of representations from the police to increase the confiscation powers to include sealed containers, and we intend to bring forward amendments to do this when parliamentary time allows.

Mr. Gibb

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 19 September 2002,Official Report, columns 74–75W, when he will introduce legislation to amend the regulation issued under section 13 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 in respect of the confiscation of alcohol from under-age drinkers in public places. [76527]

Mr. Denham

The regulations made under section 13 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 are The Local Authorities (Alcohol Consumption in Designated Public Places) Regulations 2001. These set out the procedures to be followed by local authorities, relating to consultation and publicity, before making an order identifying a public place for the purposes of restricting anti-social public drinking. The regulations do not cover police powers to confiscate alcohol, and we have no plans to change them.

We are considering representations from the police and others about existing police powers to confiscate alcohol and we will introduce any changes in the law that may be necessary as soon as parliamentary time allows.