§ Mr. HayesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what provisions have been made to include education programmes in strategies designed to cope with anti-social behaviour. [144093]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisEducation-related programmes play a crucial part in our drive to tackle anti-social behaviour in three ways.
The first is through the school curriculum, where pupils learn about socially responsible behaviour as part of Citizenship education. This is a statutory subject in secondary schools. Schools receive guidance on helping pupils to understand the impact of anti-social behaviour and deal with it assertively.
The second is through a range of measures to reduce truancy, improve pupil behaviour in schools and reinforce parental responsibility for their children's behaviour in schools. They include national truancy sweeps, fast track to prosecution for truancy, in-school Learning Support Units, multi-agency Behaviour and Education Support Teams, key workers for children at risk of crime, police in schools and positive activity programmes in the school holidays. In addition the Anti-Social Behaviour Act, which comes into force at the end of February, will introduce penalty notices for truancy, parenting contracts for truancy and parenting contracts and orders for bad behaviour in schools.
The third is through services for young people beyond the school. The Connexions service provides access to personal development opportunities to broaden horizons and develop talents. The Youth service develops young people's ability to make responsible choices and engage constructively with their community. Both services help young people to develop their ability to cope with the issues which affect them and to avoid falling into anti-social behaviour.