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18 Jun 2003 : Column 257W—continued

HOME OFFICE

Alcohol (Public Places)

Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which local authorities have made use of orders banning consumption of alcohol in public places; and what percentage of local authorities this represents. [119095]

Caroline Flint: Seventy-four local authorities have so far notified the Home Office that they have made designation orders under section 13 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 to restrict anti-social public drinking in areas that have experienced alcohol-related disorder or nuisance. These are listed in the table. This represents around 18 per cent. of the total number of local authorities (county, metropolitan, unitary, borough and district councils) in England and Wales. The new arrangements introduced by the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 replaced the previous Home Office public drinking byelaw. Any such byelaw will lapse after five years from the commencement of the relevant provisions on 1 September 2001, unless replaced by a section 13 designation order.

We have included a proposal in the Licensing Bill, currently before Parliament, that will increase police powers to confiscate alcohol in sealed alcohol containers, in addition to opened containers, from people who are drinking and causing a nuisance in designated public areas.

Local Authorities: designation orders under section 13 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001













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Antisocial Behaviour

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to curb under-age drinking as part of his strategy to tackle anti-social behaviour. [118684]

Ms Blears: Underage drinking is one of the forms of behaviour that can be tackled by the use of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs), as was confirmed in the guidance "A Guide to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and Acceptable Behaviour Contracts" issued on 12 November 2002. In addition, the White Paper "Rights and Responsibility—Taking a Stand Against Anti-Social Behaviour" made clear the Government's intention to introduce, in the Criminal Justice Bill, a new Individual Support Order that will extend the protection that ASBOs provide to the community by requiring children and young people subject to such orders to undertake individually tailored activities, which could include attending treatment for substance misuse.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, currently before Parliament, contains measures to extend the penalty notice for disorder scheme, initially to 16 and 17-year-olds, with an option to extend it to cover all juveniles over 10. This will make it possible for juveniles involved

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in the type of minor, often drink-related, offending covered by the scheme to be issued with fixed penalty notices.

The Licensing Bill now before Parliament will, if enacted, amend existing legislation to allow the police to confiscate all alcohol, whether in sealed or opened containers, from young people who are drinking in public places.

The Home Office is also working with the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit on their project to develop a cross-governmental alcohol harm reduction strategy for England. The project is paying particular attention to issues such as alcohol-related crime and anti-social behaviour as well as the health impacts of alcohol misuse. The strategy is planned for publication in autumn 2003.

Arson

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of those people (a) prosecuted and (b) cautioned for arson offences in (i) 2000, (ii) 2001 and (iii) 2002 were between the ages of 10 and 17. [117895]

Ms Blears: The information requested is contained in the table.

Statistics for 2002 will be published in the autumn.

Proportion of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts or cautioned for offences of arson(4) who were aged 10 to 17
England and Wales 2000 and 2001

Proceeded againstCautioned
YearAll agesAge 10–17% of all ages who were age 10–17All agesAge10–17(5)% of all ages who were age 10–17
2000(6)2,3751,005421,03493691
20012,4751,134461,1441,02289

(4) These data are on the principal offence basis.

(5) From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and final warnings.

(6) Staffordshire police were only able to supply a sample of data for magistrates courts proceedings covering one full week in each quarter for 2000. Estimates based on this sample are included in the figures, as they are considered sufficiently robust at this high level of analysis.

Children (Online Safety)

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he intends to take to ensure mobile phone companies provide advice and guidance (a) to parents on how to safeguard children from access to inappropriate content and sites and (b) directly to children about online safety in general, and in particular the dangers of giving personal information to strangers in chat rooms or via the internet. [118855]

Ms Blears: We are in discussion with providers of mobile phone services through my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet, which they have joined. A sub-group of the task force is considering with them how the models of good practice which we issued earlier this year for the fixed internet are applicable to the mobile industry. The models include advice in both these areas. I am confident that the mobile phone companies have taken notice of these issues, and I understand they will be issuing a code of practice for consultation shortly which will include proposals in these areas.

Earlier this year, the task force ran a campaign to raise parents' and children's awareness of the risks of giving out their personal details to strangers and provide advice on using chat rooms. The evaluation of this campaign showed improved awareness of the core messages.

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