Schedule 2 - CURFEW ORDERS AND SUPERVISION ORDERS
Anti-social Behaviour Bill
11:00 am
Mr Bob Ainsworth (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Coventry North East, Labour)
The amendments would unnecessarily state in the legislation that the requirement operates within the legislative framework of the Children Act; that local authorities and relevant partners may determine contact arrangements between young offenders and their families during the programme of rehabilitation; and that the young person should be a looked-after child for the duration of the requirement. The fostering requirement interacts with the legislative framework of the 1989 Act in order to ensure the young person's welfare, and it operates within the existing principles and provisions established by the 1989 Act.
The imposition of the fostering requirement by the court would automatically lead to the young person's becoming a looked-after child within the meaning of the Children Act. The local authority where the young person resides would have responsibility for the fostering placement and the welfare of that young person as part of its obligations under the Children Act.
The measure is a child-focused intervention to deal with those persistent or serious young offenders whose home environment directly contributes to their offending behaviour. It would provide the courts with a specialised community-based response for such cases. Without such a measure, such young people are at risk of custody. I agree with the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole that there is substantial potential in that area.
It being twenty-five minutes past Eleven o'clock, The Chairman adjourned the Committee without Question put, pursuant to the Standing Order.
Adjourned till this day at half-past Two o'clock.