Community Protection Notices: Children

Home Office written question – answered at on 12 February 2026.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Sam Carling Sam Carling Labour, North West Cambridgeshire

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has considered the merits of allowing police to issue Community Protection Warnings and Notices to 10-16 year-olds.

Photo of Sarah Jones Sarah Jones The Minister of State, Home Department

Breach of a CPN is a criminal offence. Lowering the age that someone can receive a CPN from 16 to 10 years old risks putting young people into the criminal justice system.

While early and informal prevention-based approaches should generally be the first step where ASB is being perpetrated by a child, for the most serious cases of child-perpetrated anti-social behaviour, we already have powers available. The Civil Injunction is available for children from 10-18 and enables youth courts to make behavioural conditions to prevent ASB. It is for the youth court to determine if, on the balance of probabilities, the legal test is met, and it is just and convenient in the circumstances to grant a Youth Injunction.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes2 people think so

No0 people think not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.

Secretary of State

Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.