News In Focus
20 June 2008
Costs of junior ASBOs revealed
Junior antisocial behaviour orders have cost £7 million since their introduction four years ago and have only been used on 14 young people.
Community Safety Minister Fergus Ewing revealed the figures as he unveiled a new framework aimed at combating youth offending. Its key proposals are to improve the sharing of information between authorities and the range and effectiveness of residential services for young people. It also proposes better intervention for offending linked to drug misuse.
An Audit Scotland report last year showed that the impact of Junior ASBOs on communities had not yet been demonstrated.
Agency support
The new framework, "Preventing Offending by Young People – A Framework for Action" has the backing of Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, the Scottish Children's Reporters Administration and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Minister for Community Safety Fergus Ewing said: "This framework puts in place a clear plan that has been agreed by all relevant agencies so that everyone in Scotland knows what is being done to support young people and tackle youth offending and what their role in that effort is.”
For Labour, Cathy Craigie MSP said that ASBOs had been intended to be used when other interventions had failed. But Mr Ewing responded that the money could have been better spent on creating more opportunities.