The Government have no current plans to bring forward proposals to make parents accountable or responsible for acts committed by children under the age of criminal responsibility.

The minimum age of criminal responsibility is 10 and the Government have no plans to alter this.

If a child under the age of 10 behaves antisocially or in a manner which would be criminal if the child were 10 or over, local authorities may seek to intervene on a voluntary basis through measures such as Youth Inclusion Support Panels (YISPs) or agreeing a parenting contract with the parent(s) of the child.

Where necessary, a local authority may apply for a child safety order which places certain requirements on the child. A parenting order can be attached to a child safety order at any point, compelling the parent(s) to attend a parenting class and take what steps they can to control the child's behaviour. Failure to comply with a parenting order is a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to £1,000.

All young offenders serving sentences of DYOI are held in appropriately designated young offender institution (YOI) accommodation within the prison estate. The majority of this accommodation is in dedicated YOIs, although some establishments in the estate have a dual designation (designated both as a prison and a YOI) and hold both adult prisoners and young offenders.

Serving sentences of DYOI are held in appropriately designated young offender institution (YOI) accommodation within the prison estate. The majority of this accommodation is in dedicated YOIs, although some establishments in the estate have a dual designation (designated both as a prison and a YOI) and hold both adult prisoners and young offenders.

The first table as follows shows the number of young adult offenders aged 18 to 20-years-old from (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) Nottinghamshire on a set day in each month where data are available since May 2009. The second table provides the information for Nottinghamshire which Ashfield is a part of. The data have only been recorded centrally since May 2009 and from September 2010 are available on a bi-monthly basis.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Information on offenders' residences is provided by offenders on reception into prison and recorded on a central IT system. Addresses can include a home address, an address to which offenders intend to return on discharge or next of kin address and these figures are provided in the table above.

If no address is given, an offenders committal court address is used as a proxy for the area in which they are resident. These figures are also included in the table above. No address has been recorded and no court information is available for around 3% of all offenders, these figures are excluded from the table above.

Data on juvenile offenders are not held at a constituency level therefore it is not possible to answer part (a) of this question. The answer to part (b) of this question is as follows:

The following table shows the number of juvenile offenders (aged 10 to 17) either sentenced or remanded in custody attached to the Nottinghamshire Youth Offending Team (YOT) who have been held in each under 18 young offender institution in each month since May 2009 to April 2012.

These data have been provided by the Youth Justice Board (YJB). The YJB holds data at the YOT area level, not at the local authority level. YOT area data may cover more than one local authority area.

These are based upon monthly snapshot data. Therefore one young person who is serving more than one month in custody will be shown in more than one month in the table.

The data from April 2011 onwards are provisional and will be finalised when the 2011-12 Youth Justice Statistics are published in 2013. Data from 2012-13 will be finalised in 2014.

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time.

With regard to young adult offenders aged 18 to 20, the information on the proportion of offenders who breached their community sentence is not held centrally. Information on breaches of community sentences by individual offenders is recorded by probation trusts on their case management systems. It is used in the day-to-day management of offenders, including as a trigger to appropriate action in response to breach, for example through formal warnings or enforcement action, but the figures requested do not form part of trusts' routine reporting.

Information is available for 2007 and 2008 on the number of 18 to 20-year-olds who were received into custody for breach of a community sentence, as follows:

2007: 886¹

2008: 964²

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.¹ Source:

Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2007. Table 6.12² Source:

Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2008. Table 6.9

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100406130654/justice.gov.uk/publications/prisonandprobation.htm

Since the roll-out of the Prison-NOMIS system commenced in May 2009 information on receptions into custody for breach has no longer been available.

The available information required to answer this question in relation to juveniles is currently being collated. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as it is available. A copy will be placed in the House Library.

The number of defendants aged 10 and 11 years found guilty at all courts, by offence group, in England and Wales, in 2010 and 2011, can be viewed in the following table:

Table 1 shows the number of juvenile offenders (aged 10 to 17 years) either sentenced or remanded in custody attached to the Enfield Youth Offending Team (YOT) who have been held in a (i) secure children's home (SCH), (ii) secure training centre (STC) and (iii) under 18 young offender institution (YOI) in each month from May 2005 to April 2012.

This data has been provided by the Youth Justice Board (YJB). The YJB holds data at the YOT area level, not at the local authority level. YOT area data may cover more than one local authority area.

Data provided for table 1 is based upon monthly snapshot population data. Therefore one young person who is held more than one month in custody may be shown in more than one month in the table.

Data from April 2011 onwards are provisional. Data for the financial year 2011-12 will be finalised when the 2011-12 Annual Youth Justice Statistics are published in 2013 and data for the financial year 2012-13 will be finalised in 2014.

Young adult offenders (aged 18 to 20 years) are not held in secure children's homes, secure training centres, or under 18 young offender institutions. Some juvenile offenders, however, remain in the youth secure estate after they have turned 18 if they have only a short period of their custodial sentence to serve.

Table 2 shows the number of young adult offenders aged 18 years old from the London borough of Enfield who were held in under 18 young offender institutions. These data have been provided by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). One month's worth of data was collected centrally in May 2009 and has been available on a bi-monthly basis from September 2010.

I thank the Minister for his breathless list. He will know of the charity User Voice, which engages those who have experience of the criminal justice system in bringing about reform and reducing reoffending. A group of young people from the organisation recently came to give evidence to the Justice Committee for its youth justice inquiry. It was striking to hear them say that having respect for the status and position of a youth offending team worker is not the same thing as connecting with them and having them make a reasonable difference to their lives. Does the Minister agree that there has to be a much greater role for offenders and ex-offenders in steering young people away from the spiral of offending and constant reoffending?

What particular support will there be for young offenders institutions such as Lancaster Farms in my constituency, particularly in dealing with young offenders on short-term sentences?

The lack of work opportunities is one reason young offenders go on to reoffend. Has my hon. Friend made an assessment of the link between youth unemployment and reoffending, and what steps is he taking to help young offenders find work?

Does the Minister agree that the best efforts to reduce reoffending are often based on local courts with good local knowledge, working closely with local agencies? We have a very good magistrates court in Rotherham for Rotherham, and a very good one in Barnsley for Barnsley. Will he rule out any further magistrates court closures, which might put local justice in jeopardy?

I welcome the new drug-free wing at Pentonville prison, which aims to cut reoffending. May I put to the Minister what I put to the Lord Chancellor when he gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee this morning? The key to ending reoffending is to help prisoners once they leave prison. That support is vital.

The double-dip recession created by the Government has made it much harder for young people in general and young offenders in particular to find work. What conversations is the Minister having with his colleagues to encourage growth in the economy and to solve the problem of youth unemployment in general and young offenders in particular?

The number of offenders sentenced to immediate custody, by age group and sentence length in England and Wales from 2009 to 2011 can be viewed in the following table:

Reducing reoffending is a key priority for this Government, and the challenge is most acute with young offenders. Recent steps that will specifically apply to under-18s include youth custody pathfinders, the troubled families programme, the programme on gangs and youth violence, restorative justice, new out-of-court disposals, increased curfews, more severe breach penalties, minimum mandatory custodial sentences for aggravated knife crime, and integrated resettlement support. These measures complement the already very substantial number of further measures and programmes that are aimed at dealing with all age groups who reoffend, not least young adults.

Reducing reoffending is a key priority for this Government, and the challenge is most acute with young offenders. Recent steps that will specifically apply to under-18s include youth custody pathfinders, the troubled families programme, the programme on gangs and youth violence, restorative justice, new out-of-court disposals, increased curfews, more severe breach penalties, minimum mandatory custodial sentences for aggravated knife crime, and integrated resettlement support. These measures complement the already very substantial number of further measures and programmes that are aimed at dealing with all age groups who reoffend, not least young adults.

Reducing reoffending is a key priority for this Government, and the challenge is most acute with young offenders. Recent steps that will specifically apply to under-18s include youth custody pathfinders, the troubled families programme, the programme on gangs and youth violence, restorative justice, new out-of-court disposals, increased curfews, more severe breach penalties, minimum mandatory custodial sentences for aggravated knife crime, and integrated resettlement support. These measures complement the already very substantial number of further measures and programmes that are aimed at dealing with all age groups who reoffend, not least young adults.