Children’s minister Beverley Hughes today called on public sector agencies to ensure that they were open to using compulsory measures to deal with antisocial parents at the National Social Services Conference in Birmingham.

Hughes said there had to be a “willingness” amongst local agencies to use compulsory measures to bring antisocial parents “to the table” to change their behaviour. 

Hughes also said that she recognised that some of the delegates didn’t always feel that government departments were sufficiently joined-up and that there was “something in that” but that there was commitment across the piece to the reforms to children’s services.

“This commitment is shared right across government although we may not always show it as much as we should,” she concluded.