Blunkett voices alcohol concern

David Blunkett urged parents to take
responsibility for their children’s drinking habits at a conference
on youth crime this week.

Parents who gave their children alcohol were
“committing child abuse as much as if they were breaking their
child’s arm” the home secretary told the joint Youth Justice
Board/Metropolitan Police event.

He said there would be harsher penalties for
people selling alcohol to youngsters in future legislation.

And he called for “clear and understandable”
messages from the government, schools, and parents about
alcohol.

In a keynote speech on preventing youth crime,
Blunkett said more secure places were needed to ease the problem of
overcrowding.

He pledged to look to expand existing
detention centres and bring some old facilities back into use. This
would be linked with remand fostering, intensive supervision and
electronic tagging for young offenders.

Youth Justice Board chairperson Lord Warner
confirmed there would be two new secure training centres opened in
June and October this year and more provision next year as part of
the programme to provide more secure accommodation for 12 to 16
year olds.