To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) acceptable behaviour orders and (b) parenting orders were issued in (i) Peterborough and (ii) Cambridgeshire in each year since their introduction; and if she will make a statement. (163178)

Data on acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs) are not collected by the Home Office as they are voluntary agreements and therefore not suitable for central data collection. However, surveys of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) indicate that over 25,000 ABCs have been made since October 2003. The Home Office recently issued updated and comprehensive guidance for practitioners on the use of ABCs.

Parenting orders were piloted between 30 September 1998 and 31 March 2000 but data showing the breakdown by area are not available for that period. Parenting orders were commenced in England and Wales in June 2000. The Youth Justice Board (YJB) has collected the number of parenting orders by Youth Offending Team (“YOT”) area since April 2000, as reported to it by YOTs including education-related orders where the YOT has been involved.

Since September 2004, the Department for Children, Schools and Families has collected data on the number of parenting orders in England related to non-attendance of children at school and exclusion from school at local authority level.

The numbers of parenting orders relating to crime or antisocial behaviour from April 2000 until March 2007 and those related to non-attendance of children at school until March 2004 reported to the YJB by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough YOTs are shown in table A: The number of parenting orders made following truancy prosecution between 1 September 2004 and 13 April 2007 is shown in table B: