Nanny Tony Blair strikes against parenting.

[buttmunch]

Tony Blair is today giving the State alarming powers to seize control of how parents raise their children.
A National Parenting Academy will teach health professionals and social workers how to educate new mothers and fathers about their 'responsibilities'.

They will begin handing out the advice at ante-natal classes or in home visits immediately after a child is born.

Parents whose children step out of line later in life will face draconian sanctions, including parenting orders, even if they have not broken the law.

Last night, critics attacked the plan as the most alarming example to date of the Government's 'nanny statism'.

They said the Prime Minister wanted to control every aspect of a child's upbringing from Whitehall.

'Orwellian'

Will McMahon, senior associate of the Crime and Society Foundation, said: "The Government clearly wants to take over the parenting role. This expansion in powers has an Orwellian feel to it."

The parenting measures are part of an action plan that is supposed to fulfil the Prime Minister's election promise to restore 'respect' to the nation's streets.

In the foreword to the plan, Mr Blair warned that, while most Britons are decent and law-abiding, there are still 'intractable problems with the behaviour of some individuals and families'.

He said: "This Respect Action Plan is about taking a broader approach. It recognises that, as well as enforcement, we have to focus on the causes of anti-social behaviour, which lie in families, in the classroom and in communities.

"We need to tackle root causes with the same rigour and determination as we have taken with anti-social behaviour.

"We need to take responsibility for ourselves, our children and our families, support those who want to do the same - and challenge those who will not."

The plan will also cut the length of prison terms for minor offences such as petty theft, burglary and vandalism in an effort to reduce the record prison population.

Offenders will get community sentences or be tagged. A 'custody plus' scheme will see criminals given a 12-month term by the courts out in only 12 weeks.

The public will get powers to drag police in front of 'people's courts' to demand a better service.

Yob families will be thrown on to the streets for up to three months using 'closure orders' - even if their home is privately-owned. Asbos will be extended to environmental crimes.

And police will get powers to seize assets worth £1,000 or more, even without a suspected criminal being convicted.

The number of the controversial Community Support Officers, who receive only three weeks training and have no power of arrest, will be expanded from 6,000 to 24,000.

Truancy targets

Under current rules, only police and education welfare officers can round up truants, but this power will be extended to the CSOs, who have been dubbed 'plastic police'.

In addition, the worst 200 schools in the country, responsible for 13,000 truants, will be targeted. Truancy officers will set parents a target for their child's attendance.

Failure will be punished with an on-the-spot fine. Most controversial is the state's attempt to seize control of parenting.

Currently, only parents of children who break the law or are served with an Asbo can be hit with a parenting order. The directives, backed by a fine or prison term, force mothers or fathers to attend behaviour classes so they can teach their child how to be a good citizen. They are backed with curfews and truancy orders.

Now Mr Blair is extending them to unruly children under ten - who cannot technically commit a crime because they are below the age of responsibility.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: "The proposal for a national parenting academy sounds like the worst sort of nanny-statism.

"Central government cannot dictate how parents form loving relationships with their children."

Tory leader David Cameron, who will today unveil his own 'real respect' agenda, said: "This issue is too important to be dealt with by eye-catching initiatives designed to get newspaper headlines."

Robert Whelan, of the thinktank Civitas, said: "The most effective thing to do would be to take the criminal out of circulation until such time as they show themselves ready to go back into mainstream society - but that is absolutely not on the agenda."

On one hand, I can see where people in the Uk are concerned about some out of control kids but on the other hand, alot of this is absurd. And didn't Blair's son get done for drinking underage awhile back?

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