We must stop young thugs early on - MP

The City MP delivered a speech on the Government's children's policies to a conference of workers from 14 West Midlands local authorities.

He said new powers would be made available to deal with under-10s through revised Child Safety Orders.

There are also plans to make greater use of fostering for errant 10 and 11-year-olds and an increase in "restorative justice".

If a youngster sprays a wall with graffiti, he will be forced to clean it up. Local communities will have a say in what type of reparations are suitable and necessary.

Mr Foster said turning children away from a life of crime was better for them and the taxpayer.

The cost of a place in a Young Offender's Institution is £53,000 per year. The cost of a Local Authority Secure Children's Home is £164,000.

Mr Foster told the conference: "Crime and anti-social behaviour is the number one issue in my postbag - and I suspect the same is true for most other MPs.

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"The law caters for adults, and young people, but for children it seems that not enough is done to curb their anti-social habits.

"We will give the police powers to intervene at an early stage to cut out bad behaviour on our streets and in our estates.

"Being too young will not be an excuse - if you are old enough to persistently commit anti-social acts, you are old enough to have society stop you."

Mr Foster, Parliamentary aide to Children's Minister Margaret Hodge, went on: "This is not rocket science - but an acknowledgement that if children committing criminal acts are stopped early, then there is a chance that they will in future keep to the straight and narrow.

"Early intervention is the key - and giving the authorities the power to actually punish wrong-doers will be both a deterrent and a way of preventing a repetition of the types of criminal and anti-social acts that are seriously degrading the lives of ordinary families going about their everyday business."