NEW powers to crack down on teenage troublemakers have hardly been used in York and North Yorkshire, according to Government figures.

Only two parenting orders - a measure to tackle bad behaviour in schools - were issued by the Youth Offending Team (YOT) in York in the first full year they were available. North Yorkshire issued only one.

In contrast, some areas issued more than 20 orders and two - Wigan and Wessex - used the measure more than 100 times.

Both York and North Yorkshire YOTs have said parenting orders were used when necessary - and to good effect.

The orders, introduced in July 2000, last up to 12 months and force parents to attend counselling or guidance sessions.

The child may have to attend a homework club, avoid contact with disruptive children, stay home at night or attend anger management courses.

An order can be issued when a child has been convicted of a criminal offence, been given a separate civil order or failed to comply with an order to attend school.

A Parliamentary answer revealed that 1,216 orders were issued in the 12 months to April 2002. Thirty-three areas failed to issue a single order.

No Government figures were available for the number of parenting orders issued since then.

Steve Walker, acting YOT manager for North Yorkshire, said that between January 1 and December 31, 2002, 15 compulsory parenting orders were made in the county and 15 were taken up voluntarily.

Of those, 24 were successfully completed. Mr Walker said: "We have found parenting orders useful on occasion, but we don't think we'll ever use them to the same level of frequency as some of the inner city areas because there isn't the need.

"We have found more success in working with parents in a voluntary basis."

Jill Holbert, head of youth offending services at City of York Council, said: "In the majority of cases, parents of the offenders are happy to work voluntarily with the Youth Offending Team and a range of other statutory and voluntary children's services, to improve the behaviour of their children.

"A Parenting Order is usually made when it is felt that co-operation from a parent could not be achieved without a statutory order."

Parents can be fined £1,000 for non-compliance, but the Department for Education insists most parents have "responded positively" with good attendance at counselling sessions.

The Government is proposing to make it easier to introduce parenting orders, by allowing them to be imposed separately from other court proceedings.

Orders will also be made more "father friendly" by encouraging them to attend court with their children.

Updated: 08:42 Wednesday, April 02, 2003