Violent Crime Reduction Bill

The noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, concentrated his remarks on the adverse effects, as he saw them, of naming and shaming someone between 16 and 18, but his amendment, probing though it may be, seeks to ensure that no drinking banning order may be made on those below 18. Yet it seems, perhaps to many of us, that 16 to 18 year-olds are the age group most at risk of alcohol abuse, arising partly because of youth and inexperience and partly because of their not being accustomed to drink. I should have thought that a commonly held view was that there was a great risk to those individuals, let alone to the people around them whom the drunken youth might adversely affect. I am sure that the Government do not take the view that a drinking banning order is the be-all and end-all, because they have said many times that all sorts of other educative things could be done—including considering the sort of advertisements that are targeted at young people—to try to reduce the impact of so-called binge drinking. I understand the point that imposing a banning order on 16 to 18 year-olds has a restrictive and negative aspect. However, as the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, fairly said, the Bill has developed from First Reading and its first printing and, when you include the educative process and the courses that have been discussed under previous amendments, you realise the protective value that making a drinking banning order against an individual who is between 16 and 18 may have. It is now clear that the negative aspect of imposing a banning order may well be combined with courses for rehabilitation, anger management and so on, so there will also be positive aspects to a banning order. Therefore, although the noble Lord concentrated on the naming and shaming aspect to a drinking banning order, there are many positive aspects. I am not at all sure about the naming and shaming aspect. I understand the points that the noble Lord made, but there are also beneficial aspects to the community and to the individuals concerned if they are held up to some form of obloquy. There is nothing wrong in the community feeling obloquy towards someone who is deserving of—which is the hypothesis about which I am talking—a drinking banning order.