A key weapon in Tony Blair's war against young thugs in Bradford has been branded a "gimmick" after a ministers admitted they have no way of measuring its success.

New figures revealed 66 parenting orders have been slapped on mums and dads in the district over a six year period between 2000/01 to 2005/06 to force them to tackle their nuisance children.

Only one was issued in the first year of the scheme with the most being handed out on parents in 2002/03.

The orders can be served on parents of children who commit a crime or breach an anti-social behaviour order or child safety order.

Breaching an order can lead to the parents being fined £1,000.

Today's figures broken down by Youth Offending Team (YOT) area reveal only 21 other areas out of the 156 have handed out more orders.

That puts Bradford in the top 13 per cent in the country of areas which issue parents with the orders.

However, Home Office minister Tony McNulty has sparked anger after telling MPs that he is unable to reveal how many of these orders were breached or led to prosecutions.

The Home Office has discovered that such information is "unsuitable for publication" because of flaws in the data. This means it is impossible to know whether the orders are being followed.

Mr McNulty said: "The figures reported to the Home Office on breaches of parenting orders have not been given because their accuracy cannot be guaranteed.

"The Home Office has started a programme of work looking at the quality of existing data on court sentencing and how this might be improved."

His comments yesterday sparked criticism from the Conservatives.

Tory shadow cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said: "Yet again we have further evidence of Home Office incompetence and we now have a Labour minister forced by Parliament to confess that these figures are not suitable for publication.

"How can the public have faith that these parenting orders are anything more than a gimmick when the government admits it has no idea if they are obeyed?"

Parenting orders were introduced in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 in a bid to prevent young people becoming involved in crime and anti-social behaviour. Under the scheme, failing parents accept support and help from experts in a bid to get their children to behave.

Restrictions can be applied on where children go, what time they must be home and who they can hang around with. Councils, local education authorities and youth offending teams can apply for the orders.

Since 2004, the courts have been able to require parents to attend a residential parenting course.

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