Plans to make it easier to take action against troublemakers and parents of unruly children are set to appear in next month's Queen's Speech.

Tony Blair trailed the move in the House of Commons as he said "cumbersome" red tape had hindered the success of anti-social behaviour orders and parenting orders.

For many people in this country the problem of anti-social behaviour is right at the top of the agenda

Tony Blair

Criminal justice reforms are expected to feature strongly in the Queen's Speech, which will lay out the government's law-making programme for the next year.

Mr Blair said just more than 2,000 parenting orders had been made and, after a "slow start", 700 parenting orders had been granted.

Red tape worries

"The problem with both orders is often the bureaucracy to achieve them is too cumbersome," he said.

"What we are looking at is how we make sure we tighten that up and ensure they are easier to implement.

"I think for many people in this country the problem of anti-social behaviour is right at the top of the agenda.

"They recognise that what we need are simple, flexible ways of making sure that in a community the vast majority of responsible, law abiding people are the ones in control."

Anti-social behaviour orders are designed to prevent theft, intimidation, drunkenness and violence by people who make life difficult for their communities.

The orders often bar people from entering a certain area or shop and can include bans on specific acts, such as swearing in public.

Training ordered

Local councils can apply for parenting orders to be imposed if a child has committed a criminal offence, has been truanting or has been creating a serious nuisance on the streets.

Parents can be ordered to get training or guidance, to make sure their child attends a course, or to make sure their child avoids contact with some specific people.

Both types of orders have come under fire because councils and police forces have not used them as often as originally envisaged.

Evidence of success?

Earlier, Home Office Minister Hilary Benn told a conference in London that courts should be able to impose parenting orders to the parents of first time offenders.

At the moment, the orders are not available where young offenders plead guilty at their first court appearance and referred to a Youth Offending Panel.

Mr Benn added: "Early signs suggest the Order may also have an impact on re-offending and that in the short term there is a reduction of reconviction rates by the children of parents on the order.

"It will be interesting to see if this initial finding is confirmed by longer-term research."