The Queen's Speech includes a new Organised Crime Bill.

The Mr Bigs of the underworld have taken a number of hits in recent years, most notably with the introduction of the Proceeds of Crime Bill, which sought to seize money and assets obtained through crime.

The government is committed to tackling organised crime and pursuing justice against those who profit from the damage it does to communities John Reid

Earlier this year the government merged the National Criminal Intelligent Service, the National Crime Squad and several other law enforcement units to form the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

The Organised Crime Bill will be an attempt to keep up the momentum and provide Soca with more powers to target drug barons, human traffickers and others who run major criminal networks.

Measures in the bill will include:

The Home Office estimates that organised crime - everything from credit card fraud to cigarette smuggling - costs Britain �20bn a year.

The bill aims to help the Soca agency target organised crime

Many of the kingpins, who are known to police force chiefs, would be targeted for SCPOs.

Under the terms of the order they could be forced to obey curfews, avoid contact with named associates and obey restrictions on mobile phones, e-mail and bank accounts.

Although they would be civil orders - and hence subject to a lower standard of proof - breaching one of the terms would be a criminal offence which would carry a punishment of five years in jail.

The Bill would cover England, Wales and Northern Ireland although some parts of it would also include Scotland.