TOWN hall bosses have vowed to continue using Asbos against teenage yobs, despite comments from a senior minister raising doubts about the scheme.

In the past Manchester - dubbed the Asbo (Anti-Social Behaviour Order) capital of Britain - has been praised by the government for handing out hundreds of orders.

And today city council officials said they would continue to adopt the approach, in the wake of a call by a senior minister in charge of children for an end to the `Asbo era'.

In an interview published today, newly-appointed Children's Secretary Ed Balls said: "I want to live in the kind of society that puts Asbos behind us. It is about parents taking their responsibilities seriously. It's a failure every time a young person gets an Asbo. It's necessary but it's not right."

Mr Balls, a close adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is drawing up new policies on children's health and education to be unveiled in October

In the past eight years more than 1,000 Asbos have been issued in Greater Manchester - 38 per cent more than in Greater London. Home Office figures showed more than half the orders issued last year were breached at least once, leading some critics to doubt their effectiveness.

Council Asbos spokesman Eddy Newman said he agreed other methods could help cut loutish behaviour, but the orders were a `necessary evil'.

"The minister doesn't attack Asbos," he said. "He says they are a necessary evil in the society we live in. He wants to see a situation where parents take responsibility and don't let children roam the streets at night and torment neighbours."

The orders were introduced in 1999 to tackle nuisance behaviour. They are civil orders, meaning victims do not have to give evidence in person because hearsay evidence is acceptable.

But any breach is a criminal offence carrying a possible five-year jail term.

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