Parents who fail to stop their children drinking in public will face a court appearance.

Mums and dads can now be hit with anti-social behaviour orders and acceptable behaviour contracts and could be made to attend parenting classes or face prosecution if they fail to stop youths drinking in the streets.

Youngsters who drink in public will be committing an offence under new legislation and could be made the subject of similar orders.

Police will also get tougher powers to disperse gangs of youngsters congregating in the street and other hangouts like parks and bus shelters.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "Groups of under-18s drinking in public are an all too familiar sight.

"This type of drinking increases youth anti-social behaviour and crime, puts young people in vulnerable situations and I want to put a stop to it."

She added: "I want to see greater use of parenting orders and parenting contracts and anti-social behaviour orders when young people are caught persistently drinking in public."

The Government said the number of 11 to 15-year-olds drinking regularly fell from 28 per cent in 2001 to 21 per cent in 2006.

But average alcohol consumption by school pupils more than doubled, rising from 5.3 units in 1990 to 11.4 units in 2006.

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