Each junior AntiSocial Behaviour Order (Asbo) has cost £500,000 since their introduction four years ago, the Scottish Government has revealed.

Each junior AntiSocial Behaviour Order (Asbo) has cost £500,000 since their introduction four years ago, the Scottish Government has revealed.

Community safety minister Fergus Ewing disclosed the cost as he unveiled a new framework to combat youth offending which will place more emphasis on early intervention and prevention.

Mr Ewing told MSPs that £7 million of government funding has been devoted to AntiSocial Behaviour Orders for under 16s since 2004. But only 14 of the orders have been issued.

"It is perhaps no surprise that their appropriateness and effectiveness have been questioned," said Mr Ewing, adding: "The road to Polmont and Barlinnie is paved with good policy intentions."

The Antisocial Behaviour Bill, which became law in 2004, extended Asbos and electronic tagging to under-16s for the first time, while the police were given powers to disperse groups of young people.

Mr Ewing pointed to an Audit Scotland report of last year which indicated that their impact in improving the situation had not yet been demonstrated.

The minister said that if £7m had been spent on creating more choices and opportunities for youngsters, instead of junior Asbos, the result in terms of outcomes "might be more successful".

But Labour's Cathy Craigie said: "When Asbos were issued it would mean that other methods and interventions had failed. It seems strange to measure that as an indicator of success or otherwise."

But this was rejected by Mr Ewing. "We have to take into account the effectiveness of the expenditure of public money," he said. "If £7m has been devoted to a group of measures called junior Asbos which have resulted in 14 Asbos, junior Asbos, being issued then by my arithmetic, the cost is £500,000 per junior Asbo."

The government's new youth justice framework, Preventing Offending by Young People - A Framework for Action, has been developed along with council leaders, police chiefs, the children's reporter and Crown Office.

"This government has clearly signalled our belief that to be effective, action to tackle offending and antisocial behaviour must be taken at the earliest possible stage," Mr Ewing said.

Labour's Pauline McNeill said the document lacks a "reality check" and warned that the SNP administration should not "slacken" in its approach to antisocial behaviour.

"You have already been sleeping on the job on this one," Mrs McNeill said. "You will let generations of people down if you do not fully commit to the concept of challenging behaviour.

"So it's going to be difficult to judge where those resources are going and indeed it's going to be difficult for this parliament to scrutinise that you're putting your money where your mouth is."

Christina McKelvie, SNP MSP for Central Scotland, told MSPs: "I have long had concerns about the march of the Asbo. The Asbo has its place - but that place is not at the forefront of the challenge of youth."

Hugh O'Donnell, LibDem MSP for Central Scotland region, said youngsters were unfairly labelled, when only a very small minority were "bad".

Conservative MSP Bill Aitken said most young people are a "credit" to Scotland - but said a minority are "problematic". He added: "We do them no favours and we do ourselves absolutely no favours by failing to cope with the problems which they cause."