Children as young as 5 will be identified as being at risk of becoming criminals or troublemakers under government plans to tackle offending and disorder on the streets.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, called for a huge expansion of state intervention in family life as a way of preventing young people from problem families drifting into antisocial behaviour and crime.

She also said that parents who fail to look after their children properly should have to sign contracts forcing them to exercise control.

In an interview with The Times to mark her first year as Home Secretary, Ms Smith also warned the drinks industry that action is imminent to require it to enforce responsible standards on alcohol consumption.

A study by the accounting group KPMG has found that voluntary codes are not working in certain areas. “We have reached a bit of a watershed moment,” Ms Smith declared.

It has been a rollercoaster year for the Home Secretary. Her appointment was one of the big surprises of Gordon Brown’s first Cabinet reshuffle. Within days there were attempted bombings in London and Glasgow and her response won praise. Then, as the Government’s fortunes sank, there was Whitehall gossip that Ms Smith was losing out in a turf war with Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, and other ministers, and suggestions that she might have been overpromoted.

The victory over 42-day detention has changed that perception and even lifted her into the list of possible successors to Mr Brown. Now she clearly wants to focus all energies on cutting crime and raising public confidence that the streets are safe.

Ms Smith’s enthusiasm for more early intervention in family life as a way of improving the behaviour of youngsters will revive criticism of Labour’s “nanny state” instincts. But she is unrepentant.

She said work was already under way in which agencies identify early the people and families who will end up engaging in violence. “I believe it is about identifying families in which you are going to intervene at an early stage, where you will expect certain behaviour and if that does not happen there will be sanctions.”

There has been success with family intervention projects that provide assistance as basic as teaching parents how to get their children out of bed. “We need to see more of that,” Ms Smith said, hinting that an expansion of pilot projects will be in next month’s youth crime action plan.

She said she “fundamentally disagrees” with the “nanny state” charge: “It is part of the role of government not to wait till crime has been committed but, for the good of the wider community and the families themselves, to step in earlier when it is obvious to all agencies that this is the type of situation that can end in tragedy.”

Ms Smith said the first time a young person was given an antisocial behaviour order, there should be a parenting order to go alongside it: “If an under18 is caught on the streets with alcohol, their parents should be involved the first time that happens.”

Ms Smith also gave a clear hint that government patience with the drinks industry is running out over its failure to enforce voluntary codes of practice on the sale and promotion of alcohol.

The area causing most concern within the Home Office is the continuing practice in some pubs of offering promotions such as “order two glasses of wine, get the rest of the bottle free”.

She said that the voluntary code suggested that the industry should be able to tackle cheap drink promotions in bars. “We need to see whether there are elements we need to consider making mandatory,” Ms Smith said. The Department of Health is awaiting a report on the link between price and alcohol consumption, due in August, but ministers are already considering banning loss-leader drink promotions, particularly in supermarkets.

Ms Smith’s close advisers say that her preoccupation is to show the country that policies on crime are working.

Although the 42-day detention row is only halfway through - the whole battle has to be replayed in the Lords - the Home Secretary is determined to push on with it even if it means relying on votes from the opposition parties. The nine Democratic Unionists were the difference between victory and defeat two weeks ago.

So when the Bill comes back to the Commons from an expected mauling in the Upper House, Ms Smith would take help from wherever it came. “Yes, all-comers are welcome,” she said.

Ms Smith accepts that the Government is in trouble but she believes the situation to be recoverable. Her remedy: “Be clear about what it is we are seeking to do. Be clear about the way we have responded to public concerns. Be clear that when the country is going through difficult economic times, our Prime Minister, with his record, is the sort of person you would want at the helm.”

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