The government will this week announce a renewed crackdown on yob culture in a move which could see begging outlawed.

The new approach will be detailed in a white paper to be published by David Blunkett this week.

Homeless charities reacted with dismay to revelations that new offences to combat begging are included in the blueprint.

Details of the department's plans also include fixed penalty fines for children as young as 10 who are guilty of antisocial behaviour.

Other offences under consideration will tackle the problems of nuisance neighbours, yobs, drunks, drug users and dysfunctional families.

Following the white paper, Blunkett intends to put an anti-social behaviour bill before parliament in its current session.

Under the proposals, begging convictions will form part of a criminal record and persistent offenders will be fingerprinted.

Official thinking links homelessness to drug addiction and serious crime.

"The reality is the majority of people who beg are doing so to sustain a drug habit and giving them money on the street does not serve to help them deal with their problems at all. Beggars are also very likely to be caught up in much more serious crime," said the Home Office.

Shelter, the charity which campaigns for homeless people, said the existing laws on begging were already tough enough and urged the government to tackle the issues behind homelessness.

"We agree that aggressive or threatening behaviour in public spaces is unacceptable but penalties already exist to tackle this problem with anti social behaviour orders and the Public Order Act 1995 - it is unnecessary to introduce further legislation," said spokesman Ben Jackson.

"It is true that some people who sleep on the streets and beg have an alcohol or drug dependency problem. However, rather than criminalising them, the government should ensure more support services are available to homeless people and they get the help they need."

Blunkett also wants to widen the use of the fixed penalty notices of £40 or £80 currently being rolled out in pilot schemes.

This would cover "yob culture" behaviour such as being drunk and disorderly, harrassment and throwing fireworks.

"Fixed penalty notices offer speedy and effective action that frees police and court time. The offender receives an immediate punishment which, if paid, will not result in a criminal record," says the document.

Police will be given new powers to disperse groups, such as men outside pubs and nightclubs, who appear "threatening, intimidating and frightening to other people".Civil rights campaigners have attacked the proposals.

"Once again, the government is throwing the statute book at real social problems, ignoring the awkward truth that resources, not ill-conceived new laws, are almost always the bigger issue," said John Wadham, director of Liberty.

"On-the-spot fines were a bad idea for adults; they will be no better for 10-year-old children. To enforce criminal penalties, you need more policemen - our police are already stretched too far and absent from the beat too often."