LAAs' crucial role in tackling youth crime highlighted

The chair of the Youth Justice Board has claimed local government — and local area agreements in particular — lie at the heart of reducing youth crime.

Frances Done, former managing director of local government at the Audit Commission and chief executive of Rochdale MBC, made the comments after a damning report on the government's record on youth offending was published.

Tackling the number of young people not in education, employment or training has emerged as the most popular indicator in councils' LAAs.

"One of the main root causes of youth offending is young people not in education or employment, and the fact that so many authorities appear to be including it is really good news," she said. "If there is one thing that will make the biggest difference, it is that."

Last week a report from the Centre for Crime & Justice Studies at King's College London said that a decade of government reforms in youth justice had failed to have a measurable impact on the level of youth offending.

It added too much money was spent on custodial sentences for young people, rather than on community-based work.

Ms Done said the report did not acknowledge many of the previous decade's successes, but supported its call for more resources to be devoted to community programmes run by youth offending team partnerships between council services, the police and health bodies.