Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensured children and young people in the secure estate have access to high quality training and employment programmes.

We firmly believe that education and training are crucial to help young offenders turn their backs on crime and find employment on release from custody. A number of initiatives launched over the last year put increased focus on education and training in youth custody.

Under the Turn Around To Work initiative, more than 20 high profile employers in London and Manchester offer tailored placements to provide young people in custody with the training and skills needed to gain employment and lead a life free from crime. As well as work shadowing, placements include mentoring and interview skills training.

In addition, four resettlement consortia comprising partners from the custodial estate, youth offending teams and local authorities have been established to improve support for young people in the run up to and on release from custody, and help them reintegrate with society. In pilots this approach led to 30% more young people having education, training and employment placements arranged.

From August this year, all youth custodial establishments will be required to deliver between 25 and 30 hours of education per week. New contracts for education providers in public sector Young Offender Institutions commenced in March 2015 provide an even greater focus on education and will see the number of hours of education available to young people more than double.