§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what(a) evaluation and (b) multi-disciplinary inspection of the work of individual youth offending teams has been undertaken; if he will publish the evaluation results to date; what plans there are for further inspection of youth offending teams; and if he will make a statement. [156996]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe operation of youth offending teams and the programmes they run are subject to a range of independent evaluation and monitoring commissioned and operated by the Youth Justice Board. Interim evaluation reports will be published this spring on intervention programmes and bail support schemes. The Sheffield University evaluation of the piloting of youth offending teams in 10 areas from October 1998 has been published as a Home Office Occasional Paper and is available in the Library.
Two youth offending team inspections have been carried out by multi-disciplinary inspection teams who are considering their reports. The Youth Justice Board is considering the future conduct of inspection and its monitoring functions.