§ Mr. CaplinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to involve the Prince's Trust in working with young offenders in custody. [158183]
§ Mr. BoatengIn addition to existing work with the Prince's Trust in several young offender institutions, I am pleased to announce a new joint initiative, running for 12 months between the Prison Service and the Prince's Trust.
We plan to run the Trust's Volunteers programme for young adult offenders in six prisons—Chelmsford, Gloucester, Leeds, Liverpool, New Hall, Norwich and at Her Majesty's Young Offender Institution, Reading.
The purpose of the Volunteers programme is to assist in the personal development of young people. The aim of this initiative is to replicate the scheme's current record, as assessed by the Trust, of moving 70 per cent. of unemployed participants on the programme into full-time employment, training or education within three months of completing the programme for this challenging group of young people.