§ The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Paul Murphy)The report on the Review of the Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland, which flowed from the Belfast agreement, recommended in the area of youth justice that the Juvenile Justice Board, a statutory non-departmental public body with responsibility for the provision of youth justice services in custodial and community settings, should be replaced by a next steps agency. This statement announces the creation of that agency within the Northern Ireland Office, to be known as the Youth Justice Agency, on 1 April 2003.
A full consultation exercise was undertaken in relation to all the recommendations in the Criminal Justice Review. There was broad support for the creation of an agency.
The agency will play a central and leading role in addressing youth crime in Northern Ireland, by facilitating the development of a strong professional management team responsible for the provision of youth justice services and an increased emphasis on accountability, transparency and effective service delivery.
The agency will also implement a range of new diversionary measures for dealing with child offenders, including youth conferencing arrangements based on restorative justice principles, new community orders and bail support schemes. The agency will build on partnerships with others that already exist in helping young people to avoid crime.
In taking these developments forward, the agency will provide the appropriate structures, supported by challenging targets and key performance indicators, to ensure that the best value and outcomes are obtained from the substantial investment being made in youth justice provision in Northern Ireland.
38WSThe agency will concentrate on service delivery. The continuing task of developing policy and monitoring the agency's performance against targets will be undertaken by a small unit within the core Department.
The agency's Framework Document and Corporate and Business Plan have been published and are now available in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament.
The relevant documents are also available on the NIO website at http://www.nio.gov.uk/.