In a House of Lords debate on Young Offenders employment and training yesterday, tabled by Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill, a number of peers cited the Transition to Adulthood Alliance’s work on maturity and the importance of effective transitions for young adults in the criminal justice process.
 
Drawing on various T2A publications and on the experience of the Alliances’ pilot projects, Baroness Healey called for a greater use of restorative justice and referenced T2A’s recommendations that local authorities link up with crime reduction partnerships and the new Police and Crime Commissioners to ensure that young people have access to appropriate accommodation. She also stressed the importance of wrap-around services for young people leaving custody and for effective “through the gate” and resettlement support.
 
Liberal Democrat Peer Baroness Linklater, whose interest in prison reform is longstanding, noted that the T2A pilots, stating that “the success is because it tailors its interventions specifically to the needs of young adults,” and called such initiatives to be more widespread.
 
Baroness Nye, a Labour Peer, spoke about the T2A manifesto proposal that local FE colleges should be twinned with YOIs, while Lord Aberdare, a Crossbencher and NACRO board member, called for a “seamless process of support, starting while young people are still in custody and continuing all the way into sustained education or employment”.
 
Responding for the Government, Work and Pensions Minister Lord Freud said: “Young offenders face multiple barriers in accessing employment, training and jobs on release from prison. If we are to tackle these problems and take effective steps to reduce reoffending, there has to be a co-ordinated response across government departments”.