Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what representations he has received from representatives of local authorities on Youth Justice Board grants.

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and Youth Justice Board (YJB) receive regular representations from local authorities on a wide range of issues relating to the youth justice system, including in relation to grants.

The YJB Good Practice Grant contributes directly to YOS’ statutory work - including preparing pre-sentence reports and supervising youth offenders during sentence as well as front-line work to reduce offending and re-offending by young people. It also contributes to work to prevent children offending and coming into the youth justice system in the first instance. In addition to the YJB Good Practice Grant, the YJB also offer discrete additional grants for specific projects or initiatives, for example funding for restorative justice. The YOS also receives funding from their local authority, health, probation, the police, and, where applicable, the Welsh Government.

The YJB will be allocating a total of £72.2m in grants for 19/20, meaning that overall allocation for the front line will be greater than the previous year. This will be broken down into £70.7m for the Good Practice Grant and £1.5m that will be allocated throughout the year for additional projects supporting front line services.