Thames Valley Police: Review call for police's job skills scheme

The study looked at programmes that do not involve prosecuting offenders or taking them to court

No young offenders took part in a police force's £75,000 project to enrol them on a job skills scheme over a six-month period, a report found.

Thames Valley Police (TVP) paid the Prince's Trust to provide courses for young people who were given conditional cautions rather than being prosecuted.

Consultant Crest Advisory, which compiled the report, said an "immediate review" was needed.

TVP said it was looking to extend the project so more people could use of it.

Crest Advisory worked with the force on a study looking at out-of-court disposals (OOCDs) and other programmes, in which offenders address their criminality rather than being prosecuted and going through the courts.

In the 12 months to the end of March, 9,034 OOCDs had been issued across the Thames Valley area.

The Prince's Trust was given funding for 100 places for offenders, aged between 16 and 30, so they could be referred for an assessment and placed on an appropriate job skills scheme.

But the charity received one referral between March and September, and that person failed to contact or take part in the programme.

Crest Advisory said a "lack of knowledge" amongst staff about places on the programme was likely to be a factor in the poor take-up.

Thames Valley Police wants to use the scheme more, a spokesperson said

It also found that OOCDs and other programmes for adults were "hampered" by a lack of information as to whether they worked to cut reoffending.

Course providers said they could not get the information themselves and that there were problems getting reoffending data from police.

Crest Advisory said that needed addressing "as a matter of urgency".

Its recommendations will be published in full in December.

A TVP spokesperson said the report showed an "increasing confidence" amongst its staff to make "best use" of OOCDs.

They said the force recognised it must increase training and guidance to officers and staff over the use of OOCDs, and was "actively working" to do so.

The force was also looking to increase the use of the scheme with the Prince's Trust and was "working to extend" it before its scheduled end in April, the spokesperson added.