Council leaders have backed calls by campaigners to move responsibility for children in custody to local authorities. A report by the Prison Reform Trust argued councils should take over the £279m budget from the Youth Justice Board as a way of driving financial savings. The trust said councils already controlled budgets for non-custodial sentences and would have a greater incentive to prevent offending by providing alternatives to custody. Official figures published this year showed an 8% increase in the child prison population to more than 3,000. An LGA spokesman said councils were open to the idea. He said: ‘Calls to give councils responsibility for young offenders could be a big step forward in the drive to prevent and tackle youth crime and re-offending. However, these proposals will only work if councils receive the funding and powers they need to do the job well.' Juliet Lyon, director of the trust, explained: ‘How long are we going to put up with children's depressing journey from family breakdown, exclusion and local authority care to prison, homelessness, unemployment and more crime?'
