After consultation with the Prison Reform Trust, Barrow Cadbury, NACRO and Rainer, Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department)  announced that the government will not abolish the use of detention in young offenders institutions (DYOI).

Mr. Gerry Sutcliffe said:

In November 2005, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Fiona Mactaggart announced the National Offender Management Service young adult offenders (YAOs) project, as part of the new approach to offender management, to consider the implications of abolishing DYOI and the regime that would need to be in place to ensure sufficient safeguards for this age group both in custody and the community.

The project has reviewed the needs of YAOs, the appropriate age range, the use of the prison estate,the regimes and interventions required in prison andin the community and considered the implications of abolishing detention in a young offender institution (DYOI).

There has been full consultation with internal and external stakeholders. Significant representatives of voluntary and community groups have been consulted in particular Barrow Cadbury, Prison Reform Trust, NACRO and Rainer. Consideration has been given to HM Inspectorate's recent thematic report on young adult offenders. Future implementation will include consideration of Baroness Corston's recommendations regarding women offenders in the criminal justice system.

We have concluded that taking account of the constraints posed by current prison capacity and the need to undertake further work to test out an approach to young adult offenders the time is not yet right to abolish detention in a young offender institution (DYOI).