'Uninformed' ministers closed youth project

• Report to criticise ministers over decision to close Airborne Initiative scheme

• Ministers did not visit youth rehabilitation project, says report

• Report states ministers' decision swayed by local objections and the media

Key quote

"When ministers were faced with calls for its closure (due to a combination of local ‘nimbyism’ and the perceived negative effects of the first few episodes of the Chancers series), coupled with the desire to switch funding away from residential solutions, they lacked first-hand knowledge of what courses and trainees were like in reality" - Independent report

Story in full EXECUTIVE ministers will come in for stinging criticism this week for closing a flagship programme to curb re-offending without taking the time to find out what the initiative was all about.

An independent report into the closure of the Airborne Initiative, which was shut down by the Executive in February last year, will be published tomorrow.

The report, a copy of which has been obtained by The Scotsman, is highly critical of ministers and the way they approached the groundbreaking residential project which attempted to prevent re-offending among high-tariff young male offenders.

Hugh Henry, the deputy justice minister, was responsible for the decision to withdraw Executive funding from Airborne. He is accused of giving in to "nimbyism" (Not In My Back Yard) from residents in the surrounding area who wanted to see the project closed down, and allowing himself to be influenced by a critical BBC documentary into the programme.

The authors of the independent report said ministers had failed to make any visits to the project, so did not have any real knowledge of what the staff did or what they were trying to achieve.

The project was set up as an alternative to prison for some of the most hardened young criminals. It ran nine-week residential courses combining class work and Outward Bound activities for 18-25-year-old men.

The report stated: "When ministers were faced with calls for its closure (due to a combination of local ‘nimbyism’ and the perceived negative effects of the first few episodes of the Chancers series), coupled with the desire to switch funding away from residential solutions, they lacked first-hand knowledge of what courses and trainees were like in reality."

The report stressed that antagonism from local residents near the Braidwood residence in Carluke, South Lanarkshire had "undoubtedly contributed" to the project’s demise and that some local residents "pursued an agenda to have the site closed".

The controversial BBC Scotland documentary series Chancers was blamed by many observers at the time for influencing the Executive’s decision to close Airborne because it appeared to show offenders out of control.

The report concluded that offenders "acted up" for the cameras and "appeared far worse than they actually were" and this had "distorted the view" of Executive ministers who should have had enough first-hand knowledge to know what the project was really about, and not have their opinions coloured by a television documentary.

The authors of the report concluded that the Airborne Initiative was making real progress and the Executive’s decision to withdraw funding brought this good work to a halt.

The authors were also critical of staff and managers at the project for poor selection and preparation of trainees and said the "Achilles’ heel" of the initiative was its failure to generate sufficient numbers to justify its expense.

But it will be ministers, and particularly Mr Henry, who will come in for the greatest criticism as a result of the report because it was the Executive’s decision to withdraw funding that led to the closure of the project.

The clear implication of the report is that the Executive ditched the project for political reasons just when it was starting to have an impact on re-offending.

Clive Fairweather, the former chief inspector of prisons, and one of the report’s authors, said yesterday ministers had acted out of "prejudice" and because Airborne had become "politically embarrassing" for them.

He said: "The irony is that it showed itself to be effective when they shut it down. I believe that Hugh Henry closed Airborne on the basis of prejudice - he did not visit the project and I still do not think that he understands what we were really dealing with."

A spokesman for the Executive said: "We plan to concentrate resources on developing and extending the 'Constructs' general offending programme which already is in place in West Dunbartonshire and used by several other local authorities.

"Our plans are to eventually offer support to around 500 offenders a year - seven times the number who would annually have gone through Airborne.

"This approach will ensure that the funding previously given to Airborne is used to address re-offending behaviour in communities right across the country - in a scheme which already has proven results locally."