BORIS JOHNSON’S flagship scheme for young re-offenders was slammed in an official review, but criticisms were removed before the report went public.


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Before being edited, the original review called into question the ‘payment by results’ method that was the central part of Johnson’s ‘Project Daedalus’ programme at Feltham Young Offenders Institute, in which charities or companies were paid according to how well they met certain targets, such as on re-offending.

Sounds good in theory, but researchers for Ipsos Mori, employed by City Hall, found that in practice the lack of funds upfront led to lack of money for work with the young offenders.

“It was hard for them to invest the necessary funds upfront for some of the innovation,” reads a line from the original report, mysteriously missing when the report was published, but now revealed in leaks to the BBC.

Lack of upfront funds may also have been one of the reasons staff contact with ex-offenders was lacking, or “they did not spend as much time with the young person as was sometimes desired”, as the original report puts it.

“It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that a PR exercise has watered down the original findings of the evaluation, as the unpublished draft differs tellingly from the published version,” said Andrew Neilson of the Howard League for Penal Reform.

Johnson’s staff at City Hall have admitted that changes were made, but have so far been unable to say who authorised which revisions.

“All the partners sent in views about any factual inaccuracies and things corroborated by the evidence,” was the catch-all quote made by a City Hall spokesperson today.

Johnson has been in trouble over his youth offender scheme before.

Claims made by the Mayor that the programme had a re-offending rate of just 19% compared to a national average of 80% were dismissed as “complete nonsense” by Andrew Morley, a civil servant in charge of the scheme.

Latest stats suggest the re-offending rate for Johnson’s programme is likely to be over 50%, compared to a national average of 60% and Johnson was able to cherry-pick youths less likely to re-offend.