Kieran Donnelly, the Comptroller and Auditor General, today presented the Audit Office’s report on Managing children who offend to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The number of offences committed by young people is declining, but more than one in four young offenders will reoffend within a year.

But while the overall reoffending rate is 28 per cent, the reoffending rate for those released from custody is 89 per cent (31 out of 35).

Long term analysis of reoffending has been constrained by a lack of reliable data, but reoffending is believed to be up from 2010/11.

Mr Donnelly said: “Assessing the cost effectiveness of interventions used to address offending behaviour is the foundation for delivering value for money. The Department and the Youth Justice Agency lack the capacity to identify and apportion costs to the full range of interventions.

“Consequently, they cannot adequately assess their cost-effectiveness and cannot currently demonstrate that the interventions to reduce reoffending by young people represent value for money.”

Custodial services represent the largest element of the Youth Justice Agency’s costs, £6.9 million in 2015/16, when around 160 young people were detained.

Historically, young people on remand have made up the majority of the custodial population and accounted for half of all those processed through the Juvenile Justice Centre.

The average cost per occupant each year in the JJC is £324,000.