Young offenders will be trained in laying gas pipes

Young offenders are to be offered work laying gas pipes as part of a government-sponsored scheme to help inmates to find jobs on release from jail.

In an effort to break the cycle between unemployment and crime, an existing scheme that gives under-21s the chance to train in the gas industry is to be expanded.

In a pilot scheme, 15 young offenders at Reading have been offered a 13-week intensive programme with the gas pipeline company National Grid Transco. Gordon Brown highlighted the scheme as an example of the Government helping to get young offenders who demonstrate good behaviour a job on release. The course leads to an entry-level qualification that could lead to work replacing gas pipes under the road.

Transco plans to train 50 inmates at Reading young offenders' institution and want a total of 100 over the next three years, a Prison Service spokesman says. The pilot scheme is expected to be extended to cover four young offenders' institutions and adult prisons.

"We are in talks with Transco to extend the programme nationally," a Prison Service spokesman said.

Meanwhile, prison and probation services are to get an extra £174m over the next three years to help to provide extra cells and training places.