We have factored that into our spending plans. In time, and it will take time, once the system has got on top of this problem, then there may be a need for fewer places, but that is a long way off. Half are under 21. Nearly two-thirds are hard drug users. More than a third were in care as children.
Half have no qualifications at all.
He added that although they were convicted again and again by the courts there was little appreciable increase in the length of sentence they received each time. This ensured that a judge did not sentence a thief to six months in prison for stealing a bottle of milk even if it was the 12th time he had been convicted of the offence. Mr Straw said yesterday it was time to make the sentence fit the offender rather than the offence. He acknowledged that the clause in question had been dropped, but said the courts still sentenced within its spirit and few persistent offenders got longer sentences every time they appeared in court.