Ed Balls, Children’s Secretary, has announced that £66m will be put forward to fund youth crime prevention projects over three years. The money is in addition to £33m from the Youth Justice Board (YJB).

Balls said the cash would go to youth offending teams via the YJB.

“The money is from the Home Office and the Department for Children, Schools and Families to make sure we’re continuing to emphasise tackling re-offending through early intervention and prevention,” he said.

In September the Association of Youth Offending Team managers wrote to the government warning that established prevention projects were already losing staff because of uncertainty over whether funding would be continued.

The existing three-year package of £45m for prevention projects expires at the end of March. Projects have also benefited from 25 per cent of Children's Fund money.