Preliminary thematic findings report: London Youth Reducing Reoffending Programme

Further to the Greater London Authority statement issued today, Ipsos also strenuously deny there is any truth in the BBC’s suggestion that there was an attempt to cover up any findings in the recent Preliminary Thematic Findings Report on the London Youth Reducing Reoffending Programme.

The article misrepresents the changes to a draft report in important respects. Just to take one example, the article notes ‘Few inmates who were interviewed felt that they had been prepared for the jobs market, also not reported in the published version’. This is a clear misrepresentation of the draft report which said: ‘One young person we spoke to said he still did not feel prepared for getting back into employment’. Indeed, the fact that it was based on only one person’s viewpoint is the reason for its omission.

However, most importantly it discusses the findings as a final evaluation report, when this is clearly not the case, and the BBC were made aware of that. The full evaluation will be published in summer 2012.

In particular, it was agreed with all stakeholders, who include the Ministry of Justice, the Youth Justice Board and three local authorities, that within the scope of this preliminary findings report the evidence was not currently strong enough to discuss the Payment by Results model in detail prior to further analysis of the data gathered and a cost analysis exercise (both of which are ongoing). The draft referred to included viewpoints from a small number of stakeholders, which without being set in the context of the views of all those involved in the programme and also the data on the delivery of Daedalus, could be misleading.

Ipsos are fiercely protective of our reputation for independence and refute any suggestion that we have acted without the utmost integrity.

• Download the Preliminary Thematic Findings report (PDF)