By Steve Bargeton, political editor

THE NUMBER of persistent young offenders—those who break the law five times or more in a six-month period—has continued to rise, despite a pledge by ministers to cut the number of “neds” by 10%.

The Scottish Executive has made tackling youth crime its top priority, bringing in a raft of new measures.

However the annual report of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) published yesterday shows the number of persistent offenders has gone up 16%—from 1201 in 2003/04 to 1388 last year.

In 2004, the justice minister Cathy Jamieson promised an “achievable” 10% reduction in the number of persistent young offenders by March this year.

In her own constituency, however, the number has gone up by 85%.

In Fife the number of young offenders has gone up 73% from 50 to 78; in Angus there has been a 69% increase from 29 to 44.

However in Dundee the number of persistent young offenders has dropped by 26%—from 109 in 2003/04 to 80 last year—and in Perth the number has fallen from 31 to 28.

At First Minister’s Question Time yesterday SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon attacked the Executive’s record on tackling youth crime, their most high profile policy.

Ms Sturgeon told MSPs the justice minister had pledged in 2004 that progress would be made.

“Progress hasn’t been made. Things have got, and are still getting, worse,” she said.

“Isn’t this much, much more than a missed pledge? This is a government going in totally the wrong direction.

“Instead of coming up with daft excuses, will the First Minister simply tell us what has gone wrong with his policies?”

Reminding Parliament that the Executive had said failing teachers would be “assisted to find new careers,” Ms Sturgeon said, “What happens to failing justice ministers?”

Mr McConnell said that dealing with persistent young offenders involved first identifying them accurately and effectively, then ensuring police and councils had the powers to tackle “the issues raised by those persistent young offenders.”

There was a need for more secure accommodation, which was now in place, and there was a need to ensure that when they left the system, youngsters had opportunities for education, training and jobs.

“That is the action this government has taken—identifying the right young offenders, ensuring that the system has the right powers to deal with them, ensuring that the system can tackle their offending behaviour if necessary by locking them away, and by ensuring that opportunities are available so they do not become career criminals as adults,” he said.

To laughter from MSPs Ms Sturgeon hit back, “The First Minister is certainly not one to let the facts get in the way of a good waffle.

“The truth is that the number of persistent young offenders is going up year on year and this Executive has broken its pledge to cut that number by 10%.

“With a record like Cathy Jamieson’s, it is perhaps no wonder Gordon Brown doesn’t want her to run Labour’s election campaign.”

She claimed the Executive had in recent weeks been shown to be failing to deliver in nursery education, council tax reform and youth crime.

“The First Minister himself is a persistent offender —he persistently fails to keep his promises,” she said. “We already knew the Executive had completely missed its target to cut persistent youth offending by 2006, and instead is presiding over an increase.”

Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie said, “Labour fought and won the 2003 Scottish elections on the promise of a crackdown on youth crime. As in so many justice issues, they have failed, and society is the loser.

“The number of children being referred to the SCRA has doubled in 10 years, recording the highest figure of children looked after in Scotland since 1982.

“This rise in itself is bad enough, but most concerning of all is that the number of children being referred to the reporter on the specific ground of ‘lack of parental care’ (17,801) is, for the first time, greater than the total being referred on offence grounds (17,624).

“What does that say about family breakdown in today’s Scotland?”