MORE than 500 persistent offenders across Lancashire are to be put on rehabilitation programmes as part of a new bid to cut crime in the county.

The pledge is just one measure in the recently published action plan by the National Probation Service in Lancashire until March 2002 for supervising offenders in the community.

The planning statement sets out how probation in Lancashire is using its £16million budget for the county this year.

One of the main measures is to ensure at least 325 persistent offenders complete the 'Think First' programme and at least 200 start on Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, which will tackle drug-related violations.

The 'Think First' programme is a series of counselling sessions and can either be a complete sentence in iteself or form part of the licence conditions on an offender's release from prison.

Other pledges in the plan include:

Providing high quality pre-sentence and other reports to courts, on time, helping to speed justice

Tough enforcement of orders imposed by the courts on offenders to rigorous national standards

Nationally accredited programmes 'what works' with offenders through tackling why they offended and to stop them committing more crimes

Extending involvement with victims of crime where the offender is jailed for 12 months or more

Extending approaches with partners to improve jobless offenders' skills for work so they are less likely to reoffend. The Probation Service will work jointly with community safety partnerships throughout the county tackling crime and disorder.

At least 20 per cent of work by offenders serving community punishments will be to boost community safety in local projects benefiting neighbourhoods.

Chief Officer, John Crawforth said: "This is our first area plan since we became part of the National Probation Service in April.

"We will be working to national and local targets which will see the probation service grow by 35 per cent in the next three years.

"Our focus is to enforce community punishment and protect the public, using the methods that work best with offenders to reduce their re-offending.

"We are making sure that Probation is a service which upholds fairness and equal opportunity both as an employer of staff and in how staff work with offenders.

"We are increasing the diversity of our workforce with a target to mirror our Lancashire community population by 2004."