Local communities have pledged an estimated £37m to supplement the Youth Justice Board (YJB)'s crime-prevention fund over the next two years, Young People Now has learned.

The match funding for local youth inclusion programmes (YIPs) and youth inclusion support panels (YISPs) has been attracted on the back of the £45m crime-prevention fund for youth offending teams that was first mooted in 2004 and was finalised last year.

In 2004, the Home Office promised to increase the number of YIPs and YISPs in England and Wales by half.

Bob Ashford, head of prevention at the YJB, told Young People Now the number of YIPs will increase from 72 to 110, and YISPs will rise from about 100 to 220.

There will also be 87 new parenting programmes, eight more safer schools partnerships, six projects working around individual support orders, and 37 "innovatory" schemes tailored to local needs.

Youth offending teams were given an allocation of the £45m based on their size and the needs of the population, and then had to submit a plan explaining how they would spend it to the YJB. The teams had to choose from a range of possible programmes to meet local needs.

Ashford said: "I'm extremely encouraged by what is happening out there.

What we are seeing is the integration of services around youth crime prevention.

And what is coming back is very clear evidence about alignment."

Youth offending team managers have welcomed the funding, although the scale of the increase in prevention work will depend on how many projects are operating in each area.