Under a current prison service order, every prison and YOI should have a designated officer to ensure that no prisoner who is likely to need legal services fails to apply for them "due to ignorance or general inadequacy".
But, responding to a question in parliament from Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem MP for Leeds North West, Blunt admitted that the training required to carry out the order "could not be delivered".
Instead, he said, governors will in future be required to give prisoners information on how to access legal advice as part of their induction into custody.
He added that juvenile offender institutions have "discrete advocacy services" available for prisoners under 18 years old.
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