The scheme could be closed within a month because of funding withdrawal

The Scottish National Party's Nicola Sturgeon said no one from the Scottish Executive had even visited the Airborne programme in advance of the decision.

The executive said last week it would be withdrawing its �600,000 funding.

The initiative, at Braidwood House in Carluke, Lanarkshire, is now under threat of closure.

Organisers of the programme said they would be forced to shut within a month unless the executive has a rethink.

Ms Sturgeon urged ministers to think again during a Scottish Parliament debate on Thursday.

It (the executive) is chucking out the baby with the bath water if Airborne has the rug pulled from under it Robin Harper Green MSP

She said: "All we have from the executive, from ministers who haven't as much as visited the initiative, is an assertion that it doesn't provide value for money.

"Not a scrap of hard evidence has been offered to back that up.

"Where we have evidence that something is worthwhile, then I would suggest the Scottish Executive should target its money to help address its problems rather than pull the rug from under its feet."

The Airborne scheme came in for criticism after a fly-on-the-wall documentary showed inmates taking drugs.

The executive has denied claims that ministers took their decision to withdraw funding following the negative publicity which surrounded the BBC programme.

But Tory justice spokesman James Douglas Hamilton said ministers had made a "knee-jerk" decision.

He said: "We consider that it is right that we should pause and reflect on the subject of the Airborne initiative before any irrevocable decision is allowed to stand.

Stay of execution

"The announcement appears to have been made as a knee-jerk reaction rather than as a fully considered decision."

Peter Peacock, the minister for education and young people, said the executive had made its decision after giving "full and careful consideration" to the matter.

Nicola Sturgeon: "Think again"

Lib-Dem education committee convener, Robert Brown, warned valuable experience could be lost with the demise of Airborne, and urged ministers to give the project a stay of execution with interim funding to allow a parliamentary inquiry into the issue.

Green Lothians list MSP Robin Harper said there was now a "sense of urgency" to save an "absolutely unique" project.

He added: "It (the executive) is chucking out the baby with the bath water if Airborne has the rug pulled from under it."

Rosemary Byrne, the Scottish Socialist spokeswoman on education and young people accused the executive of a "pitiful lack of resolve" over the Airborne issue.

SNP Banff & Buchan MSP Stewart Stevenson said there was widespread support for a review of the executive's decision, and said Mr Brown's proposal of continued interim funding to allow a parliamentary inquiry was an "attractive way forward".