The BBC recently aired a programme about the scheme

Clive Fairweather questioned why the deputy justice minister withdrew funding from the Airborne programme when in June, he praised its progress.

Mr Fairweather said the decision was "stupid and shortsighted".

Hugh Henry defended the move by insisting that sending youngsters on the programme was proving too costly.

The initiative was the subject of a recent BBC fly-on-the-wall TV documentary called Chancers, which showed scenes of young offenders taking drugs at the centre in Carluke, Lanarkshire.

How can the minister say it's not value for money when his own department acknowledged in June it was going from strength to strength? Clive Fairweather Former chief inspector of prisons

Airborne board member Mr Fairweather accused the Scottish Executive of pulling the plug on the scheme simply because of the negative publicity generated by the TV programme.

He said: "This has to be the most stupid decision I've ever seen taken by the justice department.

"Airborne's closure has nothing to do with value for money and everything to do with the negative publicity from the TV programme Chancers.

"How can the minister say it's not value for money when his own department acknowledged in June it was going from strength to strength?

"He needs to be sent home to think again, it's not only stupid and short-sighted but weasel-worded political hypocrisy."

Job losses

Mr Henry insisted the programme was not value for money and the cost of sending a young offender on the course was more expensive than the equivalent period in prison.

The closure will mean the loss of all 26 jobs at Airborne.

Mr Fairweather claimed residential schemes for young offenders like Airborne offered the only hope of changing their behaviour as day schemes and short prison sentences were a waste of time.

"The executive knows sending people to prison for short periods is a waste of time but with Airborne you get nine weeks with instructors who are role models, who can really begin to turn these people in a different direction."

Mr Henry accepted that Airborne had achieved results but insisted its closure would leave no void because of the range of alternatives to custody available.

The facts are that Airborne has failed to make the number of referrals for which it has received funding Hugh Henry Deputy Justice Minister

He said: "I don't dispute that Airborne has saved some young men from a life of crime - that is obviously to be welcomed.

"Airborne was a ground-breaking project but the ground has shifted in recent years.

"There are now a range of alternatives to custody available to our courts - there is no void left by Airborne's closure.

"The facts are that Airborne has failed to make the number of referrals for which it has received funding and that, despite being a national project, it draws relatively few referrals from courts outside the Lanarkshire area."