Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many registered social workers with a background in (a) child protection and (b) children’s residential care are employed in the (i) Youth Custody Service and (ii) Youth Custody Service Placement Team.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will list the Youth Justice Board publications concerned with safeguarding children in the secure estate commissioned and published in the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Following the government’s youth justice reform programme, announced in December 2016, responsibility and accountability for Youth Justice custodial provision transferred from the Youth Justice Board (YJB) to the Youth Custody Service (YCS); a distinct arm of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS).
The YCS assumed operational responsibility for the day to day running of youth secure services; including the youth secure estate (YSE), secure escorts, the placement of children remanded or sentenced to custody and the management of performance across the YSE, with effect from 1 September 2017.
The YJB’s Safeguarding Statement, which is published online, outlines its ongoing commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in contact with the youth justice system, as well as supporting the youth justice sector in the delivery of their safeguarding duties.
All of the YJB business and corporate plans published over the last five years are concerned with safeguarding children in the youth justice system; including those in the secure estate.
Key YJB commissioned and published documents concerned with safeguarding children include the following:
Children in Custody 2016–17: An analysis of 12–18-year-olds’ perceptions of their experiences
in secure training centres and young offender institutions which is available online at
YJB Safeguarding Report April 2013 – March 2015 which is available online at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486686/Safeguarding_Report.pdf
Deaths of Children in Custody: Action Taken, Lessons Learnt (2014) which is available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/yjb-plan-to-prevent-deaths-of-children-in-custody
Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint, safeguarding processes, governance arrangements, and roles and responsibilities (2015) which is available online at
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will list the names of advisers contracted to assist the development of secure schools and the (a) qualifications and (b) professional backgrounds of those advisers.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In the development of the Secure School’s model we have sourced specialist services in the fields of education, architecture, planning, cost consultancy and project support such as business case development. All these services have been provided on a limited time basis and have been sourced through the relevant Crown Commercial framework. Due to the commercial sensitivity, we are unable to publish the individual names and backgrounds of the advisers that were contracted to assist on secure schools.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2018 to Question 150138 on Youth Custody, what the timeframe is for the evaluation of the performance of secure schools; and what criteria his Department uses for that evaluation.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice is still considering the exact criteria that will inform the evaluation process for Secure Schools. As part of this work we published a draft version of our guide on ‘How to Apply to Run a Secure School’ on 1 June, seeking the views of current and potential service providers as well as interested stakeholders. Their feedback will help inform the final version of the guide and the process and criteria that we use to evaluate performance.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2018 to Question 150138, whether those secure schools will be mixed or same-sex schools.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Secure Schools will be able to accommodate all children from the age of twelve who are sentenced or remanded to custody, including girls where appropriate.
Placement decisions will continue to be made by the Youth Custody Service, based on each child’s individual needs and their Youth Offending Team’s placement recommendation, against a view of the available accommodation in the estate.
Placements will be made ensuring that a child’s best interests are a primary consideration.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice of 5 June 2018, Official Report, column 166, whether his Department plans to close other secure facilities when secure schools are opened.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Charlie Taylor review of the Youth Justice System proposed that Secure Schools are developed to replace Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) and Secure Training Centres (STCs). The government accepted the principles of Charlie’s proposal, but in doing so noted that this new concept will need to be gradually tested before any decisions are made about the wide roll-out required to achieve this long-term vision. Any decisions to decommission places in the existing secure estate will need to be considered in this context and made on a case by case basis.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice of 5 June 2018, Official Report, column 166, whether the government has a strategy to reduce the number of young people in custody; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Rory Stewart
There are times when an offence is so serious that custody is the only option. However, we are clear that this should be a last resort and the sentence length should be appropriate and proportionate. That is why we have a range of targeted community sentences which can be tailored based on the needs of children.
The government has worked to provide robust community sentences, and between 2007 to 2017 there has been a 73% drop in the number of young people sentenced to custody[1]. In 2017, 68% of all youth sentences were community sentences and only 7% were custodial sentences.
We are focusing on tackling the factors that put young people at risk of offending and are working across government to ensure we respond properly to the needs of vulnerable young people before they reach the criminal justice system. The number of FTEs into the Youth Justice System has fallen by 86% over the last 10 years, and by 10% in the latest year[2].
For those children that do receive a custodial sentence, it is important that custody rehabilitates them. We currently have a Youth Justice Reform Programme which aims to improve standards in custody and puts a focus on health, wellbeing and education. It also includes expanding the workforce to ensure that children are supported in custody.
[1] Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2017, published 17th May 2018, Sentencing data tool.
[2] Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2017, published 17th May 2018, Offending History Data Tool: Sanction statistics
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice of 5 June 2018, Official Report, column 166, what his Department's timetable is for the opening of secure schools.
Answered by Rory Stewart
To ensure the successful implementation of Secure Schools, it is key that we identify and secure the right, child-focused, providers and work in partnership with them to shape the service that will be delivered.
Our primary objective, therefore, is to allow sufficient time to achieve this before opening Secure Schools. We will agree the opening date with the successful applicant in due course.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of children that spent a night in custody in each of the last five years.
Answered by Phillip Lee
Owing to changes in case management systems, information is available for the last three years only: it relates to the total number of nights spent (not children) in custody by young people under 18 and is provided in the table below:
Number of nights spent by young people under 18 in custody
2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 |
3,192 | 2,730 | 2,347 |
These figures include all nights spent in custody by children and young people under 18 who have been sentenced or remanded by the courts and have subsequently been released to the community: have transitioned to the over 18 secure estate, have transferred to a Mental Health Unit; or have turned 18 years old. They do not include time spent in police custody. A child or young person is counted more than once if he or she had more than one custodial episode which ended within the year.
These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 14 May 2018 to Question 141024, on Young Offender Institutions, if he will publish that same information (a) per young person and (b) by age.
Answered by Phillip Lee
The safety and welfare of young people held in custody is one of our highest priorities and is fundamental to the proper functioning of our justice system. We are committed to reforming youth custody so that it is safer for both young people and staff, as well as being better equipped to help young people turn their lives around.
However, as was stated in the answer to the original PQ, we do not centrally hold this data broken down per young person. We also do not centrally hold this data broken down by age. These figures could only be provided at disproportionate cost by collating the information from individual records held locally at each establishment.
The Youth Custody Service (YCS) is currently in the process of moving all custodial data and information from the Youth Justice Board (YJB) following the creation of the YCS in September 2017. The second phase of this project will be to review datasets and improve the quality of information available. Separation data will be included in this review.