Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many safeguarding referrals have been made from each (a) young offender institution and (b) secure training centre for people aged 18 or over in each of the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The data requested are set out in the following tables:
Young Offender Institutions
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Cookham Wood | 8 | * | 25 | 22 |
Feltham A | 10 | 10 | 12 | 28 |
Parc YPU | 0 | 0 | * | 15 |
Werrington | * | 7 | * | 29 |
Wetherby | 14 | 36 | 32 | 61 |
Secure Training Centres
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Oakhill | 8 | * | 0 | 9 |
Rainsbrook | 13 | 9 | - | - |
Notes
1. The symbol * is used for suppressed values of 5 or fewer, to prevent disclosure in accordance with data protection principles. Zero figures are not suppressed.
2. Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre closed in December 2021.
3. Please note that the above is classed as internal management information.
4. Following Urgent Notification at Oakhill Secure Training Centre in October 2021, safeguarding data recording processes were reviewed and central collation of this data was ceased for the period of October - December 2021. Safeguarding processes were maintained locally for the period and following revision, central data collation recommenced in January 2022.
When a safeguarding case is opened, the detail of the case may not be known. We conduct a thorough investigation of every case to understand the details and the severity of the concern and ensure that any necessary actions are taken to protect the children in our custody. It is not the case that an increase in safeguarding cases should always be a matter of concern: this would be dependent on the nature of the case. An increased number of cases may represent increased confidence on the part of staff in reporting concerns or may indicate that children feel safe to disclose information to staff. It is by conducting a thorough investigation that we can understand the nature of each case and identify any trends that need to be addressed.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an estimate of the number of young people aged 18 or over in the youth secure estate who have been separated from their peers for more than seven days in the last 12 months.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The latest 12-month period for which data are available is 01 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. During that period, 56 young people aged 18 or over in the youth secure estate were separated for more than seven days. All of these were in young offender institutions.
In making the above calculation, the following rules were applied:
On 31 December 2023, there were 153 young people aged 18 or over in the youth estate. Details of their ethnicity and religious affiliation are provided in the following tables.
Number of 18+ year olds by ethnic group, December 2023
| Number of 18+ year olds |
Asian | 8 |
Black | 48 |
Mixed | 22 |
Not Known | * |
Other | * |
White | 69 |
Grand Total | 153 |
Note
The symbol * is used for suppressed values of five or fewer, to prevent disclosure in accordance with data protection principles. Zero figures are not suppressed.
Number of 18+ year olds by religious group, December 2023
| Number of 18+ year olds |
No Religion | 24 |
Christian | 55 |
Muslim | 22 |
Other religion | 10 |
Religion not stated | 42 |
Grand Total | 153 |
As of 06 February 2024, the oldest young person accommodated in the youth estate was 18 years old.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many young people aged 18 or over from each (a) ethnic group and (b) religion were in the youth estate as of 31 December 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The latest 12-month period for which data are available is 01 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. During that period, 56 young people aged 18 or over in the youth secure estate were separated for more than seven days. All of these were in young offender institutions.
In making the above calculation, the following rules were applied:
On 31 December 2023, there were 153 young people aged 18 or over in the youth estate. Details of their ethnicity and religious affiliation are provided in the following tables.
Number of 18+ year olds by ethnic group, December 2023
| Number of 18+ year olds |
Asian | 8 |
Black | 48 |
Mixed | 22 |
Not Known | * |
Other | * |
White | 69 |
Grand Total | 153 |
Note
The symbol * is used for suppressed values of five or fewer, to prevent disclosure in accordance with data protection principles. Zero figures are not suppressed.
Number of 18+ year olds by religious group, December 2023
| Number of 18+ year olds |
No Religion | 24 |
Christian | 55 |
Muslim | 22 |
Other religion | 10 |
Religion not stated | 42 |
Grand Total | 153 |
As of 06 February 2024, the oldest young person accommodated in the youth estate was 18 years old.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the age of the oldest individual placed in the youth secure estate as of 6 February 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The latest 12-month period for which data are available is 01 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. During that period, 56 young people aged 18 or over in the youth secure estate were separated for more than seven days. All of these were in young offender institutions.
In making the above calculation, the following rules were applied:
On 31 December 2023, there were 153 young people aged 18 or over in the youth estate. Details of their ethnicity and religious affiliation are provided in the following tables.
Number of 18+ year olds by ethnic group, December 2023
| Number of 18+ year olds |
Asian | 8 |
Black | 48 |
Mixed | 22 |
Not Known | * |
Other | * |
White | 69 |
Grand Total | 153 |
Note
The symbol * is used for suppressed values of five or fewer, to prevent disclosure in accordance with data protection principles. Zero figures are not suppressed.
Number of 18+ year olds by religious group, December 2023
| Number of 18+ year olds |
No Religion | 24 |
Christian | 55 |
Muslim | 22 |
Other religion | 10 |
Religion not stated | 42 |
Grand Total | 153 |
As of 06 February 2024, the oldest young person accommodated in the youth estate was 18 years old.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the potential impact of trends in levels of financial settlements for local authorities on trends in levels of neighbourhood disputes involving police since 2010.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
The Government has not conducted analysis on potential impact of trends in levels of financial settlements for local authorities since 2010 on trends in levels of neighbourhood disputes involving police.
This Government has supported the police by giving them the resources they need. We have confirmed a total police funding settlement of up to £18.4 billion for 2024-25, an increase of up to £842.9 million when compared to 2023-24.
Assuming full take up of precept flexibility, overall police funding available to PCCs will increase by up to £922.2 million (6.0% in cash terms).
Decisions on how to use funding and resources are an operational matter for Chief Constables. Police and Crime Commissioners are best placed to make resourcing decisions within their communities based on their local knowledge and experience.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of dentistry provision in the youth secure estate.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has statutory responsibility for the direct commissioning of health services in the children and young people secure estate. Intercollegiate Healthcare Standards for children and young people in secure settings were first published in 2013 to support high quality healthcare provision for children in secure settings, and were refreshed in 2023. These standards are available at the following link:
https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/healthcare-standards-children-young-people-secure-settings
They formed the basis of an outcome-based dental service specification, which is available at the following link:
All children in the secure estate receive individualised care according to need and following an assessment via the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool. This is an evidence based, validated health assessment tool for under 18-year-olds, which screens for physical health, substance misuse, mental health and neurodisability. This would include any dental care needs.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have been dismissed for (a) supplying and (b) transporting drugs in the youth secure estate in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is often as a result of conditioning and manipulation by prisoners.
HM Prison & Probation Service has a zero-tolerance policy to drugs conveyed into prisons and take appropriate action to a small number of prison staff who break the rules. Our £100m Security Investment Programme, aimed at reducing crime in prisons, including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones, is ongoing. This includes increased resource to pursue corruption, as well as established a new ‘Prevent’ function, aimed at building staff resilience against corruption.
Below is a table showing the breakdown of staff dismissed from 2019 to Dec 2023 within the Youth Custody Service (YCS) for drug related offences.
Table 1
Year | Conveyance of drugs |
TOTAL | 1 |
2019 | 0 |
2020 | 0 |
2021 | 1 |
2022 | 0 |
2023 | 0 |
Source: Linkspace Case Management System.
Notes:
Linkspace is the Counter Corruption Unit’s (CCU) Case Management System used to record and track cases linked to corruption.
Data provided by the CCU have the following Caveats applied below;
1) The new Counter Corruption Unit came into being in April 2019, with a new structure and a change to ways of working. During the initial transition period, and prior to the introduction of the new Case Management System, it is possible that not all arrests were being captured.
2) Prior to April 2019, corruption in HMPPS was managed by the Corruption Prevention Unit (CPU). The CPU was a largely centralised unit focused on sanitising and disseminating all corruption related intelligence to the Police, with an individual Regional Corruption Prevention Manager (RCPM) in each geographical region offering advice and support to prisons in managing corruption, Hence data prior to April 2019 is not available.
3) Data includes Non-Directly Employed Staff (public or private) as they provide a service on behalf of HMPPS.
4) ‘Supplying and transporting’ of drugs in a prison falls under the definition of ‘conveyance of drugs’ and recorded on the CCU’s Case Management System to cases linked to drugs related offences.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the number of prison officers who were dismissed for having intimate relationships with young people in the youth secure estate in each year since 2014.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The vast majority of prison staff are hardworking and dedicated. A minority of staff engage in corrupt activity which is often as a result of conditioning and manipulation by prisoners.
HM Prison & Probation Service has a zero-tolerance policy on staff who form inappropriate relationships with prisoners and take appropriate action to a small number of prison staff who break the rules. Our £100m Security Investment Programme, aimed at reducing crime in prisons, including reducing the number of staff being manipulated and conditioned by prisoners, is ongoing. This includes increased resource to pursue corruption, as well as established a new ‘Prevent’ function, aimed at building staff resilience against corruption.
Below is a table showing the breakdown of staff dismissed from 2019 to Dec 2023 within the Youth Custody Service (YCS) for having an inappropriate relationship offences.
Table 1
Year | Inappropriate relationships |
TOTAL | 3 |
2019 | 1 |
2020 | 1 |
2021 | 1 |
2022 | 0 |
2023 | 0 |
Source: Linkspace Case Management System.
Notes:
Linkspace is the Counter Corruption Unit’s (CCU) Case Management System used to record and track cases linked to corruption.
Data provided by the CCU have the following Caveats applied below;
1) The new Counter Corruption Unit came into being in April 2019, with a new structure and a change to ways of working. During the initial transition period, and prior to the introduction of the new Case Management System, it is possible that not all arrests were being captured.
2) Prior to April 2019, corruption in HMPPS was managed by the Corruption Prevention Unit (CPU). The CPU was a largely centralised unit focused on sanitising and disseminating all corruption related intelligence to the Police, with an individual Regional Corruption Prevention Manager (RCPM) in each geographical region offering advice and support to prisons in managing corruption, Hence data prior to April 2019 is not available.
3) Data includes Non-Directly Employed Staff (public or private) as they provide a service on behalf of HMPPS.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether prison officers working in the youth secure estate receive training on tackling violence against women and girls.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Youth Custody Service (YCS) recognises that girls have specific needs that require a gender-specific approach. A national Girls Oversight Board has been established to lead on the work of providing a dedicated care strategy, appropriate complex case management, and learning and development for staff.
A bespoke training offer is being developed by YCS Psychology Services for staff working with girls in our Young Offender Institution and Secure Training Centre sectors. This will cover a range of gender-specific issues that directly affect girls and young women.
Placement decisions in relation to girls in the youth secure estate take full account of the wider population of children. The Ministry of Justice expects standards of behaviour towards girls and women to be modelled and challenged appropriately by operational staff, and the mixing of cohorts is closely supervised at all times.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has he made of the causes of the increase in the number of young people aged 18 or over placed in the youth secure estate since 2022.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
It has never been the policy automatically to transfer young people to the adult estate on reaching the age of 18. Some 18-year-olds have always been managed in the youth estate, when they were nearing the end of their sentence or it was deemed to be the most appropriate location for them.
While there can be benefits for the individual young person in remaining in the youth secure estate beyond the age of 18, it is necessary also to have regard to the wider effect on the youth estate, and to the needs of the secure estate as a whole. The cohort of 18-year-olds within the estate is monitored closely. Performance data and local intelligence help to inform placement and transition decisions.
All decisions whether to relocate are taken on a case-by case basis, considering both the needs of the individual young person and the safety and safeguarding of others. Where appropriate, some 18-year-olds continue to be moved into the adult estate. Newly-sentenced or -remanded 18-year-olds continue to be placed into over-18 establishments.
Young people over the age of 18 will not be placed in the Oasis Restore School, but the interim policy of retaining 18-year-olds in youth custody will apply to the school when it opens in Spring 2024.
As this is an interim policy, we envisage that, when it concludes, the number of young people over 18 in the youth estate will return to previous levels. We plan to review the interim policy towards the end of 2024.