Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of BAME children in youth custody in the UK.

The youth justice statistics collection is published on GOV.UK. Within these, monthly statistics on children and young people within the secure estate are released, including the ethnic background of children in custody. The latest publication providing data on those present in custody can be found via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/youth-custody-data

Population data is also published as part of the annual report, with the most recent release covering the year ending March 2020 and the next update due for publication 27 January.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/youth-justice-statistics-2019-to-2020

Data includes those aged under 18, and 18-year olds. Some 18-year olds remain in the secure estate for children and young people if they only have a short period of their sentence to serve, to avoid disrupting their regimes.