Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's news story entitled The evolving response to ethnic disproportionality in youth justice, published on 19 December 2025, what steps he is taking to ensure that data on ethnic disproportionality in youth justice is collected consistently across local authorities; and what assessment he has made of current data quality.

The Youth Justice Board (YJB) is funding a ‘pathfinder’ pilot project in the West Midlands to better understand why interventions are achieving better outcomes for White children than for Black and Mixed heritage children. It was established in 2024 and its total cost is estimated at £750,000 over four years. The YJB has not yet provided the Ministry of Justice with evidence about the project’s early impact – the project is due to run until spring 2027 and be evaluated subsequently.

The factors contributing to custodial remand outcomes are complex and multi-layered. Outcomes for children of different ethnic backgrounds show disparities. The YJB’s 2021 report ‘Ethnic Disproportionality Remand and Sentencing in the Youth Justice System’ outlines these in more detail. The report found that even after controlling for demographic and offence-related factors, children of Mixed ethnicity and Black children remained more likely to receive a custodial remand than White children. The Ministry of Justice recognises that remand outcomes reflect a combination of factors across the system, including assessments provided to the court and judicial discretion.

All local authorities are required by the YJB’s Data Recording Requirements to submit data that includes consistent and accurate recording of ethnicity data, with quality regularly monitored. The YJB Data Recording Requirements require all YOTs to submit mandatory case level and summary level data to the YJB. This includes the requirements that:

• All YOTs need to accurately record the ethnicity of all children they are supervising and supporting. Ethnicity is self-identified by the child.
• YOTs must use the Government harmonised classifications for ethnicity so as to ensure consistency and comparability.