Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether it remains his policy for prisons to give permission for young people referred by (a) police and (b) young offending teams to visit prisons as part of the KeepOut crime diversion scheme; and if he will make a statement.

The Review of the Youth Justice System in England and Wales, published in December 2016, considered the use of programmes in which either prison officers or prisoners themselves attempted to deter children from criminality by showing or explaining the realities of life in prison. The report of the Review expressed concern at the use of such programmes in England & Wales, in the light of international evidence that such interventions can increase the likelihood of offending among children and young people.

In view of the report’s examination of this issue, HM Prison & Probation Service reviewed these programmes and decided that they should no longer be facilitated.