Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of staff working in youth custodial settings have current Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

In May 2025, HM Prison and Probation Service published the Safer Recruitment: Safer Working Practices Policy Framework, which requires staff, contractors and volunteers working with children in custody to be appropriately selected, assessed and vetted in accordance with safer recruitment principles. Relevant Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and other pre-employment checks are undertaken before individuals are permitted to work with children. The framework introduced a revised DBS renewal cycle, reducing the renewal frequency from every five years to every three years.

The proportions of staff with current DBS certification are:

Youth Offender Institutions: 96 per cent

Secure Training Centre: 100 per cent

Secure Children’s Homes: 85 per cent

Secure Children's Homes are run by local authorities, which are responsible for ensuring DBS checks are up to date.

The renewal process has begun for all staff working in the above sectors who have out of date DBS certifications, and they are awaiting responses from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

The Oasis Restore Secure School (ORSS) is operated by a charity, the Oasis Secure School Trust. It currently expects its staff to apply annually for a check. Following publication of the Trowler Review, ORSS will be encouraged to bring its practice into line with that in the other parts of the youth custody system.

The Youth Justice Service has recently introduced safer recruitment audits, which will strengthen organisational oversight by providing regular and systematic assurance that recruitment processes are being applied consistently and in accordance with safeguarding standards, legislation, and policy requirements, and that DBS and vetting checks are completed as policy requires.