Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm have been recorded in relation to children in each secure institution that holds children during each of the last five years for which information is available.

The information requested is provided in the attached table.

The safety of children in custody is our top priority. That is why we are reforming youth custody, to reduce violence and improve outcomes for children and young people. This includes rolling out the Custody Support Plan (CuSP), to provide each young person with a personal officer to work with in order to build trust and consistency. We are also introducing a new Youth Justice Specialist role and providing funding for every Prison Officer in the Youth Custody Service to undertake a youth justice qualification. Over 300 frontline staff are currently enrolled on this qualification. In addition, we are expanding frontline staff capacity in public-sector Young Offender Institutions by 20%, and our figures show that, at the end of September 2018, the Youth Custody Service had 239 more frontline officers than at the same time the previous year.