Youth Custody: Travellers

(asked on 9th March 2015) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Roma, Gypsy and Traveller young people were held in (a) young offenders' institutions, (b) secure training centres and (c) secure children's homes in the most recent year for which figures are available; and what proportion of the total number of inmates each of these are.


Answered by
Andrew Selous Portrait
Andrew Selous
Second Church Estates Commissioner
This question was answered on 12th March 2015

The Youth Justice Board (YJB) is undertaking joint work with its partner agencies to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach to address the issue of minority groups in the youth justice system.

The YJB and HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) commissioned and published the annual report 'Children in Custody 2013-14’ in December 2014. The report includes the results of surveys undertaken in Secure Training Centres (STCs) and Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) in 2013/14, which showed that:

  • In YOIs, of 729 young people surveyed, 6% of young people considered themselves to be a Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT).
  • In STCs, of 231 young people surveyed, 11% considered themselves GRT.

As not all young people returned a completed survey, we are unable to determine the actual number of GRT young people held in those establishments, or if this sample is representative.

Administrative data on the number of young people who considered themselves to be GRT in STCs and Secure Children’s Homes is not held centrally.

Data on ethnic background, including GRT, is collected for young people in under-18 YOIs. However, due to recording issues, figures for GRT are not considered to be of sufficient quality.

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