Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the level of the use of restraint on children in custody.

The safety and welfare of children in custody is our highest priority. Restraint is only ever used as a last resort, where there is a risk of harm and no other form of intervention is possible or appropriate. However, we recognise that there are still high levels of restraint.

In 2017, we began to implement a comprehensive reform programme with the aim of improving levels of safety in the youth custodial estate. The programme is underpinned a new evidence-based positive behaviour strategy and significant reform of the workforce. We are also taking specific actions to reduce the number of incidents of restraint, including:

• introducing the Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint framework in all secure training centres (STCs) and under-18 young offender institutions (YOIs). This has been specifically developed to avoid physical restraint as far as possible by using a range of de-escalation, diversion and behaviour management techniques;
• requiring each public STC and YOI to implement a “Restraint Minimisation Strategy”;
• reviewing data on use of force to improve recording and reporting and to improve practice; and
• undertaking a safeguarding review across the youth secure estate.

In addition, we have recently responded positively to the recommendations on restraint made by the Joint Committee for Human Rights.