Youth Custody

(asked on 12th December 2023) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has he made of the minimum hours a child in youth custody should spend out of cell on a (a) weekday and (b) weekend.


Answered by
Edward Argar Portrait
Edward Argar
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 18th December 2023

We know the importance of ensuring that time in custody is purposeful, and are committed to ensuring that children and young people have the necessary and appropriate access to education, skills, and work provision, with a consistent daily programme of activities.

Figures for November 2023 for average hours spend in education are being quality-assured for publication, and are therefore not yet available. Total figures for October, the most recent month for which data have been verified, are provided in the table below:

Establishment

Average no. of hours per week i

HMYOI Cookham Wood

Not currently available

HMYOI Feltham

8.7

Parc YOI

19.0

HMYOI Wetherby

9.6

HMYOI Werrington

13.7

Oakhill STCii

24.2

Notes:

1 YOI figures are for classroom-based hours only: vocational training is not included.

1 Average number of educational and vocational training hours per week at Oakhill.

The Youth Custody Service (YCS) is taking a number of measures to improve access to education and training across Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) in the youth secure estate, and at Oakhill Secure Training Centre. We are reviewing regime models and staff deployment to maximise time-out-of-room, balancing openness with the requirement to ensure safety. We are also committed to providing education and enrichment for those for whom a classroom setting is not appropriate, and a central review is being carried out of steps YOIs can take to reduce the number of children and young people who are unable to mix. Conflict resolution practitioners at each site are working with children and young people to resolve conflict between individuals and groups, and to help them engage in opportunities available in our care. There has been notable success in reducing the number of regime groups in YOIs, with increased interactions and more time-out-of-room as a result.

Reticulating Splines