Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government when and how they intend to respond to the report by the Children's Commissioner "A production line of pointlessness": Children on custodial remand, published on 11 November.

The Government recognises the importance of the Children’s Commissioner’s report and shares concerns about the number of children remanded to custody. We have taken steps to address this, including publishing the Youth Remand Concordat earlier this year to help all partners meet their statutory responsibilities and work effectively together throughout the bail and remand process. We are also supporting local authorities to tackle this issue, for example, by continuing to fund the Greater Manchester remand pilot to enable regional pooling of remand funding, supporting the development of alternatives to custodial remand. Reducing unnecessary remands to custody remains a priority, and we will set out further plans in due course.