Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of hours inmates spent out of their cell was on (a) weekdays and (b) weekend days in each young offender institution in April 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar
The information requested regarding average time-out-of-room spent by children and young people in young offender institutions during April 2024 is shown in the table below.
| Cookham Wood | Feltham | Parc | Werrington | Wetherby |
Weekdays | 4:16 | 4:28 | 8:20 | 4:40 | 5:05 |
Weekends | 4:19 | 3:51 | 6:28 | 3:30 | 3:40 |
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.
The Youth Custody Service is reviewing regime models and staff deployment to maximise time-out-of-room, creating as open a regime as can safely be managed, as well as providing education and enrichment for those who cannot safely be in a classroom setting. Additionally, work done to reduce conflict and manage behaviour, to increase the size of groups who are mixing in the regime, has increased time-out-of-room.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of hours spent out of their cell by inmates was on (a) weekdays and (b) weekend days in each young offender institution in March 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar
The information requested regarding average time-out-of-room spent by children and young people in young offender institutions during March 2024 is shown in the table below.
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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.
The Youth Custody Service is reviewing regime models and staff deployment to maximise time out of room, creating as open a regime as it is safe to do so, as well as providing education and enrichment for those who cannot safely be in a classroom setting. Additionally, work done to reduce conflict and manage behaviour, to increase the size of groups who are mixing in the regime, has increased time out of room.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of hours spent out of their cell by inmates was on (a) weekdays and (b) weekend days in each young offender institution in February 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar
The information requested regarding average time-out-of-room spent by children and young people in young offender institutions during February 2024 is shown in the table below.
| Cookham Wood | Feltham | Parc | Werrington | Wetherby |
Weekdays | 3:24 | 5:02 | 8:30 | 4:06 | 6:25 |
Weekends | 2:01 | 3:49 | 5:47 | 3:10 | 4:33 |
The average time spent out-of-room each day by children and young people at Oakhill Secure Training Centre in February 2024 was 13 hours. As information about Oakhill Secure Training Centre is collated on a different basis from information about young offender institutions, it is not possible to provide the requested breakdown between weekdays and weekends.
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.
The Youth Custody Service is reviewing regime models and staff deployment to maximise time out of room, creating as open a regime as it is safe to do so, as well as providing education and enrichment for those who cannot safely be in a classroom setting. Additionally, work done to reduce conflict and manage behaviour, to increase the size of groups who are mixing in the regime, has increased time out of room.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many keep apart instructions were issued in HM YOI (a) Cookham Wood, (b) Feltham, (c) Parc, (d) Werrington and (e) Wetherby in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Edward Argar
Because of the way in which the data are compiled, it is not possible to provide the information in the form requested.
Non-association alerts are used as a means of improving the safeguarding of children and young people in young offender institutions in the public sector youth estate. Such alerts should only be issued after appropriate consideration, and where there is an identified need. Where an alert has been issued, the child or young person is able to mix with other children and young people in their residential units and in education.
A “snapshot” taken on 25 March 2024 shows the following numbers and percentages of children and young people at each young offender institution in the public sector youth estate who were assessed as needing to be kept apart from one or more other children or young people in the establishment owing to safeguarding concerns. The decisions are often made at the request of the child or young person who is the subject of the non-association alert.
HMYOI Cookham Wood:
46 of 58 children (79.3 per cent)
HMYOI Feltham A:
68 of 82 children (82.9 per cent)
HMYOI Werrington:
57 of 68 children (83.8 per cent)
HMYOI Wetherby:
106 of 149 children (71.1 per cent)
These figures are taken from operational oversight data.
HMYOI Parc, which is operated under contract, is not included in these arrangements.
The YOI population has decreased significantly – from 1,998 in the year to 31 March 2010 to 332 in the year to 31 March 2023. The cohort we now have in the YOI sector of the youth estate – overwhelmingly young men – present many complex issues, however 70 per cent were sentenced to custody for a violent offence. Our staff work hard to diffuse conflict and reduce violence, both between prisoners and against members of staff.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP/YOI Feltham, published on 12 March; and in particular, the finding that violence in classrooms and workshops has made young prisoners reluctant to attend education and rehabilitation sessions.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
We are grateful to the Independent Monitoring Board for its report, and for the vital work its members undertake to monitor the welfare of prisoners, to ensure that they are properly cared for. The report comments on the impact of staffing challenges affecting the regime at both HM/YOI Feltham A (young people under 18) and HMP/YOI Feltham B (adults and young adults over 18), as well as on the suitability of the education programmes available.
Since the end of the period covered by the Independent Monitoring Board’s report (1 September 2022- 31 August 2023), the staffing position at Feltham A has improved, and it now has the resources in place to provide a safe and productive regime for young people, with increased time-out-of-room.
The Youth Custody Service (YCS) has commissioned a resource review across all four public sector young offender institutions, to explore opportunities to make better use of the staff available in the current operating environment. This includes looking at the balance between management and frontline supervisory staff. The first review was at Feltham A in 2023, and a delivery plan following this review will be implemented shortly. The YCS will monitor the impact of this on service delivery. Support is also being provided at Feltham A to aid staff retention; sickness absence monitoring, with appropriate support, is a feature of regular management oversight.
The report of an Independent Review of Progress at Feltham B, conducted by HM Inspectorate of Prisons in January 2024, found that the prison had made reasonable progress in relation to encouraging positive behaviour. In addition, following a resource and risk assessment review, improved arrangements for purposeful activity are being put in place, to support the aim of reducing re-offending and increasing readiness for work, to help prisoners to gain employment upon release.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times Governors from (a) Cookham Wood, (b) Feltham, (c) Parc, (d) Werrington and (e) Wetherby Young Offender Institution have met (i) the Youth Custody Service and (ii) officials from his Department in the last 12 months.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Youth Custody Service (YCS) is a specialist service which forms part of His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service, which is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice. Governors of young offender institutions are officials of the Ministry of Justice and members of the YCS. Headquarters staff in the YCS are in frequent daily communication with governors of young offender institutions, with the Director of HMYOI Parc, and with the senior leadership teams at Oakhill Secure Training Centre and those secure children’s homes in which young people sentenced to custody are placed. Owing to their frequency, it is not possible to calculate the number of meetings that have taken place within the last 12 months although contact between YCS HQ and sites is a daily occurrence.
The YCS will shortly be launching a regular event at which Governors of public sector young offender institutions, the Directors of HMYOI Parc and Oakhill Secure Centre, and Registered Managers from secure children’s homes come together to share best practice and experience of managing children at their sites. In addition, a new staff exchange programme will shortly be launched, to enable staff in each sector of the youth estate to gain experience of how children and young people are supervised and cared for in other sectors.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of hours spent out of their cell by inmates was on (a) weekdays and (b) weekend days in each young offender institution in January 2024.
Answered by Edward Argar
The information requested, stated in hours and minutes, is set out in the table below. These are average times-out-of-room in young offender institutions. They do not include any refusals to engage with offered activities. The figures below were calculated during January 2024.
| Cookham Wood | Feltham | Parc | Werrington | Wetherby |
Weekdays | 3:37 | 5:05 | 8:34 | 4:15 | 6:08 |
Weekends | 2:28 | 3:46 | 7:43 | 3:03 | 4:45 |
We recognise the importance of ensuring that time in custody is purposeful, and we 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. The Youth Custody Service continues to review regime models and staff deployment to maximise time-out-of-room, with a focus on recruitment and retention to support this delivery.
The Youth Custody Service has commissioned a resource review across the four public sector young offender institutions, which is exploring opportunities to make better use of the staff available in the current operating environment (including the balance between management and frontline supervisory staff). The first review was at Feltham in 2023. A delivery plan following the review will be implemented early this year. We will monitor how this impacts service delivery. Cookham Wood YOI will be the next site subject to review, commencing soon, followed by the remaining public young offender institutions.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many safeguarding referrals have been made from each (a) young offender institution and (b) secure training centre for people aged 18 or over in each of the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar
The data requested are set out in the following tables:
Young Offender Institutions
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Cookham Wood | 8 | * | 25 | 22 |
Feltham A | 10 | 10 | 12 | 28 |
Parc YPU | 0 | 0 | * | 15 |
Werrington | * | 7 | * | 29 |
Wetherby | 14 | 36 | 32 | 61 |
Secure Training Centres
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Oakhill | 8 | * | 0 | 9 |
Rainsbrook | 13 | 9 | - | - |
Notes
1. The symbol * is used for suppressed values of 5 or fewer, to prevent disclosure in accordance with data protection principles. Zero figures are not suppressed.
2. Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre closed in December 2021.
3. Please note that the above is classed as internal management information.
4. Following Urgent Notification at Oakhill Secure Training Centre in October 2021, safeguarding data recording processes were reviewed and central collation of this data was ceased for the period of October - December 2021. Safeguarding processes were maintained locally for the period and following revision, central data collation recommenced in January 2022.
When a safeguarding case is opened, the detail of the case may not be known. We conduct a thorough investigation of every case to understand the details and the severity of the concern and ensure that any necessary actions are taken to protect the children in our custody. It is not the case that an increase in safeguarding cases should always be a matter of concern: this would be dependent on the nature of the case. An increased number of cases may represent increased confidence on the part of staff in reporting concerns or may indicate that children feel safe to disclose information to staff. It is by conducting a thorough investigation that we can understand the nature of each case and identify any trends that need to be addressed.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2023 to Question 5312 on Young Offender Institutions, if he will publish on a monthly basis the average number of hours spent out of their cell by inmates on (a) weekdays and (b) weekend days in each young offender institution.
Answered by Edward Argar
The information currently available is noted on the table below, as stated in hours and minutes. To note, these are average time-out-of-room in young offender institutions and do not account for any refusals to engage with activities, as offered. The figures below were calculated during December 2023.
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We recognise 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. The Youth Custody Service continues to review regime models and staff deployment to maximise time-out-of-room, with a focus on recruitment and retention to support this delivery.
There are currently no plans for regular publication of statistics on time-out-of-room.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of hours spent out of their cell by inmates on (a) weekdays and (b) weekend days was in each young offender institution in December 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar
The information currently available is noted on the table below, as stated in hours and minutes. To note, these are average time-out-of-room in young offender institutions and do not account for any refusals to engage with activities, as offered. The figures below were calculated during December 2023.
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We recognise 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. The Youth Custody Service continues to review regime models and staff deployment to maximise time-out-of-room, with a focus on recruitment and retention to support this delivery.
There are currently no plans for regular publication of statistics on time-out-of-room.