The Local Government Association, which represents more than 370
councils in England and Wales, is calling on the Government to
publish a clear action plan to improve conditions in youth
custody, following alarming evidence that institutions are
dangerously unsafe for young people.
In July, a damning report from the HM Inspector of Prisons found
that not a single establishment inspected in England and Wales
was safe to hold children and young people. In just five
years, the number of children and young people self-harming had
more than doubled, with self-harm rates running at 8.9 incidents
per 100 children compared with 4.1 in 2011. Similarly, assault
rates were 18.9 per 100 children, compared with 9.7 in 2011. The
Chief Inspector described the speed of decline as “staggering”
and issued the shocking warning that current conditions made a
future tragedy “inevitable”.
Councils have a statutory duty to ensure all children and young
people in their area are safe, but their powers are limited when
children and young people enter custody. Responsibility for youth
offending institutions transferred from the Youth Justice Board
to a new Youth Custody Service, based with Her Majesty’s Prison
and Probation Service (HMPPS), on 1 September. Whilst the
Government has acknowledged that the safety and wellbeing of
these young people is a priority, we are yet to see any clear
plans outlining how establishments will be made safe for children
in future. Now that HMPPS has taken on the important task of
protecting our young people in custody, councils need to be
assured that the responsibility is fulfilled.
Youth offending teams work hard to support children and young
people in custody and help them to move on with their lives in a
positive way upon their release, but it’s vital that young people
are also able to take part in education and rehabilitation whilst
in custody. Most importantly, these institutions need to be safe
spaces for children and young people, and Government urgently
needs to outline precisely what action they intend to take to
ensure this is the case.
Cllr , Chair of the LGA’s
Children and Young People Board, said:
“Councils take their responsibility toward child safety extremely
seriously, and work hard to ensure that children and young people
are never put in situations that would put them at risk.
“There is no other situation in which children and young people
would be placed into environments that are known to be unsafe,
and youth custody should be no exception.
“Any local authority found to be running institutions where
tragedy is “inevitable”, to use the Chief Inspector’s recent
description of the secure estate, would quite rightly be under
intense pressure and would at the very least be required to
produce a plan with clear timescales for action to ensure that
improvements are made quickly and children are kept safe.
“Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service were made aware of
these issues in July, yet we still have no clear idea of what
action will be taken, and by when, to rectify the situation and
make sure our young people are safe in custody. With inspectors
also noting that the majority of previous recommendations
relating to safety, respect, activity and resettlement had not
been implemented, we can have little confidence that this latest
report will be any different without a clear action plan in
place.
“This situation would not be acceptable for local authorities,
schools or any other public institution charged with the care of
children, and it should not be acceptable for HMPPS. Action needs
to be taken to ensure that young people are safe in custody.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
- There are currently around 609 children held in YOIs and 155
in STCs in England and Wales.
-
HM Chief Inspector of
Prisons for England and Wales, Annual Report 2016 -
2017
-
Youth Custody
Improvement Board: findings and recommendations
