HC Deb 23 October 1989 vol 158 cc515-7

23.—(1) Where a court—

  1. (a) remands or commits for trial a child charged with homicide or remands a child convicted of homicide; or
  2. (b) remands a young person charged with or convicted of one or more offences or commits him for trial or sentence,

and he is not released on hail, then, unless he is a young person who is certified by the court to be of unruly character, the court shall remand him to local authority accommodation.

(2) A court remanding a person to local authority accommodation shall designate the authority who are to receive him and that authority shall be the authority in whose area it appears to the court that—

  1. (a) he resides; or
  2. (b) the offence or one of the offences was committed.

(3) Where a person is remanded to local authority accommodation, it shall be lawful for any person acting on behalf of the designated authority to detain him.

(4) The court shall not certify a young person as being of unruly character unless—

  1. (a) he cannot safely be remanded to local authority accommodation; and
  2. (b) the conditions prescribed by order made by the Secretary of State under this subsection are satisfied in relation to him.

(5) Where the court certifies that a young person is of unruly character, it shall commit him—

  1. (a) to a remand centre, if it has been notified that such a centre is available for the reception from the court of such persons; and
  2. (b) to a prison, if it has not been so notified.

(6) Where a young person is remanded to local authority accommodation, a court may, on the application of the designated authority, certify him to be of unruly character in accordance with subsection (4) (and on so doing he shall cease to be remanded to local authority accommodation and subsection (5) of this section shall apply).

(7) For the purposes of subsection (6), "a court" means—

  1. (a) the court which remanded the young person; or
  2. (b) any magistrates' court having jurisdiction in the place where that person is for the time being,

and in this section "court" and "magistrates' court" include a justice.

(8) This section has effect subject to—

  1. (a) section 37 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (committal to the Crown Court with a view to a sentence of detention in a young offender institution); and
  2. (b) section 128(7) of that Act (remands to the custody of a constable for periods of not more than three days),

but section 128(7) shall have effect in relation to a child or young person as if for the reference to three clear days there were substituted a reference to twenty-four hours."

22B.—(1) In section 32 of that Act (detention of absentees), for subsection (1A) there shall be substituted the following subsections—

"(1A) If a child or young person is absent, without the consent of the responsible person—

  1. (a) from a place of safety to which he has been taken under section 16(3) of this Act; or
  2. (b) from local authority accommodation—
    1. (i) in which he is required to live under section 12AA of this Act; or
    2. (ii) to which he has been remanded under section 23(1) of this Act,

he may be arrested by a constable anywhere in the United Kingdom or Channel Islands without a warrant.

(1B) A person so arrested shall be conducted to—

  1. (a) the place of safety;
  2. (b) the local authority accommodation; or
  3. (c) such other place as the responsible person may direct,

at the responsible person's expense.

(1C) In this section 'the responsible person' means the person who made the arrangements under section 16(3) of this Act or, as the case may be, the authority designated under section 12AA or 23 of this Act."

(2) In subsection (2B) of that section for the words "person referred to in subsection (1A)(a) or (b) (as the case may be) of this section" there shall be substituted 'responsible person.'.

Madam Deputy Speaker

With this it will be convenient to discuss Government amendments Nos. 227, 228, 232, 234, 235 and 238; Government new clause 12; and Government amendments Nos. 70, 409, 490, 71 and 121.

Mr. Mellor

This is a formidable group, but I think that I can boil it down for the House. The amendments fall into two parts: the first group is intended to clarify and consolidate the provisions for young people charged with a criminal offence who are on remand or have been detained by the police while awaiting a court hearing.

The second group consists of technical Government amendments.

Mr. David Hinchliffe (Wakefield)

I want to raise one point on new clause 12. Perhaps I have misinterpreted its contents; if so, I should appreciate the Minister's advice.

New clause 12 deals with the provision of accommodation for children in police protection or detention or on remand, and requires that local authorities shall themselves make provision for the reception of such children. Can the Minister clarify whether the new clause accepts the existing practice under which many local authorities do not provide such facilities themselves but use other authorities' accommodation? As I read it, the new clause will certainly involve a great deal of expenditure for local authorities which do not now directly provide these facilities. I hope that I am correct in assuming that they can continue to use the facilities of adjoining authorities or those of authorities in the same region, as facilitated under the regional planning procedures. I should be grateful for the Minister's advice and help on that.

Mr. Mellor

That is a perfectly reasonable point. As far as I am aware, there is no interference in what is, for the reasons described by the hon. Member for Wakefield (Mr. Hinchliffe), a perfectly sensible way for local authorities to pool their resources. If there is any difficulty about that in the event I shall write to him, but I know of nothing that impedes the continuation of these common sense arrangements.

Amendment agreed to.

Amendments made: No. 227, in page 141, line 8, after`ages)' insert `— (a) in paragraph (a),'.

No. 228, in page 141, line 9, at end insert— `; and (b) in paragraph (e) for the words "section 23(2) or (3)" there shall be substituted "section 23(4) to (6)". 23A. In section 70(1) of that Act (interpretation)— (a) after the definition of "local authority" there shall be inserted— '''local authority accommodation' means accommoda-tion provided by or on behalf of a local authority (within the meaning of the Children Act 1989)"; and (b) in the definition of "reside" for "12(4) and (5)" there shall be substituted "12B(1) and (2)". 23B. In section 73 of that Act (extent, etc.)

  1. (a) in subsection (4)(a) for "32(1), (3) and (4)" there shall be substituted "32(1) to (1C) and (2A) to (4)"; and
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  2. (b) in subsection (6) for "32(1), (1A)" there shall be substituted "32(1) to (1C)".'.

No. 229, in page 141, line 46, leave out second `marriage' and insert 'family'.

No. 364, in page 141, line 46, at end insert— ' . In section 52(1) of that Act (interpretation), in the definition of "child of the family", for the words "has been boarded-out with those parties" there shall be substituted "is placed with those parties as foster parents".'.—[Mr. Mellor.]

5.15 pm
Mr. Mellor

I beg to move amendment No. 230, in page 142, line 2, at end insert—