§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many 15 and 16-year-olds were held on remand in prison service accommodation at the most recent date for which figures are available. [22708]
§ Ms QuinThe information requested is given in the table. All the prisoners were male.
Persons aged 15 or 16 held in Prison Service accommodation on remand, by category of remand1 Age Convicted unsentenced Untried Total 15 31 44 75 16 61 112 173 1 Figures for 30 November 1997 (provisional).
§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) when he plans to end the remands of 15 and 16-year-olds to prison accommodation; [22706]
(2) how many of the places in local authority secure accommodation which are (a) currently available and (b) planned within the next five years he plans to use for the accommodation of 15 and 16-year-olds on remand; [22705]
(3) if he plans to require (a) medical reports and (b) other reports to be obtained on 15 and 16–year-olds before they can be remanded to prison service accommodation on their physical or emotional immaturity or propensity to cause self-harm; [22707]
(4) how many new places in local authority secure accommodation have become available in each year since 1991; [22703]
(5) how many of the new places which he plans to make available in local authority secure accommodation within the next five years were not planned for on 1 May 1997; [22704]
(6) what representations he has received on the practice of remanding 15 and 16-year-olds into prison service accommodation; [22701]
(7) how many places in local authority secure accommodation he plans lo make available in the next (a) five years and (b) 10 years. [22702]
§ Mr. MichaelThe Government want earlier and more effective intervention so as to prevent young people graduating to the stage where secure accommodation is needed. The youth justice reform programme will include measures for improving the delivery of youth justice services. One of these proposals will include placing a 65W new duty on local authorities to provide appropriate access to youth justice services and bail support which, coupled with the Government's plans to speed up the existing youth justice process, should help to reduce the existing pressures on the juvenile remand system.
There will be occasions when it is necessary for the courts to remand certain juveniles to secure accommodation for their own or the public's protection. The Crime and Disorder Bill contains proposals which begin the process of implementing a policy, which the last Government failed to do, of allowing the courts to remand direct to local authority secure accommodation certain groups of juveniles, subject to certain strict criteria. These will include all 12 to 14-year-olds, 15 and 16-year-old girls and those 15 and 16-year-old boys who are adjudged by the courts to meet the definition of vulnerability, which is within the Crime and Disorder Bill, and where a place has been identified in advance.
Before a court decides to remand in such circumstances, it will be required to consult a probation officer, a social worker or a member of a youth offending team and consider such information as is appropriate. This may include reports on the vulnerability of 15 and 16-year-olds.
In February 1991, the previous Government indicated its intention of stopping prison remands for 15 and 16-year-old boys, but failed to provide the means to that end. Although a building programme was eventually put in place to provide the 170 new secure places in local authority accommodation, which the then Government estimated as necessary in 1991 to cater for the introduction of court-ordered remands to local authority secure accommodation for all 12 to 16-year-olds, seven years later these new places are still not fully available. This programme should be completed later this year. The number of juveniles remanded in security has increased significantly since that building programme began and prison remands of 15 and 16-year-old boys now stand within the 250 and 300 range. The demand from this group alone would significantly out strip the capacity of the local authority secure estate even when the existing building programme has been completed. It would be unsafe at this stage to change the existing arrangements for these boys.
The Government hope that the Crime and Disorder Bill will receive Royal Assent by next summer at the latest. Separately, and in parallel, we are in the process of discussion with the local authority associations and others about the method of paying for such court-ordered secure remands, the cost of which will be met centrally. The intention is that courts should have these powers available for use, at the earliest, by October 1998. Once the courts begin to make use of these powers the Government will be in a better position to assess the feasibility of extending the provisions to all 15 and 16-year-old boys taking account of work by the Prison Service and others. The Government' s decision does not in any way represent a lessening of its commitment to end prison remands for 15 and 16-year-old boys, which it aims to do as soon as is practicable.
Ministers have held a number of meetings with organisations, such as the Children's Society and the National Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders Remand Review Group, chaired by the hon. 66W Member for Fareham (Sir P. Lloyd), on the issue of juvenile secure remands. The Government have also received a number of responses on this issue which was contained in their consultation paper "Tackling Delays in the Youth Justice System", published on 15 October 1997. A summary of the responses to this consultation paper has been placed in the Library.
The primary purpose of the local authority secure estate is to accommodate any child who is being looked after by the local authority under the Children Act 1989. In addition, the local authority secure estate is used to hold those who are sentenced under section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 or those who are held on secure remand. Since 1991 the number of approved secure places1 available in England and Wales (as at 31 March) is as follows:
Year Places 1991 290 1992 280 1993 275 1994 293 1995 270 1996 278 1997 348 There are now 435 approved local authority secure places in England and Wales. Source:
Children Accommodated in Secure Units, year ending 11 March 1997.
The Government have instituted a review of the whole range of secure accommodation for young offenders and young people held on remand, including the local authority secure estate. The review is examining how to make better use of the existing and planned accommodation to ensure that provision is more consistent and coherent and that regimes tackle criminality and meet the educational and other needs of these young people. The Government will be considering the outcome of the review, which is due to report shortly, when planning the implementation of these proposals. The review will help inform whether there should be a further expansion of the secure estate.
§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many 15 and 16-year-olds remanded into Prison Service accommodation(a) committed suicide and (b) were involved in incidents of self-harm in the latest year for which figures are available. [22715]
§ Ms QuinThere were no suicides among 15 or 16-year-olds remanded into Prison Service custody during the calendar year 1997. There were 17 reported incidents of deliberate self-harming among 15 and 16-year-olds during the same period.