§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration he has given to the second report of the Children's Society and Advisory Committee on Young Offenders, "A False Sense of Security", since it was published on 25 November 1993; and what proposals he has for action on the findings and recommendations of that report.
§ Mr. MacleanThe report made 20 recommendations. They were aimed at preventing and reducing youth crime, improving the youth justice system, dealing with persistent offenders and protecting the public from serious offenders. They have all been carefully considered. In brief, the Government's response is as follows
we have longsupported both community-based crime prevention initiatives—including youth crime prevention panels which directly involve young people themselves—and also local inter-agency co-operation in the juvenile justice system;we were already taking action in relation to some of the committee's concerns, such as making funding available for bail support schemes and setting time limits for the stages in court proceedings;we agree that the report has made some useful comments on improving the effectiveness of community supervision programmes; this is an objective of the review of national standards—announced by my right hon. and learned Friend on 6 October 1993—for such programmes;we think that the report places a proper emphasis on the need for independently inspected high standards of care in secure accommodation for children and for throughcare programmes aimed at rehabilitating such children: we intend that those standards and those objectives should apply in relation to the new secure training centres;we think that the independent sector can play a part in the provision of secure accommodation for young people;we do not accept the report's recommendation that plans for secure training centres should not be implemented.