§ Baroness Howe of Idlicoteasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have made any analysis of the relationship between the criminal records of juvenile offenders and any significant record of truancy on their part. [HL5727]
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonThe Youth Justice Board's MORI 2002 Youth Survey explored the levels of truancy amongst both mainstream and excluded pupils. The survey also found a strong link between truancy and offending as 44 per cent of pupils who admitted committing a crime in the previous 12 months had played truant. The survey was published by the board on Monday 20 May 2002 and a copy was placed in the Library at the time of publication.
§ Baroness Howe of Idlicoteasked Her Majesty's Government:
190WAWhether they are considering the need for an earlier court appearance for juvenile offenders who have a history of both offending and truancy. [HL5728]
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonMeasures introduced in 1999 in the magistrates' courts have streamlined case preparation and ensured that defendants are brought to court at the earliest opportunity. In addition, cases are fast-tracked through the system under the Government's pledge to halve the time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders. The average time has been more than halved.
§ Baroness Sternasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many extra places for remanded juveniles have been required as a direct result of the piloting Section 130 of the Police and Criminal Justice Act 2001. [HL5610]
§ Lord Falconer of ThorotonFrom 22 April 2002, the implementation date of Section 130 in the 10 street crime areas, we have provided the courts with a number of tough community alternatives to a custodial remands, including curfews with electronic monitoring as a condition of bail. In addition, intensive supervision and surveillance is now available in most sectors of the 10 street crime areas, including their major cities, and will be available throughout the whole of the 10 areas by autumn 2002. We expect this to cover some of those young people with a history of repeat offending on hail and who are at risk of a secure remand under Section 130.
The most recent figures available indicate that from implementation until 19 July 2002, the population of juveniles remanded to local authorities with a security requirement rose from 98 to 109. This may have been because of the street crime initiative as well as a result of the implementation of Section 130. During this period 32 additional secure training centre places were made available and we expect to make another 340 places available over the next three years. We are also in the process of making available about 30 further local authority secure unit places for both remanded and sentenced juveniles.