§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the report by the Youth Justice Board on the detention of teenage girls in women's prisons. [101344]
§ Hilary BennThe Youth Justice Board (YJB) is responsible for the commissioning and purchasing of secure accommodation for under 18s and for the placement of individual offenders.
On 18 February the YJB announced its intention to remove all under 17-year-old girls from Prison Service accommodation during 2003. There are currently no 15-year-old girls in Prison Service accommodation, and around 20 16-year-olds.
This is in line with the commitment given by the then Home Secretary in March 1999 when he said that he intended to use the greater flexibility provided by the detention and training order to place sentenced 15 and 396W 16-year-old girls in available non-Prison Service accommodation. The detention and training order came into force in April 2000.