HC Deb 28 October 2003 vol 412 cc188-9W
Ian Lucas

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what secure accommodation provision is in place for young offenders from North Wales. [133980]

Paul Goggins

In general, young people from North Wales who have been placed in custody by the courts are accommodated in secure facilities in North West England, although they may sometimes be placed elsewhere depending on the availability of places and other factors.

Young Offenders from North Wales aged 18-20 are normally allocated. to the following Young Offender Institutions: Stoke Heath in Shropshire (sentenced males), Altcourse in Merseyside (remanded males), and Styal in Cheshire (sentenced and remanded females).

Responsibility for the commissioning and purchasing of all secure accommodation for juvenile offenders (i.e. for those below the age of 18), and for the placement of juveniles sentenced to a detention and training order, rests with the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. The Board's policy in relation to the placement of juvenile offenders from North Wales is as follows:

Remanded and sentenced males aged 15 to 17 will normally be placed in Stoke Heath Young Offender's Institute or, if this establishment is full, in Werrington Young Offender's Institute (Stoke-on-Trent) or Hindley Young Offender's Institute (Wigan). Thorn Cross Young Offender's Institute, an open establishment near Warrington, is also available, subject to a proper risk assessment of the individual.

Males below the age of 15 or those assessed as vulnerable will normally be placed in one of two Secure Training Centres, Rainsbrook in Warwickshire or Hassockfield in Durham, or in a local authority secure community home. The closest of these to North Wales are Barton Moss (Greater Manchester), Dales House (Lancashire), Dyson Hall (Merseyside), Red Bank (Merseyside), Redsands (Cheshire) and Hillside (West Glamorgan).

Females aged 17 are normally placed in New Hall Young Offender's Institute, near Wakefield. Those aged under 17 are normally placed in either Rainsbrook or Hassockfield Secure Training Centre or one of the local authority secure community homes that accommodate females. Those nearest to North Wales are St. Catherines (Merseyside), Redsands and Hillside