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The Youth Justice Board currently purchases 3,547 places across the secure estate for children and young people. 235 of these are in secure children’s homes, 301 in secure training centres and 3,011 in young offender institutions.The last two years have seen high population levels during parts of the year, particularly in the autumn. The Government and the Youth Justice Board are seeking to reduce demand for places by ensuring consistent application of the principle that custody for young people should be the last resort. However, the Youth Justice Board’s short to medium-term plans assume that there may be some further population pressure in 2007-08.In view of this likely demand, the Board is putting measures in place to increase the number of contingency places it can access. These will include places in young offender institutions and may also include extra places in secure children’s homes. |