Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Preventing Reoffending: Youth Custody Centres

Tuesday 22 March 2022 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The number of children entering the youth justice system has fallen by 81% in the last decade.
  • The Department is developing a more specialised workforce focused on rehabilitation in youth custody centres.
  • The Minister acknowledged the importance of home environment and housing support for young people's rehabilitation.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Kerry McCarthy Lab Bristol East
Justice & Courts Children & Families
Context

The number of children entering the youth justice system has fallen by 81% in the last decade and secure estate numbers have also declined.

Question

What steps his Department is taking with youth custody centres to help prevent reoffending. The questioner notes the significant reduction in youth involvement with the justice system but asks about specific measures being taken at youth custody centres to ensure rehabilitation and prevention of reoffending.

Answer from Victoria Atkins

The number of children entering the youth justice system has fallen by 81% in the last decade and the number of children on the secure estate has fallen by about three quarters. We are developing a more specialised workforce focused on rehabilitation, with every prison officer on the youth estate funded to take up a qualification in youth justice by next year. Specialist youth justice worker officers have been created, and there are already 284 in post.

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Q2 Kerry McCarthy Lab Bristol East
Justice & Courts Housing
Context

The Housing Minister announced plans to regulate supported housing last week, which was welcomed by the questioner.

Question

I hope that the Minister has been talking to her colleague the Housing Minister about his plans to regulate supported housing, which were announced last week and which we very much welcome. Will she now talk to him about the need to ensure that if 16 and 17-year-olds are released from custody and it is not appropriate for them to go back to their family home, they are not placed in unregulated housing?

Answer from Victoria Atkins

Very much so. As I said in answer to previous questions, home is a vital part of rehabilitation and cutting reoffending. We know about some of the particular pressures that young people can face if, for example, they have been drawn into county lines gangs, and the geographical location of their home may be a pertinent element in their reoffending or their vulnerability to reoffending. I am happy to confirm that I will be speaking to the Housing Minister. I am also drawing together a cross-Whitehall group of Ministers to discuss how we can tackle youth offending at the earliest stages, not just when a child reaches the justice system.

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