016/98
The Government today spelled out plans to give courts powers to remand juveniles direct to local authority secure accommodation.
Answering a Parliamentary Question today, Home Office Minister Alun Michael said that courts will be allowed to remand 12 to 14-year-olds and 15 and 16-year-old girls direct to local authority secure accommodation under proposals contained in the Crime and Disorder Bill.
The powers will also enable courts to send 15 and 16-year-old boys to secure accommodation instead of prison where they are judged by the courts to be vulnerable and where a place in secure accommodation has been identified in advance.
Before the court decides on such remands, it will be required to consult a probation officer, a social worker or a member of a youth offending team.
Mr Michael said,
"The Government wants earlier and more effective intervention in the first place to prevent so many young people graduating to the stage where secure accommodation is needed.
"However, there are occasions when the courts need to remand certain juveniles to secure accommodation for their own good and for the public''s protection. We are determined to use existing secure accommodation and the places in secure training units sensibly to serve the public interest.
"The Government inherited the long-standing problem of 15 and 16-year-old boys being remanded to prison accommodation. We are committed to ending this practice as soon as practicable but the number of local authority secure places available is nowhere near sufficient to meet the need.
"It would not be safe to change the arrangements for all 15 and 16-year-old boys at this stage and our approach represents the most practical and humane way forward. My Parliamentary Answer today is a clear statement of our position."
A Government review is currently examining how to make better use of secure accommodation to ensure that provision is more consistent, that regimes tackle criminality and that the educational and other needs of young people are met.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. Mr Michael was answering a number of written Parliamentary Questions from James Clappison MP (Hertsmere). A copy of the Parliamentary Answer is available from the Home Office Press Office.
2. The primary purpose of local authority secure accommodation is to accommodate any child who is being looked after by a local authority under the Children Act 1989. In addition, local authority secure accommodation is used to hold those who are sentenced under Section 53 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 or those who are held on secure remand.
3. The previous administration estimated that 170 new secure places were necessary in 1991 to cater for the introduction of court-ordered remands to local authority secure accommodation for all 12 to 16-year-olds. A building programme to provide those places will only be completed later this year. The total number of secure places currently available in England and Wales is 435. The number now needed is estimated at between 690 and 710.
4. The Crime and Disorder Bill was published on 2 December 1998. Clause 81 (5A) provides a definition of vulnerability for the purposes of 15 and 16-year-old boys. That is a person who, in the court''s opinion, it would be undesirable to remand to a remand centre or prison by reason of his physical or emotional immaturity or a propensity to harm himself.
