Youth Justice

Debate between Baroness Levitt and Lord Carlile of Berriew

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Carlile of Berriew (CB)]

My Lords, can my noble kinswoman the Minister confirm that the Government reject the miserably pessimistic and defeatist view of the youth justice system expressed by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Keen? Will she confirm that a key aim of the plan with which she is dealing today must be to provide an improved education service for the diverse cohort of children in custody that is of such good quality that they will not emerge from custody as automatic second-class citizens?

[Baroness Levitt (Lab)]

My Lords, we are taking decisive action to drive up performance in relation to the youth custody estate. The Deputy Prime Minister chairs a newly established performance taskforce to hold the system to account. It seeks very detailed information on what happens to children in custody, which includes things such as time out of room, access to education, rates of violence and staffing. As we have announced, our target is to increase the time that children spend outside their room by 50%, so that they are engaged in meaningful activities, because every hour that they are in their room they are not engaged in education, training or other purposeful activity. This is about ensuring that children who end up in custody come out as less of a risk to the public than when they went in.