Prisons: Child Suicides

Lord Sheldon Excerpts

Monday 29th July 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Sheldon]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of suicides of children in prisons.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to reducing self-inflicted deaths of children in prison. Since the tragic deaths of three children in 2011-12, the National Offender Management Service has established a working group to extract and disseminate the learning to prevent further deaths. Additionally, a review of the assessment, care in custody and teamwork procedures for young people is being undertaken.

[Lord Sheldon]

The actual task is down to the mothers. The mothers should really not take the children to prisons; that is the task.

[Lord McNally]

I am not sure how that links to the Question on the Order Paper. If the noble Lord is asking about mother and baby units, I can try to give an answer on that. However, the Question was about the number of suicides of children in prison. That is what I was responding to.