Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill

Earl of Effingham Excerpts

Friday 24th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, please let me thank all noble Lords for their valuable contributions on this important subject matter. As we have heard, secure 16 to 19 academies are a promising and innovative conceptual approach to improving the youth justice system. His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons’ 2016 review of that system advocated for new institutions aimed at giving those who committed a custodial offence

“a bespoke and intensive programme of study and support in a therapeutic and well-ordered environment”.

When in government, we agreed with the Chief Inspector of Prisons and set upon that task to introduce secure schools. As a result of that work, the first secure school, the Oasis Restore, was opened with the intention of offering young people who have made poor choices in the past the opportunity to receive rehabilitation, support and education, in order that they may acquire the skills and qualifications needed to both better their lives and avoid the same mistakes in the future. These mainly young men and women deserve a second chance. As my noble friend Lord Farmer, who strives relentlessly for positive prison reform and improving outcomes for offenders, would confirm, with the right help and guidance, these youngsters can turn their lives around for the better.

I believe that all noble Lords, regardless of political persuasion, would agree that it is in Parliament’s power to facilitate institutions that will provide this, while at the same time being entirely realistic that it will be no easy task. The Bill is a further step towards that end, and His Majesty’s loyal Opposition fully support it.

The concept of secure schools presupposes institutions which are flexible, short-term and have a high turnover. Young people are rehabilitated at a secure school and released back into society if and when that happens. There is no guarantee of the demand for such schools, nor the tenure of their occupants. Giving these places of improvement the same treatment as if they were regular schools, or prescribing them with the same regulations and requirements, is not practical. It is crystal clear that secure schools urgently require their own remit, given what we know about the extremely regrettable situation of events at Oasis Restore. Assaults and disorder were reportedly rife, in a chaotic and often out of control atmosphere. This is a country mile away from the intent behind a secure school. The fact that the pilot secure school is facing these early challenges is firm evidence that they must have a wider and more adaptable scope for action.

As was so eloquently put by the noble Lord, Lord Bach, decreasing the notice period from seven years to two years allows for current and any future secure schools to be as flexible as the context requires. In a similar vein, disapplying the requirement to conduct an impact assessment on local maintained schools is prudent. Secure schools are a wholly different type of institution from the average school. They are jointly custodial and educational establishments. They are not competing for the same intake of students as local maintained schools. Therefore, comparing schools is both unnecessary and irrelevant. Requiring further considerations creates an additional layer of administrative bureaucracy that slows down the process. It is that very process which we are trying to achieve with secure schools—namely, the rehabilitation and further education of young people, which suffers as a result.

We understand that future secure schools will be dependent on funding, as well as the future success of Oasis Restore. We ask that the Ministers, the noble Baroness, Lady Levitt, and the noble Lord, Lord Timpson, might consider diverting some resource from their respective departments to focus on making Oasis Restore a shining template for what can be achieved with the right strategy and know-how.

As my noble friend Lord Farmer and many noble Lords across your Lordships’ House agree, including the noble Lord, Lord Bates, it is entirely possible to save young people from reoffending and living a life of crime, with all of the incremental negative consequences to society that go with it, if the right provision is given as early as possible. It is on us to play a pivotal role in helping secure schools to succeed, and His Majesty’s loyal Opposition believe that the Bill achieves part of that.