Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of (a) lack of access to education and (b) prolonged cell confinement on the (i) rehabilitation and (ii) future prospects of children in young offender institutions.

Learning services are reviewed annually, following completion of a needs analysis that evaluates the success, progress, and achievement of each course, taking account of the interests of children, their prior attainment, and their changing needs. The Youth Custody Service (YCS) will continue to work with contractors to drive progress.

We recognise the recruitment challenges that education providers face, and that more can be done to make new teachers aware of the vocational attractions of working in custody. The YCS has recruited a dedicated Head of Learning & Enrichment at national level, and Heads of Education, Skills, and Work locally, to drive up standards. It has also worked with Ofsted and provided training to Governors, Deputy Governors, and other key staff to help them lead improvements in delivery.

The YCS is working with education providers to ensure effective behavioural management strategies are in place and that teachers have the confidence to challenge poor behaviour effectively. We are using our Framework for Integrated Care, a multi-disciplinary approach, to deliver this more widely.

The Head of Learning and Skills chairs regular leadership forums with education providers and managers from Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) on a quarterly basis: these are collaborative planning meetings. All quality assurance carried out by YCS for the delivery of education takes a multi-disciplinary approach. In addition, inter-dependencies are regularly discussed at governance boards to ensure there is a joint approach.

The YCS prioritises access to education for children in young offender institutions (YOIs), as this is a key factor in reducing the risk of re-offending. The YCS has national oversight of every child and young person in separation, including the length of time they have been separated for and their access to regime. The YCS’s non-association policy has helped ensure children and young people receive as full a regime as possible, as safely as possible. All YOIs have a small team of dedicated conflict resolution practitioners whose primary role is to help repair harm caused by conflict and reduce the number of non-associations.