Courts: Young Offenders

(asked on 3rd March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the comprehensiveness of maturity assessments in pre-sentence reports for defendants aged 18-25 in the (a) magistrates’ court and (b) Crown Court.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 8th March 2021

The assessment of the comprehensiveness of maturity assessments in pre-sentence reports (PSRs) is captured within National Internal Audits and through the application of the Quality Development Tool (QDT) at a local level.

As a result of an internal audit on court reports in 2018, work was undertaken by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to develop staff knowledge and skills in this area, which led to the development of a briefing video and Maturity Assessments Guidance for court officers. HMPPS are currently undertaking a further internal audit on the quality of reports undertaken during the pandemic and are due to report their findings later this month. In addition to the National Internal Audit, regional teams utilise the QDT to oversee the quality of PSRs and to support staff development.

The Sentencing White Paper published in September 2020 contained a commitment to improving the quality and delivery of advice to courts, including through a PSR pilot. One element of this pilot targets fast delivery reports at specific cohorts including young adults (from 18 to 25 years of age) to take account of the more complex needs that this cohort of service users generally has. As part of this pilot, we are providing refresher training on maturity assessments for court probation staff to ensure staff are able to capture the complexity of needs of this cohort of service users.

There also a number of measures in place to support the type of individualised practice that benefits this cohort. An evidence-informed screening tool is available across prisons and probation to assess young adults who are still maturing neurologically, and a resource pack is also available to help staff work with those identified as needing more support.

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