Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has plans to improve the efficiency of the youth justice system; and what steps he is taking to reduce rates of youth re-offending.

Reducing reoffending by children in the youth justice system is a key aim of the system. Although fewer young people are committing crimes for the first time, those who do are some of the most troubled in our society.

We are continuing to work with the Home Office to deliver the Serious Violence Strategy, pursuing those responsible for crime, protecting victims and communities, and preventing vulnerable people from being exploited. This includes tackling the increase in serious violence and drug-related crime, with an emphasis on responding to county lines activity. This year the government has awarded £22 million for the Early Intervention Youth Fund to support local areas to tackle these problems. Learning from this fund will inform the upcoming £200 million Youth Endowment Fund, and will help deliver a public health approach to addressing serious violence.

We also fund Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) to support young people at a local level, in partnership with other services (for example, police, health, education and social care). We have had significant success in reducing the under 18 custodial population in recent years.

To improve safety and the life chances of children in custody we established the Youth Justice Reform Programme in 2017. We have expanded frontline capacity in Young Offender Institutions by 20%, equating to over 120 new posts and we are introducing a new Youth Justice Specialist officer role in youth custody tied to a professional qualification in youth justice.

We have developed a new approach to behaviour management in custody and are working with the NHS on a new approach to strengthen the provision of mental health care for young people. We are investing in the development of Enhanced Support Units for children with the most complex needs, one of which has already been opened at Feltham YOI, and are also developing plans for secure schools, with the aim of improving outcomes for young people in custody.

Since the creation of our Youth Justice Reform Programme in 2017, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons reports have highlighted improvements in all the under-18 sites they have inspected. It’s promising to see our reforms are starting to have an impact on the ground, but we absolutely must continue to invest in system-wide reform to further improve safety and rehabilitative outcomes for children.