Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his department collects on the handcuffing or restraining of children in the care system.

All children’s homes, including secure children’s homes, are governed by the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 which have provisions around behaviour and restraint.

The regulations and the quality standards require homes to have a behaviour management policy that focuses on establishing positive relationships with young people, encourages acceptable behaviour and sets out the acceptable restraint measures.

There is a requirement for homes to record any incidents of restraint under Regulation 35 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. There is also a requirement under Regulation 40 of the same regulations for the Registered Person to inform Ofsted of any incident in relation to a child that they consider to be serious. We are clear that restraint is only permissible in a very narrow range of circumstances as set out in Regulation 20 and must always be necessary and proportionate.

In 2019, the government published guidance on reducing the need for restraint and restrictive intervention, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/812435/reducing-the-need-for-restraint-and-restrictive-intervention.pdf. The department does not collect any information on the use of handcuffs for children in the care system.