Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many children had been released under the Prison and Young Offender Institution (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Rules 2020 as of 28 April 2020.

Our priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of all children in custody, both sentenced and on remand, whilst ensuring the public is protected and we are considering all the options available to maintain this approach. I can assure you we will take the necessary actions in the interests of children in custody and the wider community. That is why we have been progressing work to review the cases of those children serving a custodial sentence in the youth estate who may be eligible for early release under the End of Custody Temporary Release (ECTR) programme. Work has been taking place alongside NHS England & NHS Improvement and the Youth Justice Board to produce joint operational guidance, with the appropriate Youth Offending Teams (YOT) and local authorities updated accordingly. Eligibility for the ECTR programme is determined by the offence type and level of risk that children and young people pose to themselves and others. In addition to this, children will only be eligible if they are serving a custodial sentence.

We are continually reviewing procedures to support access to justice during the emergency period due to Covid-19, particularly for the most time-critical and sensitive cases, such as youth custodial remand cases. Custodial remand should only be used as a last resort for children and only in the most serious cases. When a child is remanded to custody, the child’s case is regularly reviewed by the local Youth Offending Team which, if appropriate, will apply to the court for a bail hearing. The court will then carefully consider the circumstances of the case and reach a decision of whether to bail a child into the community, or remand the child back to custody. These decisions must be considered by the court on a case by case basis, and a child will only be released from custodial remand into the community, if the court deems it is safe to do so. Courts are working very closely with the judiciary to prioritise caseload and case types.

Those who meet the ECTR criteria will only be released if their YOT manager confirms that their accommodation is safe, suitable and sustainable. All children released under ECTR will be subject to electronic monitoring. If children and young people do not already have their own phone, or access to one then they can be provided with a basic non- internet enabled mobile phone. This will enable them to maintain contact with their YOT, family/carer and establishment from the moment of release. No child will be released without accommodation and bed and breakfast accommodation will not be deemed suitable.

Given these necessary safeguards for the child and the public, and the higher threshold for custodial sentences in youth justice in the first place, this means that only a small number of children are in scope for this release. None have yet completed the process and fewer than ten will be eligible in the next three months, but children do also continue to be released from custody in the usual way.