Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many girls are in custody; and how many and what proportion of these girls are in youth offender institutions.

During the period December 2022 to November 2023, seven girls in total were accommodated in the Keppel Unit at HMYOI Wetherby.

Data on the number of girls held in custody is published regularly as part of the Youth custody data release with the sex of those held in custody provided in table 1.3. The most recently published information confirms that as of 31 October 2023 five girls were accommodated in the Youth Secure Estate. It is not possible to disclose how many of these girls were residing in a young offender institution without risking identification of individuals.

The following link provides more detailed information relating to the population of children and young people in secure children’s homes, secure training centres and young offender institutions: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/youth-custody-data.