Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that there are sufficient secure places in children's homes.

Secure Children’s Homes provide specialist care in a secure environment for some of the most vulnerable children and young people in England in order to protect them, and those around them, from harm.

To support secure homes in maintaining and up-grading their facilities as well as ensuring that they can continue to provide high quality care, the Department for Education has made available £45.2m in capital grant funding over the current spending review period. £5.06m will be available in 2015-16.

In order to encourage improvements in the supply of places, the Department has also worked closely with the Youth Justice Board to ensure that there is a clear and efficient process for releasing places normally reserved for youth justice placements when a secure placement is needed for a local authority child.

The Department recognises, however, that the pressure on places in secure homes has grown over the last 18 months. In October 2014, the Department commissioned a more detailed examination of the issue. The review sought to provide evidence and offer the Department advice on the current and likely future need for places. It also identified changes or improvements that might be required to ensure that the needs of these young people are met.

Based on the advice provided, the Department concluded that the commissioning and supply of welfare placements in secure children’s homes would benefit from improved co-ordination at national level.

This view is very much shared by local authorities. The Department will now undertake further development work on the issue with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services and the Local Government Association. The work will explore how greater co-ordination at national level might work in practice, including whether it could, and should, involve a more centralised national commissioning process. A copy of the Ministerial letter announcing the next stage in the work is available through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-edward-timpson-about-secure-childrens-homes.