Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he expects the new segregation unit at HMP Bedford to be (a) completed and (b) opened.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The design brief for the new care and separation unit at HMP Bedford was to identify a suitable location for a facility which would address HMIP concerns while minimising the impacts on operational capacity, security and regime. The proposal agreed with the Prison was to covert part of B wing into the new unit in place of place the old one.

The care and separation unit is due to be completed in early March 2024, however additional works are required in B wing before the wing can be put back into use. While the programme for this is not yet finalised, the aim is for the new unit to open before the end of the year.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been held on the segregation unit at HMP Bedford since 17 November 2023.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

As records of prisoners who have left the prison on transfer or on release are no longer accessible to the prison, it is not possible, without incurring disproportionate cost, to say how many individual prisoners were segregated during the period.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of plans to replace the segregation unit at HMP Bedford.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

The design brief for the new care and separation unit at HMP Bedford was to identify a suitable location for a facility which would address HMIP concerns while minimising the impacts on operational capacity, security and regime. The proposal agreed with the Prison was to covert part of B wing into the new unit in place of place the old one.

The care and separation unit is due to be completed in early March 2024, however additional works are required in B wing before the wing can be put back into use. While the programme for this is not yet finalised, the aim is for the new unit to open before the end of the year.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many young people were held in segregation for more than seven days in each of the young offender institutions in England and Wales during the last year.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Segregation is not used within the Youth Secure Estate. Children and young people are only temporarily separated from their peers as a very last resort. When this happens, they receive extra support from specially trained staff. Training is being escalated for every frontline officer, backed by £5 million of funding to improve care and support. Children and young people are never separated as a punishment.

The following table shows how many children and young people were separated for more than seven days in each of the young offender institutions in England and Wales during the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

Notes:

Figures include any period of separation of more than seven days that began before, and ended after, 1 April 2022,

Any period of separation beginning within five days of a previous period of separation is counted as a single period of separation.

Cases of self-separation, where children or young people have chosen to separate themselves, are not included.

Found: Process of Segregation (Page 17) 4.1 Initial Segregation of Prisoners 4.1.1 For p risoners

Found: This includes use of the segregation unit and the segregation of prisoners elsewhere within the establishment

Found: Process of Segregation (Page 17) 4.1 Initial Segregation of Prisoners 4.1.1 For p risoners

Found: This includes use of the segregation unit and the segregation of prisoners elsewhere within the establishment

Found: as the nature of the of fences involved (e.g. sex of fending or organised crime), may also require segregation