Clause 8 - Arrangements to safeguard and promote welfare
Children Bill [Lords]
2:33 pm
Mr Hilton Dawson (Lancaster and Wyre, Labour)
The amendments would give significant duties to the courts, which have the power to put young people into custody, and to the Youth Justice Board, which is charged with the duty of finding them appropriate accommodation. They would ensure that the LSCB was notified of the whereabouts of those children so that it had an overview of their placement. We are discussing a situation in which young people are not only inappropriately placed in custody, but are inappropriately placed in the various institutions. Young offenders institutions offer a far lower degree of surveillance than youth treatment centres, which offer a far lower degree of care and surveillance than local authority secure units. Sadly, secure units are closing because of lack of use by the Youth Justice Board, and we are faced with the prospect of more and more extremely vulnerable children being placed in prisons which are not resourced and in which staff do not have the training to care for them.