Young Offenders: Speech and Language Disorders

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 2 February 2015.

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Photo of Lord Quirk Lord Quirk Crossbench

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, given the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists' assessment that over 60 per cent of young people in the youth justice estate have speech and language problems, what plans they have to provide time for such needs to be addressed in addition to the 30 hours per week for education in the forthcoming contract for young offender institutions and (from 2017) the new secure colleges, as stated by Lord Faulks in his Written Answers of 3 December 2014 (HL2982 and HL2983).

Photo of Lord Faulks Lord Faulks The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

Young offenders’ time in custody should be an opportunity to turn their lives around and prevent them reoffending.

Education contracts have now been awarded in public sector young offender institutions (YOIs) for young people under 18. They will more than double the current average number of hours of education provided for young people in YOIs each week, and focus on providing a quality of education equivalent to mainstream schools and colleges that meets the individual needs of young people including those with special educational needs.

From April 2015, local authorities will be under a duty to arrange the special education provision set out in a young person’s Education Health and Care (EHC) plan, including speech and language therapy, while a young person is detained in custody. Those in charge of secure establishments and health service commissioners will work with the local authority in fulfilling their duty to arrange appropriate provision. A request for an EHC plan assessment can also be made while the young person is detained and the assessment can begin in custody.

Alongside the improved education contracts, a new core day will be implemented in YOIs over the coming months. This will support the increased education hours and schedule other daily activities around learning as happens for young people in the community so that the full range of their needs can be addressed.

Secure Colleges will for the first time offer a fully integrated, multi-agency approach to tackling the offending of young people. The regime will be integrated with health, substance misuse and wider services. The operator procurement will focus on ensuring that the provider has the skills and experience to achieve improved outcomes by delivering this holistic regime to meet the individual needs of each young person accommodated there.

The first Secure College has been carefully designed with flexibility in mind to support an integrated regime which effectively addresses individual needs, and the principal health and education centres are located in a single building to facilitate ease of access and reduce interruptions.

We will finalise expectations on Secure Colleges in respect of children and young people with special educational needs following further engagement with educationalists and prospective providers.

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