Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the decline in safety in youth jails in light of the publication of the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales’ Annual Report 2016-17? TAQ(5)0172(CC)

Thank you for the question. Whilst the Welsh Government takes the safety of young people in custody very seriously, responsibility lies with the Ministry of Justice and the youth justice board. I have previously visited Parc prison and will raise the issue the Member raises with the UK Minister.

I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his response, and I’m sure that he shares my horror at many of the findings found in this report. Indeed, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons has concluded that not a single establishment inspected in Wales and England last year is safe to hold children and young people. Rates of self-harm have doubled since 2011, 46 per cent of boys feel unsafe at their establishment, assault rates were 18.9 per 100 children, compared with 9.7 in 2011. There has been a decline in the conditions in which children are detained, and levels of violence are high—both assaults on staff and on other young people.

We’ve gone beyond the crisis point, I think. I acknowledge, as the Cabinet Secretary said, that this is not due to Welsh Government policy, but Welsh children are being put in danger and are being failed by the current regime. The Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children is responsible for children and young people’s rights. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says that Governments must do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and bad treatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them. Article 37 reads: children must not suffer cruel or degrading treatment or punishment. When arrested, detained or imprisoned, children must be treated with respect and care.

Given this crisis, Cabinet Secretary, will you agree that, as an immediate step, you will demand access from the Ministry of Justice to the prisons estate for Welsh Government to inspect the plight of Welsh children for itself? And, secondly, will you seek the swift devolution of youth justice to this country so that Welsh children are not further failed by the current broken penal system?

I think the Member raises some really interesting and important points about the state of the nation and particularly young people and how we have to ensure that they are protected at all costs in terms of where they are within the sector. I can say that the youth justice board relationship with Wales is very good, and there has been an inspection prior to the release of that report, and action has been taken, particularly on the secure estate here in Wales.

I can inform the Member that the published outcomes of the inspection of 2016-17 for Parc prison under ‘Safety’, ‘Respect’, ‘Purposeful activity’ and ‘Resettlement’ were all ‘reasonably good’. Arguably, that should be better, but it certainly is in a better place than all the other establishments that are secure across the country.

My whole ethos, and my department’s ethos, is, actually, that, when people end up in the secure estate, we’ve actually failed the system. We should be much further up front in making sure we have prevention in place to support young people. That’s why we’re investing in the adverse childhood experiences hub here in Wales to protect individuals from stacked ACEs. We’re working with Public Health Wales across the departments to make sure that we can help young people—prevent entering into these systems—but I’ve taken the points that the Member raises and will look carefully at the recommendations in the report, and, if there’s any more we can do, I will keep the Member informed of this.

Thank you to the Cabinet Secretary. The next question—David Melding.