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8 May 2008 : Column 1154W—continued
Young Offender Institutions: Special Educational Needs
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the need for teaching support for teachers in young offender institutions who work with groups of young people with acute special educational needs. [203554]
Mr. Hanson: An audit of education in secure accommodation carried out by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) in 2002 identified the need for special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs), and funding was obtained by the YJB to ensure that each young offenders institution has the support of a SENCO. This requirement is incorporated into the Offenders Learning Journey (Juvenile) which sets out the delivery of learning and skills services to young offenders in custody in England. The Learning and Skills Council is also currently undertaking a review process which will ascertain the level and range of educational need for offenders in each custodial and community setting, thus informing the range and types of provision to be commissioned. We expect the reviews to include an analysis of the level of need for learners with learning difficulties and disability. The Welsh Assembly government lead on education provision in the two YOIs in Wales and this is guided by the YJB's National Specification for Learning and Skills which advocates the use of SENCOs.
Young Offenders: Body Searches
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which young offender institutions include strip searching in their routine admission procedures. [203556]
Maria Eagle: All prisons and young offender institutions are currently required to full search (previously known as strip search) prisoners on reception for security reasons, in accordance with the HM Prison Service National Security Framework and Prison Rule 41(1).
Young Offenders: Prison Accommodation
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many inmates of young offender institutions were transferred to the secure adult prison estate in each of the last 10 years. [203896]
Mr. Hanson: Data are not held centrally on the numbers of 21-year-olds who are transferred from young offender institutions into the secure adult prison estate. Offenders who reach their 21st birthdays towards the end of their sentences normally remain in the young adult estate. Those who have a substantial time still to serve are normally transferred to the secure adult estate soon after reaching 21. Careful guidelines are observed on the management of such transfers.
In exceptional and rare circumstances, an 18 to 21-year-old sentenced offender can be held in an adult prison as an adult on an individual basis (under section
43(2)(c) of the Prison Act 1952) and is managed by local establishment management, where appropriate the offender manager and only when agreed by the Prison Service Area Manager.
Young Offenders: Reoffenders
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what percentage of young offenders whose final custodial establishment was a secure children's home were reconvicted within two years of release in each of the last five years. [203895]
Mr. Hanson: Secure children's homes are generally used to house offenders aged between 12 and 16. Juvenile re-offending is calculated over a one-year follow-up period and covers those aged 10 to 17 who were discharged from custody, as well as those commencing pre-court and non-custodial court disposals. A release from custody could be from a secure training centre, a secure children's home or a young offender institution, with most releases being from young offender institutions. Data are not broken down by type of release establishment. The following table shows the number and proportion of juvenile offenders who re-offended within one year of release from custody for the 2000, 2004 and 2005 cohorts. Data for the 2002 and 2003 cohorts are not available.
| Cohort | Number of offenders in cohort | Number in cohort re- offending | Proportion of cohort offending (percentage) |
Data for the 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 juvenile cohorts on the frequency and severity of juvenile re-offending are due to be published on 9 May 2008 online at:
Young Offenders: Self-mutilation
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many instances of prisoner self-harm were recorded in (a) secure training centres, (b) secure children's homes and (c) young offender institutions in each year since 2000, broken down by establishment; and if he will make a statement. [204315]
Mr. Hanson: The following table sets out the number of recorded self-harm incidents that occurred in under-18 custodial establishments between 1 April 2007 and 29 February 2008. The data have been provided by the Youth Justice Board.
The Youth Justice Board has been collecting data across the secure estate for children and young people against common definitions of self-harm from April 2007. Comparative data are not available for earlier periods.
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