Committee stage in the Lords
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)Labour- Quote
- I thought that it was an interesting amendment, and I have a great deal of sympathy with the reasons for proposing it. I am clear that young people who have offended should be held responsible for their actions and that proper reparation, including financial compensation, should be an important feature of making young people accountable for their actions. We do not think that there is a specific need for the noble Lord’s amendment for a number of reasons. Reparation is a key theme within the current framework of the youth justice system, which is why it should be included as a purpose of sentencing for the court to consider. The court can sentence a young person to a specific reparation order, which will remain a separate sentence beneath a youth rehabilitation order. A reparation order focuses on reinforcing personal responsibility and on learning the consequence of the damage the offender has caused both to the individual and the community. It may cover a variety of activities from simply writing a letter of apology to carrying out work to assist the local community. I took part in such a community payback programme in relation to a scout hut in Northolt some months ago and met a number of young people who were required to take part. I must say that I found it useful. It is interesting that through such schemes and their contribution, some of the young people have found skills and work. They also contributed to renovating a much-needed community asset, when it would have been difficult to find the resources to do it. There are many other marvellous examples to which we must pay tribute. As we discussed yesterday, I thought that reparation must be an element within the youth rehabilitation order itself. Reparation activities can be used in some of the requirements and as unpaid work. In terms of the legislation, we believe that courts already have the power to order any offender to pay compensation under existing legislation. Section 130 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 provides for that power. A compensation order awarded by the court in favour of the victim is the primary sentence of the court, like a fine. Its main purpose is to punish the offender, not necessarily to compensate the victim fully. I noted the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, that it is all very well there being a provision but it does not seem to be used often. I have some sympathy with that, although no doubt he would acknowledge the benefit of the courts’ discretion in these matters, as he has pointed out to us. The problem is probably that the courts take the view that it would not serve a useful purpose to award an amount and require payment at a level that the offender had no hope of repaying within the foreseeable future, which might merely tempt him or her to commit further crime. That may be the reason, but as I have said, my figures for 2005-06 show that 15,492 compensation orders were given to young offenders. Clearly the power is used to a certain extent, but I am happy to take away the provision to see whether anything more could be done to encourage more use of the order in the future.
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Baroness Linklater of ButterstoneLiberal Democrat- Quote
- moved Amendment No. 71:
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Lord JuddLabour- Quote
- moved, as an amendment to Amendment No. 71, Amendment No. 73:
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Lord RamsbothamCrossbench- Quote
- I am glad that the noble Lord, Lord Judd, with his usual prescience, has raised this threshold to 21. It brings to mind the fact that, in the custodial system as it is, there are people aged under 18 in the hands of the Prison Service, and then those aged 18 to 21 of whom there many more, but they are marginalised. They are marginalised because nobody is responsible for looking after them; they are not regarded as adults, they are not regarded as children and nothing is done for them. That group probably needs our help more than any other which we are not helping. Its members are on the threshold of adulthood; it is the last chance saloon, if you like. Therefore, while we are dealing with children and all the special things that happen, we ought to bear in mind that some establishments known as “split sites” have both groups. If you visit them, you will find that the younger group has facilities like education and work, and the 18-21 year-olds have not because the facilities have been milked to provide them for the juveniles for whom the Prison Service is under contract from the Youth Justice Board. It has been said that this group of young offenders should go up to the age of 25. That is another debate and another aspect that needs to be considered, but bearing in mind that, as I shall be raising in another amendment, it is now possible for people to remain in care until the age of 21 and remembering the immaturity of some of these people who need all the help that they can get, it is right that the restrictions on custody that the noble Baroness has so rightly raised should apply to the age range raised by the noble Lord, Lord Judd.
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- Lord JuddLabour
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- Does the noble Lord agree that the statistic which, to be candid, I gave to the House in the context of an Oral Question this afternoon makes his point very clearly? While it is true that since 1990 30 children have died in custody—that is a disturbing enough statistic—during the same period 201 people aged 18 to 20 have died in custody, including 178 self-inflicted deaths and five homicides. We somehow as a society just say, “Oh well, those are the statistics”. Think of the human tragedy that every case represents and the appalling situation for families, relatives and others. For all those reasons, we cannot overemphasise the importance of the noble Baroness’s amendment. I am very glad to see that she seems to be indicating that she has no difficulty with our proposition that it should be extended to cover the 18 to 21 age group.
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- Lord RamsbothamCrossbench
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- I accept that. The noble Lord’s figures emphasise once again the importance of looking at all aspects of this—from suspicion to arrest, through every trial, through custody and whatever—holistically with the same thing in mind and not as single issues.
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The Earl of ListowelCrossbench- Quote
- I strongly support the amendment. I shall not repeat what I have already said about this matter, but shall take this opportunity to welcome strongly the measures in the first part of the Bill to provide proper community sanctions so that children can be kept out of custody more than they have been in the past. I note what the Minister said about a static period, but can he say a bit more about the trend? I understand there was a rising trend, then a static period and then it began to rise again more recently. Has that rise now settled? There are a number of points to make about this. I think I am correct in saying that there has not been a death in a local authority secure unit. Perhaps the Minister will confirm that. If one can reduce the population within the custodial centre, one can concentrate on quality. One could make centres local and concentrate on having the best training and support for staff and really use custody effectively. Currently, there is overcrowding, so there is a high level of churn. That means it is difficult to establish relationships between the young people and the custody officers, which means that a heavy use of force is needed to keep them under control. Again and again I hear from people working in these places that relationships are crucial to managing behaviour, but they cannot be established. We now have a call from the Prison Officers’ Association for prison officers to be allowed to carry batons in these settings. There are so many good reasons to wish to move in this direction. Before I finish, I want to emphasise the huge cost to the public of locking up all these children. How much better that money might be spent on the community sanctions that the noble Lord is proposing. I hope that the Minister can give a sympathetic reply to the amendment.
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Baroness Howe of IdlicoteCrossbench- Quote
- I will be brief but I have no hesitation in backing both the amendment and the amended amendment. This group of children, particularly in today’s world of overcrowded prisons—which, let us face it, it is going to take some time to sort out—is the most vulnerable group. The more we can do to help them the better, by not only encouraging but laying a duty on local authorities and others to see them through into, we hope, a better world with backup and resources provided to help them get into jobs or training. The numbers who take their own lives or self-harm are quite appalling. I would like to ask whether there are any figures for men and women on this but one knows that there are very vulnerable women in these circumstances. The Corston report has made that clear to us. But I certainly back these amendments.
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Lord Mayhew of TwysdenConservative- Quote
- I view these amendments with sympathy but not with total acceptance and I would like to say why. In the last couple of days it has become almost a truism to say that there is very little expectation of a successful result from an order of custody imposed upon anybody under the age of 18. I am much in sympathy with what the noble Lords, Lord Judd and Lord Ramsbotham, have said about the special circumstances that affect the under-21s. Over the years we have legislated to provide that custody for a young person shall only be a last resort. From that it follows that Parliament has regarded it as a resort, albeit a last one and therefore one very sparingly turned to. My anxiety about these amendments is that it is to impose a dangerously narrow restriction on what may be regarded as a last resort to say that, “the offence … could reasonably have been expected to cause serious physical or psychological harm to another or others”, and that, “a custodial sentence is necessary to protect the public from a demonstrable and imminent risk of serious physical or psychological harm”. I think that could be found to be dangerously and impracticably narrow. I would be interested in the noble Baroness’s comment on this point and the Government’s response to it. There may be a case for a restriction on what can be regarded as a last resort but as at present advised I think this is unduly narrow.
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Baroness Butler-SlossCrossbench- Quote
- To a large extent I support both sets of amendments. I particularly support the amendment that raises the age from 18 to 21 for that very vulnerable group of children. I also share the concerns of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mayhew, that there should be a restriction but that this is too narrow. One should be thinking a little more broadly for the protection of the public because the public will not understand if between the ages of 18 and 21 we are treating them exactly the same as children. But even with children one has to be a little careful that this is not too restrictive. I totally agree with the concept but some wording to make it slightly broader would be better than the present.
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Baroness Falkner of MargravineCrossbench- Quote
- I will not speak about the amendments of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, on raising the age of the custody threshold to 21; I will speak only to those which have my name against them. Anticipating perhaps what the Government’s resistance to this might be, I would argue that one of the problems here is the definition of “so serious”. Section 152(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 requires that: “The court must not pass a custodial sentence unless it is of the opinion that the offence … was so serious”. The problem is that the threshold and the meaning of “so serious” is too vague. That definition necessarily will relate to a person’s age and circumstances, and, dare I say, emotional and intellectual development, on which we have had such a robust debate earlier. I direct the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mayhew, and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, to international comparisons, which were articulated so clearly yesterday in the opening speech made by the noble Baroness, Lady Stern, on the principles. In this country, we cannot have children who are more feral, who are worse, than comparable children elsewhere—at least in comparable economies, GDPs and populations. When we talk about the situation in this country we seem to believe that something is particularly wrong with us here—I call it British exceptionalism—which is an admission of defeat. International comparisons clearly show that custody thresholds apply and are successful elsewhere. I shall not answer those questions directly—I shall leave that to my noble friend Lady Linklater—but I make that observation. We know that custody does not rehabilitate the vast majority of children; three-quarters of them reoffend within a year. The amendment would enable interventions to be improved. It perhaps is a little too narrow and perhaps we need to think again about whether we can make it more practically applicable. But it would provide interventions for those who need to be locked up for genuine reasons of public protection and would enable the reallocation of resources for more suitable and effective community work. We know that community programmes are not adequately funded. About 70 per cent—£280 million—of the Youth Justice Board’s programmes budget is spent each year on locking up—I know that the Minister is sensitive about those words—children.
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- Lord Hunt of Kings HeathLabour
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- Perhaps I may refer to a few of the questions that were raised before I come on to the Government’s view of the specific issues. The noble Baroness, Lady Linklater, referred to the downward use of custodial sentencing, which I think is the equivalent of my up-sentencing. We understand what we mean. I just want to stress that this is not the aim. This is about ensuring custody is indeed the last resort. That is why, in the earlier part of the Bill, so much emphasis is put on the YROs. The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, referred once again to the very important question of restraint. As I said earlier this afternoon—it seems many hours ago now—the review that has been commissioned is due to report in April. I hope that will inform the development of a sensible and helpful policy. We will have to see what the review says. The noble Earl also asked about deaths in custody. I am very happy to circulate the details that I have. I cannot answer the question, raised I think by the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, about women. I will try to find that information. We have another happy debate only a few hours ahead in relation to the report of the noble Baroness, Lady Corston, and I have no doubt that that is one of the matters that we will discuss. On the noble Earl’s specific question, every death is a personal tragedy. My understanding is there was one death at Hillside SCH in 1998. I will let him have details of that of course. I also want to provide the figures on young people in custody and the question of whether we are in a stable position. My understanding is that on 30 June 1997, there were 2,479 under-18s in custody. In October 2002 it had gone up to 2,735. The figure for June 2007, which is the latest I have, is 2,426. It is on that basis that I used the word stabilisation earlier. The YJB disposal data published for 2006-07 show that total disposals in that year were 216,000: pre-court were just over 96,000; first tier 73,000; community 39,700 and custody 7,097. The difference is that the figures I gave earlier were the number of people in custody at one point, whereas the latter figures are about the number of disposals during the calendar year. Noble Lords will interpret those figures, but it does put this into perspective. I will also comment on another interesting question the noble Baroness, Lady Linklater, has raised about the 1982 Act. There was undoubtedly a significant drop in the use of immediate custody between those years for indictable offences for under-21s. This coincided with a corresponding increase in repeat cautioning for offenders, particularly the group aged 17 to 21. For instance, the number of males cautioned for an indictable offence in 1980 was 3,200 and that had risen to 22,500 by 1990. My understanding is that repeat cautioning for indictable offences was deemed not acceptable by the then Government which was why they reversed the position. That is the background to some of the very interesting questions—
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- The Earl of ListowelCrossbench
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- Do the figures include the number of children on remand?
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- Lord Hunt of Kings HeathLabour
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- Which figures are those?
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- The Earl of ListowelCrossbench
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- Those given for children in custody over time.
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- Lord Hunt of Kings HeathLabour
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- My assumption is yes, but I will double-check to make sure and let the noble Earl know. Let me turn to the question in hand. Although we understand what noble Lords are getting at, we think—as has been hinted at already—that the amendments would set an entry point for custody so high that it could present a real risk to the public. Amendment No. 71 would mean that a young person could be sent to custody only where the offence caused or could have caused serious physical or psychological harm and where it is necessary, “to protect the public from a demonstrable and imminent risk” of such harm. The proposal could apply to some of the most serious offences, such as manslaughter, rape and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. There are provisions to deal with young offenders who are classified as dangerous in Sections 226 and 228 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. This involves an assessment of whether the offender has committed an offence listed in Schedule 15 to that Act and whether they pose a significant risk of serious harm to members of the public. If someone commits one of the serious offences I have mentioned they will not be automatically assessed as dangerous. Most young offenders who commit such offences are given a sentence under Section 91 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. The provisions in Section 152 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 apply at present to offenders who have committed one of the most serious offences but are not classified by the courts as dangerous. The amendment would mean that even when the most serious type of harm had been caused and if it could be proved that the young offender had deliberately caused grievous bodily harm with the intent to cause such harm, the court could not impose a custodial sentence unless the prosecution could also prove that, looking forward, it was necessary to protect the public from a demonstrable and imminent risk of serious physical or mental harm. Only then would custody be an option. There is a risk that if we accepted the amendment, notwithstanding that the prosecution could prove all the elements of the offence, the courts could not impose custody unless the prosecution could also show that there was a demonstrable and imminent risk of serious physical and mental harm. Such an offender would not necessarily meet the criterion of dangerousness in the amendment. We think that there is a risk that the custody threshold could be raised in a way that prevents the courts protecting the public from young people who have committed serious and violent crimes. I was very interested in the debate about 18 to 21 year-olds. I remind the Committee that in May last year, the then Minister at the Home Office made a Statement about young adult offenders. He said that, “we are firmly committed to further work to ensure we plan for appropriate provision to address the specific needs of 18 to 24-year olds. We will progress a suite of proposals to enable us to test the best approaches both in custody and in the community by … piloting a specification for a new regime for this age group as an integral part of the new prison capacity building arrangements”.—[Official Report, Commons, 8/5/07; col. 7WS.] Although I have some reservations about the amendment, I assure noble Lords that we accept the challenge presented by this age group. I have been alerted to an error that I made in some of the figures that I gave, for which I apologise. The figures that I gave as a snapshot of the offender population were for young offender institutions only. I shall give the overall figure for the young offender population: in June 2007, it was 2,928; in June 2006, it was 2,925. I offer to circulate to all noble Lords the full figures so that when we debate the matter again on Report we are all clear about what we are talking about.
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- Baroness Linklater of ButterstoneLiberal Democrat
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- I am grateful for all the contributions. We know simply that the young offender population has teetered around an unacceptable 3,000 for several years. I am grateful particularly to the noble Lord, Lord Judd, for his amendment to my amendment. He was right that nobody knows better than the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, just how even more deprived are these prisoners and how they can deceive us by looking so big, tough, frightening and dangerous. We have only to look at the figures. Well, we looked at the figures for suicides. We looked also at the figures for self-harming, to which nobody has referred today, and which are the biggest and loudest cry for help. It is in this age group that it is the most frightening. In response to the reservations that have been expressed, I say that the proposed new clause at least offers a strategy for trying to put a lid on what is already such an unacceptably high figure. It might help the Government to focus on this if I said to them that the Ministry of Justice’s figures for December 2007 show that the vast majority—78 per cent—of the 5,291 children aged 15 to 17 who were sentenced to imprisonment in 2006 was not convicted of sexually related offences or violence against the person. They were not those most serious offenders. In other words, this down-tariffing or scooping-up of younger children into custody is one of things that we must find strategies to counteract.
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- Lord Hunt of Kings HeathLabour
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- We discussed this matter yesterday. One of the problems is the way in which some of the offences are classified. I think that I undertook yesterday—and if I did not, I do so tonight—to provide noble Lords with further information about that.
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- Baroness Linklater of ButterstoneLiberal Democrat
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- I thank the Minister for that. One can nitpick over these things. I suppose that my general argument remains the same: too many children are going in for offences that are relatively too minor. I was interested in what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mayhew, and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, said about the narrowing effect of the amendment. Evidence shows that when we had a threshold, it was very successful and brought down custody by nearly half. That is an important experience that we should not ignore. I appreciate the general support of the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland. I hope that the Minister will perhaps look once again at the proposal. It is not an issue that we will let go. We look forward to returning to it later. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
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The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Boston of Faversham)Crossbench- Quote
- Before I put that request to the Committee, I have to deal with Amendment No. 73. Perhaps I may invite the noble Lord, Lord Judd, to indicate his intentions with regard to Amendment No. 73.
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- Lord JuddLabour
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- Amendment No. 72 was withdrawn from the Marshalled List for a technical reason: it was inadvertently tabled before we realised that you cannot in fact amend the title of a clause. That is what I was led to understand and that is why I withdrew the amendment.
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Lord Bassam of BrightonLabour- Quote
- Perhaps I may assist the Committee. The order of withdrawal has to be something like this: Amendment No. 73 has to be withdrawn, Amendment No. 72 already having been withdrawn from the Marshalled List. The Deputy Chairman puts it to the Committee that Amendment No. 73 is withdrawn; the noble Baroness, Lady Linklater, then has the right of reply to Amendment No. 71. At that point, she will probably seek to withdraw her amendment, and the Deputy Chairman then puts that to the Committee.
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- Lord JuddLabour
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- If it helps the Committee, I am pleased at this juncture to say that I beg leave to withdraw my amendment to the amendment. Amendment No. 73, as an amendment to Amendment No. 71, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 74 to 77, as amendments to Amendment No. 71, not moved.]
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- Baroness Linklater of ButterstoneLiberal Democrat
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- I beg leave to withdraw Amendment No. 71. Amendment No. 71, by leave, withdrawn.
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- Lord JuddLabour
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- moved Amendment No. 78:
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Lord DholakiaLiberal Democrat- Quote
- I am delighted to support this amendment. It was a great privilege to be asked by the noble Lord, Lord Judd, to add my name to it. A number of arguments have been advanced about amending Clause 9 of Part 2 of the Bill, which deals with the purpose of sentencing. The purpose of the amendment is to probe in greater detail the Government’s intentions. The Minister has stolen my thunder, because my last question to him was going to be, “Is there anything in the pipeline that will address the issue of age and suggest remedies?”. He has already answered that, but a number of issues need to be highlighted. It is not my intention to repeat the arguments that have been put forward. In fact, in debate after debate there is a general consensus about the purpose of sentencing and so on, and I do not need to repeat that. I can well understand why the Government wish to promote the principal aim of the youth justice system when dealing with offenders up to the age of 18. The questions that I am always asking is, “Do we have the right approach? Should it be restricted to 18? Would the raising of the age from 18 to 21—which the noble Lord rightly put in the amendment for detention centres—actually help to reduce offending and reoffending rates?”. I have no doubt whatever that in the final analysis that is probably the reason that they would do so. I sat as a magistrate in Sussex—the county that the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, comes from—for a very long time. When you are sitting in the court, it is very difficult to distinguish particularly in relation to the age factor and sentencing. I say that because some youngsters aged 12, 13 or 14 are much more mature than some people aged 21. Is that factor important? Or should you not effectively be looking at what is most appropriate for the individual before you? That is fundamental to the amendment. In various amendments to Clause 9, a number of noble Lords tried to establish a balance; but the balance that we are lacking at the moment is effectively the age factor. I am not surprised, nor is the chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, that issues of youth justice continue to be very high profile, and we are increasingly focusing on this issue in the debates in your Lordships’ House. I am also aware that there is an ongoing 10-year plan to deliver the principles that have been set out in the Youth Justice Board strategy for the secure estate for children and young people. There are obvious benefits, which include—this is the suggestion that the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, has spoken about previously—a single-site population of under-18s, small, flexible units, young people being located close to their home community and safe environments that better meet the needs of young people. It is equally important that such provision should apply to people who are under 21 years of age; but until the 10-year plan comes into force, we need to explore how best to provide suitable accommodation and premises where appropriate care and support are provided by the appropriate agencies. This requires amendment to the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, Section 27(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 and Section 43(2) of the Prisons Act 1952. We further propose revisiting Section 106 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. To avoid further technicality, we have identified suitable words to substitute that section and other relevant sections in previous legislation. I have not set out to criticise the work of the Youth Justice Board. In previous debates, I have always complimented the considerable strides we have made since the establishment of the YJB. If its success is to be carried forward, if the intervention is to reduce reoffending—and offending—then it is right that we should be able to fish out the Government’s intention.
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- Lord RamsbothamCrossbench
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- In rising to speak to my Amendment No. 119 and also warmly to support the amendments of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, I have to declare a certain sense of déjà vu. About three weeks ago, almost at the end of a day in Grand Committee, this amendment was called and there was insufficient time to raise it. I deliberately tabled it both in this Bill and in the Children and Young Persons Bill to emphasise the linkage between these two. My wish, having read all that is in the two Bills, is that perhaps this Bill had been brought by the Minister for Children, supported by people from other ministries, to make the point that there really was a holistic bringing together of what is needed. I do not dissent in any way from what was said by the noble Lord, Lord Judd. I am glad he brought those points out. I have a number of points to make in support of that, really based on my frustration during my five and a half years as chief inspector in trying to persuade the system to listen to what was actually happening, and to put people in charge who were responsible, accountable and making it happen. I will go on repeating that none of these systems will work unless those people are there. It is absurd that in the Prison Service there is no one responsible for children and no one responsible for the young offenders. There are planners, yes, but doers, no. My amendment refers to one group which bridges them—those young people sent into custody from care and so who come into custody without parents. Sensibly, when the Youth Justice Board introduced the detention and training order, an order spent half in custody and half in the community, it insisted that, at the beginning of the custody period, there should be a case conference involving those people responsible for planning what the sentence should be and how it should be carried out. It also invited parents to attend. There was another compulsory conference at the end of the sentence where the same people attended, with the idea of making certain that the transition to community was planned, and that it was overseen by the same people. Interestingly, I was finding that up to 60 per cent of those young offenders had parents attending those conferences. Who was missing? It was the people in care. This amendment tries to ensure that if people go into custody from care, the person responsible for that care is responsible for them throughout the period they are in custody, to act in loco parentis, to attend conferences, most particularly to plan the resettlement and transition stage and to come with them out into the community. I am seeking to put that burden on the local authorities to make certain that they ensure that a named person who knows this young offender stays with them. I hope that will improve how things happen for them and that we will overcome some of the frightful problems of people in care having no one responsible for them when they come out and having nowhere to go and no one to look after them. I am very glad that this amendment was grouped with that of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, because in each of the various clauses to which he refers the local authorities are mentioned. One lesson that I learnt from looking at young offender establishments is that the more local they can be, the smaller and the more linked to communities they can be. Then those communities can bring in their resources, their people, their work experience and so on. There is then much more chance of engaging with the young persons and being able to oversee their transition into the community and not waste what is done in custody. Yesterday I described such a situation being developed by the foyers of localising young offenders, which I really think is an opportunity for hope. I can see no place for these awful Trojan prisons in this context. Going back to what a child needs, lessons about what is needed must be learnt. I hope that in the spirit of these amendments the Minister will pick this up and pass it on to the people responsible and respond to the points that have been made.
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- Baroness Linklater of ButterstoneLiberal Democrat
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- My name is attached to the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham. I gladly support it and him and the noble Lord, Lord Judd, who is my noble friend. I have been a social worker, a children’s panel member and a magistrate. I have seen this from both sides. Since then I have had quite a lot to do with the theory of it. The realities are a million miles from what they should be. As the noble Lord, Lord Judd, said, the transition from prison to the outside world is when all people, but particularly young people, are at their most vulnerable. He will know, as I do, that it is not at all unusual for people to come out with nowhere to go. It makes one’s heart bleed to think of what that can mean for people. This amendment deals with so-called looked-after children, whose total life experience and life chances are, at a stroke, diminished by being in the care of the state. That says a lot for the care of the state, does it not? Our amendment requires local authority representatives to visit a looked-after child, who is in care, who is then taken into custody. There was a Green Paper which vaguely said that local authorities should carry out an assessment of need of such a child, “with an expectation that they will continue to be supported as a child in care”. Not surprisingly, those expectations have not been realised. A vast proportion of children in custody have been in care—up to 49 per cent—with all that that means. At the same time, we all know just how stretched our social services departments are. So the temptation for social workers, who may be miles from where a child has ended up in custody, to park their responsibilities for such a child until such time as he or she is released is irresistible. That may be the reason—indeed justification—but it does not mean that it is right. Quite the reverse is the case. For many children, going into custody is like falling into a black hole. Indeed, one of the three STCs that I have visited, some more than once, dissuaded families from visiting, and did not even invite them to come to see a production of a play that had been a great source of excitement and pride to the participants. Distance and cost were the explanations for the lack of any invitation. Distance and cost are also the explanation for lack of social workers, plus, quite rightly, pressure of work and the temptation perhaps to take comfort from the fact that for a while someone else has the responsibility for the child. Clearly, continuity of care by those whose role it is to support vulnerable children in the community who are in theory being looked after by them is essential as well as desirable. There should indeed be, as the amendment proposes, a statutory duty to maintain contact, make an assessment of need and report annually. I have also heard from staff in STCs about the difficulty they have in making or keeping contact with their co-professionals outside, including at the point of release, which is deeply shocking. These are children who need more, not less, continuity of care, and it is incumbent on all of us to see that that happens. Once again resources of time, money and manpower are at issue. But if the welfare of the child is indeed paramount and not just another form of words, action must be taken. These children should be at the top of the list, not the bottom where they so shockingly and so often are. We have a pressing duty to see that that is put right.
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- 21:45
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- Speaker
- Baroness Howe of IdlicoteCrossbench
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- I am a signatory of the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lord Judd. Like my noble friend Lord Ramsbotham, we went through exactly the same process with the Children and Young Persons Act and became very aware of the postcode lottery and how many of those children were left without any sort of contact whatever. There are two major reasons why the amendments are crucial. As we have all heard, this is the most vulnerable group of children we can think of. They have already been failed because we have not been able to stop them committing crimes so that they have ended up in custody. My noble friend Lord Judd spoke passionately about the group that we need to reclaim. We need to save them from themselves and their families, from the abuse they have received, and from their lack of learning and training—all of which have been mentioned—if we are to make any progress with the proposed plans. I hope very much that the two amendments will be accepted—whether they are exactly right or not at this moment is almost immaterial. We are focusing on a group that needs maximum help and support. An aspect of one of these amendments refers to any contact that has happened in the past and where a relationship had been formed. That is the sort of person that children need to help them through the next period, to advise them on training and make certain that they have somewhere to live. They will engage the local authority and private sector bodies to help with jobs, training, and so on. I was particularly impressed by the Local Government Association. I agree entirely that we need to aim at local placement, whether prison or secure units. They must be increasingly local if they are to succeed. This will also mean that the whole community will gradually feel the responsibility to ensure that they turn into responsible citizens. If they do not, they will be a charge on their own local community. For all those reasons, and the fact that the Local Government Association applauds that approach, wants to see it happen and encourages it, I hope that the Minister will give reassuring answers to the amendment.
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- 21:45
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- Speaker
- Baroness Butler-SlossCrossbench
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- For the reasons given by my noble friend Lord Ramsbotham I strongly support the amendment to Clause 119. Looking at the time, I am not going to say any more than that. I endorse what he said.
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- 22:00
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- Speaker
- The Earl of ListowelCrossbench
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- In the Children and Young Persons Bill, the Government introduced a new duty on local authorities to place children within the local authority area unless there were exceptional circumstances. That is pertinent to this Bill and these amendments. It makes sense to keep the children as local as possible.
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- 22:00
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- Speaker
- Lord Hunt of Kings HeathLabour
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- That was a pithy comment. The debate is a fitting conclusion to an extraordinarily interesting day. I say to my noble friend Lord Judd, who is a great humanitarian, that I am sorry about his exasperation. I fully accept that after-care, resettlement and integration of the young person back into society after release from custody is critical to a successful outcome from the youth justice system. I welcome his acknowledgement that the new Ministry of Justice is in a good position, albeit in close co-operation with our friends at the Department for Children, Schools and Families. I acknowledged to the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, that I would be delighted for my noble friend Lord Adonis to be standing here today taking part. I have watched with interest the debates that he has been having with noble Lords on his Bill. Although it is early days, we are establishing a stronger relationship between the two departments, which is essential to achieving the integrated approach that noble Lords want to see. I will not comment any further on the country house clean sheet of paper. I was tempted to talk about aircraft carriers to the noble Lord. I will not refer to Titans tonight, although I anticipate a good discussion tomorrow in the noble Baroness’s debate, where my noble friend Lord Carter is also speaking. That should be extremely interesting. If young people have to go to custody, they should be placed in accommodation that is fully adapted to the needs of that young person. Noble Lords will know that we are not persuaded that local authority secure children’s homes will be suitable for all young people, even if places were available for all of them, which is far from being the case. I will not go into the detailed reasons, as they were set out by my noble friend Lord Adonis, but I want to assure noble Lords of two things. First, the Government have taken on board the views of noble Lords who have spoken on the matter, both today and on earlier occasions. Secondly, the Youth Justice Board is committed to developing the secure estate for children and young people to ensure that the accommodation provided continues to become more closely adapted to the needs of those young people. In response to the interesting contribution by the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, I say that, since the YJB assumed responsibility for commissioning and purchasing custodial places in 2000, it has created a diverse and secure estate. Of course, the balance of provision could be improved. We recognise that the provision for the needs of more vulnerable older boys is a particularly worrying issue, which the YJB is working on. As I said earlier, we are looking at options for developing the kind of provision required for the young adult offenders to which Members of the Committee have referred. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, and other Members of the Committee who have spoken about looked-after children in custody and in general, that we are all aware that they represent some of the most vulnerable children in our society, and that their educational attainment can be pretty poor. In terms of offending, my understanding is that 9 per cent of children in care for a year or more have been cautioned or have committed an offence, compared to 3 per cent for the general child population. We know that many of these problems will continue into adulthood for many looked-after children. There are some signs of encouragement. The educational outcomes of children in care have improved quite dramatically: 49 per cent of looked-after children got one GCSE in 2000; it rose to 63 per cent in 2006. In 2000, 7 per cent got five A to C grades at GCSE. That is not a good figure at all, but at least it rose to 12 per cent in 2006. Clearly, there is an awful long way to go, but there are some signs of improvement. Of course, there is more to be done. We are listening very carefully to the comments that Members of the Committee have made, both today and when the Children and Young Persons Bill was being debated. The noble Lord referred to attending the sentence planning meetings, which was a very relevant point. Where the local authority shares parental responsibility for a looked-after child, we would expect its representatives to participate in sentence planning meetings. We will deal with this in future revised guidance to the Children Act 1989. That will be necessary; we will have to change the guidance in the light of the legislation currently going through the House, which offers a valuable opportunity. We have also made clear our intention to use the delegated powers to impose a requirement for local authorities to arrange visits to those looked-after children who lose their status when they enter custody; namely, those voluntarily accommodated under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989. That will ensure that these children continue to receive the support they need, and that local authorities are aware when they are likely to be discharged from custody. The purpose of the visits will be to assess the young person’s needs and establish the kind of continuing support that will be necessary to resettle the young person back into the community. For some young people, this will involve ensuring that, on release from custody, they are provided with appropriate accommodation and that the local authority should therefore arrange for them to become “looked after” once more. The new requirements being introduced by the Children and Young Persons Bill will, as I have said, be supported by revisions to regulations and statutory guidance. We will use these revisions to set out that the person responsible for visiting a formerly looked-after child in custody will be an officer of the local authority children’s services, rather than a member of the youth offending team and that, where possible, this officer should be a qualified social worker familiar with the child’s case. I very much understand that we are dealing with one of the most vulnerable groups of young people in our society, and that the outcomes for them have been very poor indeed. It is going to be a tremendous challenge to turn this round, but there are signs that we are beginning to see improvements. I also refer to the children leaving care legislation which is helping, as will the joint work between my department and the Department for Children. I understand my noble friend’s exasperation, but I hope he will accept that we believe that this is a critical area of work to be undertaken by the Government and our partners in local government. I hope that he might stem his exasperation a little more to see how this turns out.
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- 22:00
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- Speaker
- Lord JuddLabour
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- I am extremely grateful to all noble Lords who participated in this debate, and I am particularly grateful to noble Lords in general for staying beyond the new conventional hour of 10 o’clock. Seeing the Chief Whip sitting there, I should apologise to her that we have over-run 10 o’clock. I am a bit sorry that we have had the pressure of time because I think that some noble Lords would have liked to say more had there been more time. I always listen very attentively to my noble friend when he replies because he is always so courteous and thorough. He always tries to meet the arguments put forward and explain his own position, even if he does not convince us. I believe that this debate has been invaluable in focusing attention on the special needs of children and the 18 to 21 year-old age group. I have a certain amount of hope—I hope not forlorn—that the new Ministry of Justice and the new approach will enable us to do a lot of new thinking together over the years ahead. I do not want to see this Bill as the end of the story. If we are serious about rehabilitation and about protecting the pubic in the long run by successful rehabilitation, it is inevitable that we will move to special provision in all cases for children and the 18 to 21 year-old age group. Anything else is, or is in danger of being, highly counterproductive. In the hope that we will carry this debate forward in the years ahead, to bring that about as soon as possible, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
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- 22:00
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- Speaker
- Lord Bassam of BrightonLabour
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- I beg to move that the House do now resume. Moved accordingly, and, on Question, Motion agreed to. House resumed. House adjourned at 10.13 pm
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