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Allow councils to run new secure academies, urge MPs and campaigners

1 min read Youth Justice Social Care
MPs and campaigners are backing calls to give local authorities the power to maintain and establish a new form of secure children’s home for 16- to 19-year-olds.
Sarah Champion has tabled a debate in parliament. Picture: Parliament UK
Sarah Champion has tabled a debate in parliament. Picture: Parliament UK

An amendment to the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill put forward by Sarah Champion, MP for Rotherham, would also ban profit-making companies from running a secure 16 to 19 academy which, under the bill, is described as a secure children’s home.

Plans for a network of secure schools, including secure 16 to 19 academies, were put forward by government in 2016, however, local authorities did not meet application criteria to run such settings.

The contract to run England's secure schools for 12- to 17-year-olds was granted to Oasis Charitable Trust, with the first school set to open on the site of the former Medway Secure Training Centre (STC) in December 2022.

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