Councils demand action to protect young people in custody

The Local Government Association (LGA) has issued the call in response to a report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons published in July that revealed how rates of self-harm and assault within youth custody have soared in the past five years.

In that report Peter Clarke, the chief inspector of prisons, warned that the dangers are such that a tragedy is "inevitable" unless action is taken fast.

In 2011 there were 4.1 self-harm incidents and 9.7 assaults per 100 children in custody, compared with 8.9 incidents of self-harm and 18.9 assaults per 100 young people in custody in 2016.

Richard Watts, chair of the LGA's children and young people board, said the government must set out how it intends to improve safety now that the responsibility for the juvenile secure estate has moved from the Youth Justice Board to the new Youth Custody Service, which is part of HM Prison and Probation Service.

"Councils take their responsibility toward child safety extremely seriously, and work hard to ensure that children and young people are never put in situations that would put them at risk," Watts said.

"There is no other situation in which children and young people would be placed into environments that are known to be unsafe, and youth custody should be no exception.

"Any local authority found to be running institutions where tragedy is ‘inevitable', to use the chief inspector of prisons' recent description of the secure estate, would quite rightly be under intense pressure and would at the very least be required to produce a plan with clear timescales for action to ensure that improvements are made quickly and children are kept safe," he added.

"Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service were made aware of these issues in July, yet we still have no clear idea of what action will be taken, and by when, to rectify the situation and make sure our young people are safe in custody."

In March John Drew, the former chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, blamed a lack of central government funding for the increasing levels of violence within youth custody.

Last year the then Justice Secretary Michael Gove told MPs that the Ministry of Justice would take action to tackle safety concerns in youth custody.

As of July this year there were 924 under-18s in custody.