Parliament to have power of veto on placing girls in secure college

The government had wanted a proposed secure college, due to open in 2017 at Glen Parva in Leicestershire, to hold boys aged between 12 and 17, as well as girls under the age of 18.

But amid concerns about safety, the government has said that in order for girls and boys under the age of 15 to be held there, the matter will have to receive the consent of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Speaking in the House of Lords, Lord Faulks, minister for civil justice and legal policy, said government is confident girls and younger boys could be held safely on the same site as older boys, but moved an amendment that will effectively give MPs and Lords the power of veto.

Faulks said plans for the first secure college have been "carefully developed to provide separate and tailored facilities for younger and more vulnerable children".

"We recognise that these groups are more vulnerable and require tailored support, but as noble Lords will know, girls and younger boys are already safely accommodated together on the same site as older boys in both secure training centres and secure children’s homes, demonstrating that such an approach can work well."

But he said the amendment will give parliament a “clear role in approving the use of secure colleges to detain these groups and will enable that decision to be informed by learning on how secure colleges are operating”.

“The government will, of course, fulfil the earlier commitment that I made to produce a report, and this will be laid before Parliament ahead of the debates on the commencement of the power in order to provide further detail on the plans and to inform the debate in both Houses.”

Youth justice campaigners have welcomed the concession, but are continuing to call for a rethink on plans to create the secure college.

Penelope Gibbs, chair of the Standing Committee for Youth Justice, said: "We are pleased that there is a legal hurdle to girls and younger children being included in the new secure college plan.

“However the college is totally unsuitable for this group and we hope that parliamentarians will always find a way to prevent these vulnerable children from being kept in such a large custodial institution."

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “It is welcome that parliament stood firm in its opposition to government plans to lock up girls and younger children with hundreds of older teenage boys in the proposed secure college. The safeguarding risks were severe.

“However, it is high time that these proposals to create the largest child prison in Western Europe are abandoned.

“At a time when the numbers of children in custody are falling it is a waste of taxpayers’ money and goes against all the evidence of what works in helping troubled children.”