Offences involving violence against the person have also fallen 31 per cent since 2006/07 and overall custody numbers are down.
Campaigners have welcomed the reductions but have raised concerns at other collected figures.
Some 45 per cent of children in custody have committed or are accused of committing non-violent offences, while one in eight of all under-18s in custody are there for breaching an order.
Children pleading innocent are also more likely to be imprisoned before trial – in 2008/9 eight per cent of remand episodes were to custody but in 2009/10 this increased to 10 per cent.
There were also nearly 7,000 incidents of restraint last year (6,904) and 53 serious injuries requiring hospital treatment following incidents of restraint, self-harm or assault in custody.
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