Ofsted announces plans for tougher youth custody inspections

Ofsted, health watchdog the Care Quality Commission and HMI Prisons want to strengthen their response to STCs that receive an "inadequate" judgment. They also want to prioritise child protection within inspections.

The inspectorates said the changes are necessary due to concerns raised during previous inspections of England's three STCs around the way they manage behaviour and their ability to keep children and staff safe.

Currently, if an STC receives an "inadequate" judgment, the Ministry of Justice may commission additional visits between annual inspections. But the inspectorates said this rarely happens in practice.

Instead, they have proposed that STCs that receive their lowest rating are visited again within eight weeks, through either a monitoring visit or a full inspection, to ensure children are safe.

"There have been some recent improvements [in terms of STC standards]," states a consultation document outlining the changes.

"But overall, inspection outcomes and findings across all three STCs in recent years have reflected the serious concerns held nationally about the experiences of children and young people at the centres - especially about the behaviour management, and the overall safety of children and staff."

"Currently, the MoJ may commission additional visits between annual inspections if there are serious concerns, but have done so only rarely. We have agreed with the MoJ that we should strengthen the inspection response to a judgment of inadequate."

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Of the three STCs, Oakhill was judged to be inadequate in October 2017, while Rainsbrook and Medway were rated as "requires improvement to be good" during their last inspections in August 2017 and March 2018 respectively.

During their last visit to Oakhill, inspectors found there had been more than 300 violent assaults on staff and young people over a six month period, with young people carrying their own improvised weapons for their own protection.

Inspectors found that the number of violent incidents at Rainsbrook, in Warwickshire, had doubled between March 2016 and August 2017. At least one member of staff and two young people required hospital treatment following assaults.

The three inspectorates are also proposing that their eight judgments made following a visit are streamlined to four, focusing on child protection, education, healthcare and leadership, and based on the overall experiences and progress of children.

The move would see child protection made a "limiting judgment", meaning that if a STC is rated "inadequate" in this area, it will also be rated "inadequate" in terms of its overall performance.

The inspectorates are also looking to reduce the notice period for inspections from four to three days. In addition, surveys of children's views will be carried out ahead of an inspection rather than during a visit.

"This will help us to make the right decisions about the timing of inspections. It will also help us to develop strong lines of enquiry at the inspection itself," states the consultation document.

The changes are being proposed ahead of the introduction of secure schools, which will have a greater focus on education and rehabilitation. Each will hold up to 70 young people and be modelled on secure children's homes. The plan is for them to eventually replace all young offender institutions and STCs.

The consultation on the proposed changes to STC inspections will run until 14 August. The proposed changes will be tested in the autumn and come into force in April 2019. 

The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.