‘Get a grip’ on delayed plans for secure school, MPs tell government
Fiona Simpson
Friday, July 15, 2022
MPs have urged the government to “get a grip” on plans for the UK’s first secure school amid almost four years of delays in opening the setting.
In a new report, the public accounts committee (PAC) questions the “commitment” of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) in delivering the school which was first due to open in autumn 2020.
Despite assurances that it will open in November 2023, the PAC has said it expects the setting to be ready closer to February 2024.
MP Meg Hillier, PAC chair, said: "It’s time for the department to get a grip on the programme it announced its support for seven years ago."
Its report on secure training centres (STCs) and secure schools says the delays could “condemn vulnerable children to unsafe conditions” in STCs with the number of children in custody expected to double by 2024, with vulnerable girls badly impacted.
This is due to a lack of provision for girls, who make up just three per cent of the youth custody estate, after it emerged that young women had been placed in male-only Wetherby young offenders institution when all children were removed from Rainsbrook STC last year, according to the report.
It also raises concerns over the MoJ and HMPPS’s ability to properly safeguard children placed at a secure school which will be run by Oasis Charitable Trust.
“The Ministry and HMPPS are relying on a provider to deliver the new secure school model, but the approach they are taking is untested and there are insufficient safeguards in place. “The Ministry and HMPPS appointed a provider, Oasis Charitable Trust, in July 2019 although Oasis has not previously provided secure accommodation for children,” the report states.
It adds that it was only “following discussions with the Charity Commission that HMPPS later realised legislation was needed to allow a charity to run a secure school”.
According to recent information revealed by Oasis, the organisation will run the school under a funding agreement, rather than a contract.
In a series of recommendations put forward in the PAC report, MPs have called on the MoJ and HMPPS to “set out how the funding agreement will incentivise the secure school provider to deliver high quality care for all children in custody, including how they would manage underperformance or children being refused a place”.
It also raises questions over “spiralling costs” of the secure school which are now reaching £40m despite the government originally budgeting £4.9m to repurpose Medway STC.
“The ministry and HMPPS should provide assurance that they now have firm control over the remaining timetable and costs to deliver the first secure school. They should also provide an update to the committee on progress against the timetable in six months’ time,” the report states.
It also says that the bodies “do not know what works in terms of early intervention and custodial provision for children” and calls for them to “set out their evaluation strategy for youth custodial provision” including for the secure school.
Hillier added: “The government faces the double disaster of a growing number of children being held in custody while delays and spiralling costs jeopardise what were promised to be safe, secure facilities.
“Secure schools were heralded as the solution for the youngest and most vulnerable in custody.
“We urge the government to understand the impact that custody has on children, particularly those held in unsafe conditions or those receiving substandard care.
“It is clear that the government lacks a coherent strategy for youth custody which must have at its heart the need to reduce the number of children entering the criminal justice system and providing sufficient safeguards for those that do.”
