Truss strips YJB of youth custody role

Justice Secretary Liz Truss said in a written ministerial statement that a new Youth Custody Service will be established as a "distinct arm" of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS), the new government quango replacing the National Offender Management Service, to run youth custody.

Meanwhile, responsibility and accountability for commissioning youth custody services will be taken on by the Ministry of Justice.

"The director [of the Youth Custody Service] will have operational responsibility for the day-to-day running of the youth estate, will keep a firm grip on performance and will be a board-level member of HM Prison and Probation Service," Truss's statement said.

"The Youth Custody Service will have its own workforce separately recruited and trained to work in the youth estate, and we will create distinct career pathways for those wanting to work with children and young people in the secure estate, including a new youth justice specialist worker role."

Truss added that the MoJ, working closely with the chair of the YJB, will be responsible for setting standards for the provision of youth justice and intervening to address poor performance.

"These changes will enable the Youth Justice Board to build on its strong track-record and focus on its statutory function of providing vital independent advice on, and scrutiny of, the whole system, advising the government on what standards to set for the youth justice system and monitoring delivery of those standards," the statement said.

"It will continue to work closely with youth offending teams to promote early intervention in the community and share best practice across the system."

Truss also announced that Charlie Taylor - the man who led a government review of the youth justice system ordered by previous Justice Secretary Michael Gove - will be the new chair of the YJB when Lord McNally's three-year term comes to an end in April.

The decision to strip the YJB of a large amount of its responsibility comes around five years after attempts were made to scrap it as part of a government drive to reduce the number of quangos. However, the attempt was dropped following opposition within the House of Lords.

Numbers of young people held in custody have dropped markedly in recent years - progress that, in part at least, has been attributed to the YJB. As of December 2016, there were 829 under-18s in custody - a drop of 55.5 per cent on the December 2010 figure of 1,862.

However, violence in custody is on the rise and the YJB came in for criticism last year for failing to act on complaints made by young people held at Medway Secure Training Centre, where allegations of abuse were later made.

The Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ), which represents more than 40 children's and justice organisations including Barnardo's and Catch 22, said it is disappointed the YJB will be "broken up", describing it as a "retrograde step".

"The transfer of all youth custody responsibilities from the YJB to the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service risks the development of an adult-centric and fragmented approach to children who offend," SCYJ chair Ali Wigzell said.

"Charlie Taylor's recent review for the government called for a ‘integrated, seamless and co-ordinated' response to the challenge of reducing offending by children. We agree. This announcement will make this harder.

"This is all the more concerning given the increasing levels of violence and solitary confinement in youth custody. Now, more than ever, a child-focused approach is needed as the UK's human rights obligations require.

"Most of the reforms to youth custody in the past 15 years were led by the YJB; many were resisted at the time by the Prison Service.

"Our fear is that children's custody will simply be an add-on for an adult prison service, whose attention is bound to be on its own crisis."

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "We welcome the appointment of Charlie Taylor as chair of the Youth Justice Board, even if that organisation is shorn of many of its responsibilities in this latest announcement.

"There is certainly a case for change. The Youth Justice Board has recently overseen the abuse scandal at Medway Secure Training Centre and declining safety levels in children's prisons across the country. A more clearly defined role based on driving improvement across the system may well allow the agency to refocus itself.

"Yet it is far from clear why this means a prison service already in crisis should be given more responsibility for some of the most vulnerable children in the country. The Howard League will scrutinise these plans in detail over the coming months and will continue to push for radical changes in the way we deal with children in trouble with the law."