Written - Youth Justice System in Wales

During Plenary on 25 September, the Leader of the House was asked a question about the present and future operation of the youth justice system in Wales. As Minister with responsibility for this subject area, and in view of the considerable interest in this topic throughout the year, I would like to take this opportunity to set out the policies developed by the Welsh Assembly Government for the effective reduction and prevention of youth crime in Wales.  

The cornerstone of all our youth justice policies is the All Wales Youth Offending Strategy, which was jointly published by myself (as Minister for Social Justice and Regeneration) and the Chairman of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales in 2004. The Strategy is the result of the Welsh Assembly Government, the Youth Justice Board and local agencies working together to develop a strategy that provides a national framework for preventing offending and re-offending among children and young people in Wales. All this work is underpinned by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its requirement for consideration of the rights of the young person. In the long-term, its aim is to make a real and significant reduction in the rates of youth offending in Wales.

The Strategy embodies a number of key principles. The most effective way to prevent youth offending and to secure the welfare of children and young people in Wales is to stop them from entering the youth justice system in the first place. A balance between the interests of the child or young person and the interests of the wider community and potential victims can be maintained through early intervention, restorative justice measures, appropriate punishment and supported rehabilitation. The continued commitment by the Welsh Assembly Government to these principles by the Welsh Assembly Government is fully set out in the One Wales programme.

Implementation of the Strategy is overseen by the Wales Youth Justice Committee, which is jointly chaired by the Director of Community Safety Division and the Welsh representative on the Youth Justice Board. It has an expert membership drawn from the Youth Justice Board, Assembly divisions dealing with health, education and housing matters and all other relevant national and local agencies. The Committee meets quarterly and sets challenging objectives and targets for each financial year across the whole spectrum of subject areas relevant to youth crime prevention. I approve these objectives and my officials report to me annually on progress in achieving them. We are now in the fourth year of this objective setting and results have been consistently impressive, with excellent achievements in relation to many areas including substance misuse, accommodation, probation strategies and workforce development. One of our main targets is to reduce the number of first time entrants into the criminal justice system by 5% by 2008. In the year ending March 2007, YJB statistics confirm there was a 13% reduction. We recognise of course that there are still areas in need of further development and the Committee is seeking ways to achieve improvements in these. A study of the interface between mental health services and the work of youth offending teams has been commissioned this year from NACRO Cymru, a voluntary organisation grant aided by the Assembly Government.

At the local level, the Welsh Assembly Government is aware that substantial funding is necessary to properly implement the key principles and objectives of the Strategy. In order to assist with this, we have made some £4.5 million available in 2006-07 and are providing similar amounts in 2007-08 and 2008-09 for the purposes of facilitating local projects aimed at youth crime prevention and diversion. Throughout Wales, this has led to the funding of a wide variety of projects (over 300 in total), including many based on artistic or sporting activities, providing help to substance misusers, assistance with education or training, restorative schemes and  provision of leisure facilities.

The Youth Justice Board has primary responsibility for the administration of youth justice services in England and Wales. However, both the Youth Justice Board and the Assembly Government recognise that in order to implement effectively its distinctive youth justice agenda in Wales, we need to work in close co-operation. In recent years, in my present and previous Ministerial roles, I have taken every opportunity to make the YJB fully aware of the differing perspectives taken in Wales on many aspects of child welfare and education. I have regularly met with the Chairman of the YJB at least twice a year to discuss major policy issues.

I am pleased that the Board is now fully committed to developing all its policies in Wales in a way which is parallel and equivalent to that in England. Indeed, in recognition of the challenges posed by the different Welsh policy context the Board has recently increased the capacity of its office in Wales.  The present close co-operation between the Assembly Government and the Board is highly conducive to delivering the combined agendas of both these bodies and real progress is being made in reducing the level of youth crime in Wales.   This is a constantly developing agenda however and the Youth Justice Board is aware of the Assembly Government’s commitment, as set out in the One Wales programme,  to considering the evidence for devolution of  the criminal justice system to Wales, and that this would of course include youth justice.      

The Assembly Government believes that there should be effective community based sentencing alternatives to custody for children and young people who offend where this is in the best interests of the child. There are some circumstances where custody is essential however, and in these cases the Assembly Government is concerned that young people should be placed in facilities in Wales, rather than institutions in England which are far distant from home communities and have significant educational and cultural differences. In recent years, we have worked closely with the Youth Justice Board to improve the situation and a recent Joint Working Group recommended increasing capacity at Parc Youth Offender Institution and Hillside Secure Children’s Home, as well as considering new secure facilities in North Wales.

Good progress has already been made in increasing juvenile secure accommodation in Wales, with the expansion of places at Parc YOI from 36 to 64 earlier this year. The Youth Justice Board has also agreed in principle to a six place expansion at Hillside (and possibly more after further proposals are examined and costed) as well as provision of a new Secure Children’s Home in North Wales, with 15-20 beds for young people up to the age of 16. A North Wales Secure Accommodation Forum, chaired by the Assembly Government, and consisting of relevant local agencies, has already met four times and has expressed strong support for the development of new facilities in North Wales.