Audrey Nicoll

There are significantly higher costs associated with holding young people in secure care rather than YOIs, the criminal justice committee points out in its report on the Children (Care and Justice) Scotland Bill.

The committee said the Scottish government must ensure there is sufficient space and staff resource in the secure care sector to house young people.

These secure environments must have well-trained staff and other experts available for the young people’s health, mental health and education needs, which should not be plucked from other health or social care sectors which could reduce the quality of care in these sectors, it added.

In its report, the committee also suggests there is a case for a more flexible, individualised system in terms of where young people are placed, rather than one based on age alone.

The report says this flexibility could allow for a young person (of 18 years or less) convicted of a very serious offence to be sent to a YOI/prison, or an older person convicted of a less serious charge (say aged 19 to 25) who had additional support needs to be sent to a secure care environment and not a prison.

The committee also broadly support the provisions in the bill around the rights of children held in police custody. However, it has asked the Scottish government to seek to ensure that when an adult is contacted about a child’s detention it does not leave children vulnerable to exploitation by criminal groups.

Finally, the report urges the Scottish government to consider putting a victim notification scheme in place for child offenders as well as adult offenders.

Committee convener Audrey Nicoll MSP said: “It’s clear there is strong support for the principle that young people aged 18 or under should be placed in a secure care environment rather than a young offender institute. Secure care units both protect the public and offer better care and support to young people.

“However, evidence we received also pointed out that it costs about four times more to keep a young person in secure care than a prison and we are calling on the Scottish government to ensure adequate resources are in place for any change to be effectively implemented.

“Although the Scottish government told the committee they do not currently have plans to allow for individualised assessments at sentencing, we believe this flexibility would be beneficial and is something they should review in the future.

She added: “We are grateful to all of those organisations and individuals who gave evidence to our committee, particularly to those who we met privately to talk about their experience of being a young person in secure care and in prison.

“As a secondary committee, it is not the role of the criminal justice committee to make a recommendation to the Scottish Parliament on the general principles of the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill. However, we have asked the education, children and young people committee to take our views into account when producing their own report on this legislation covering all aspects of the bill.”