Recommendation 8

HM Government Acknowledged

24. Published Youth Justice Statistics highlighted a 19% increase in Restrictive Physical Intervention between 2018/194 and 2019/20.5 Of this increase, almost 50% is attributed to a small number of very complex girls within the cohort. This can be seen in the higher rates of incidents within the STC and Secure Children’s Homes (SCHs) sector. 25. To better understand the needs and care pathways of girls in the youth secure estate, the Centre for Mental Health, co-commissioned by the YCS and NHSE&I will be publishing a report on girls. The findings will inform the development of a YCS and NHSE&I Girls Strategy and Delivery Plan which will be published later this year. 26. Significant work has been and continues to be, undertaken to keep children and young people safe in custody. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain: in the year ending March 2020, 55% of the children and young people in custody had committed a ‘violence against the person’ offence. 27. It remains the case that physical restraint is only used where there is no other suitable alternative. Our approach is to always minimise the use of restraint through 4 Youth Justice Statistics 2018/19: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/862078/youth-justice-statistics-bulletin-march-2019.pdf 5 Youth Justice Statistics 2019/20: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/956621/youth-justice-statistics-2019–2020.pdf 6 Government Response: Children and young people in custody (Part 2): The youth secure state and resettlement both de-escalation and diversion techniques, alongside a broader approach to behaviour management. Where restraint is used, we are clear it must always be necessary, proportionate and in accordance with the law. 28. We now capture use of force data at different levels of techniques (i.e. High, Medium and Low). Data on low and medium techniques tell us that it is likely staff are preventing further harm to a child or young person or themselves, and a high level is linked to larger or more serious incidents. 29. In addition to the planned removal of the use of pain-inducing techniques from the Minimising and Managing Physical Restraint (MMPR) syllabus, to ensure that these are used as a last resort to prevent serious physical injury to children or staff (see below), an independent review panel—reporting directly to ministers, is now in place, to review the use of Pain-Inducing Techniques and Serious Injury and Warning Signs at one establishment each month providing an additional level of scrutiny.