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Select Committee · Public Accounts Committee

Supporting vulnerable adolescents

Status: Closed Opened: 12 Oct 2022 Closed: 1 Jun 2023 14 recommendations 12 conclusions 1 report

Adolescents exposed to dangers such as substance abuse, criminality, and exploitation, both inside and outside the family, are at greater risk of adverse outcomes including severe mental health difficulties, homelessness, physical or mental harm, periods of not being in education, employment or training, and contact with the criminal justice system. Addressing these outcomes later is …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vulnerable adolescents HC 730 22 Feb 2023 26 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

4 items
6 Recommendation Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul… Not Addressed

The Ministry of Justice and Home Office seem to lack curiosity about the increase in...

The Ministry of Justice and Home Office seem to lack curiosity about the increase in the proportion of children from ethnic minority background in youth custody and appear to have no current plan to address the situation. While the number of children in youth custody across all ethnicities has reduced …

Government response. The response discusses driving license backlogs, which is not relevant to the recommendation about ethnic minority children in youth custody.
HM Treasury
7 Recommendation Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul… Not Addressed

Data sharing exercises need to be better used to understand the support vulnerable adolescents need.

Data sharing exercises need to be better used to understand the support vulnerable adolescents need. The poor outcomes experienced by vulnerable adolescents are often overlapping. For example, 72% of children sentenced in 2019–20 were assessed as having mental health concerns. And one in five of 16–24-year-old young people not in …

Government response. The response discusses cancer waiting times and NHS funding, which is not relevant to the recommendation about data sharing to support vulnerable adolescents.
HM Treasury
1 Conclusion Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul… Not Addressed

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, in November 2022...

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, in November 2022 we took evidence from the Department for Education, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice about how government and local bodies support vulnerable adolescents.2

Government response. The government restates when the committee took evidence and published its report.
HM Treasury
14 Conclusion Thirty-Seventh Report - Support for vul…

At 31 March 2021, there were 53,790 adolescents in care between the ages of 9...

At 31 March 2021, there were 53,790 adolescents in care between the ages of 9 and 17, making up 67% of the total care population. Between 31 March 2014 and 31 March 2021 the number of 9- to 17-year-olds in care increased by 26%, which is higher than the increase …

HM Treasury

Oral evidence sessions

1 session
Date Witnesses
21 Nov 2022 Ed Cornmell · Ministry of Justice, Rebecca Wyse · Home Office, Siobhan Jones · Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), Susan Acland-Hood · The Department for Education View ↗

Correspondence

3 letters
DateDirectionTitle
16 Jan 2023 — Correspondence from Susan Acland-Hood, Permanent Secretary, Department for Educ…
12 Dec 2022 — Correspondence from Siobhan Jones, Director, Local Government Policy Department…
12 Dec 2022 — Correspondence from Ed Cornmell, Youth Custody Service Executive Director, HM P…