Recommendation 8

The Ministry and HMPPS told us that there are mechanisms in the STC contracts to drive up performance. It is only as a last resort that they decant children to other settings, as they did in the case of Rainsbrook STC. Using their placement process, they told us that they considered each individual child’s needs to identify the provision that would be most appropriate.18 However, as the National Audit Office noted in its report, this has resulted in some children being placed in YOIs, although HMPPS’s placement guidance deems YOIs as less suitable for more vulnerable children. When Rainsbrook STC closed, around one-third of the 33 children were transferred to a YOI, and only a very small minority were transferred to equivalent provision.19