Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will use his powers under clause 2, section 10 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to appoint a crown servant to act as governor of the Medway Secure Training Centre.

Andrew Selous

Kent Police and Medway Council’s child protection team have launched an investigation into the allegations made about Medway Secure Training Centre (STC). The Ministry of Justice and Youth Justice Board will do everything we can to assist and support the investigation. Our immediate priority has been to make sure that the young people in custody at Medway are safe, which is why HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Ofsted visited the STC last week.

The YJB have ceased placements into the STC with immediate effect. They have also increased their own monitoring at Medway and that of the independent advocacy service provided by Barnardo’s.

We are currently considering how we can best ensure young people at Medway are in a safe, secure and rehabilitative environment and any further decisions will be announced in the normal way.