Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions monitors have investigated and reported to him on allegations made against custody officers performing custodial duties at (a) Hassockfield, (b) Medway, (c) Oakhill and (d) Rainsbrook secure training centre since each centre opened.

Andrew Selous

If an allegation is made against a staff member in a Secure Training Centre (STC), a child protection referral will be made to the independent Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for investigation.

Where disciplinary action is recommended, the YJB which is statutorily responsible for the youth estate will oversee the disciplinary process which will be conducted by the STC provider.

The YJB will only refer an investigation to the Secretary of State if an STC provider conducts an insufficiently comprehensive or robust disciplinary process, and does not correct this when required to by the YJB. The YJB would then refer the case to the Secretary of State and recommend that the member of staff has their custody certification revoked.

The YJB have the ability to suspend custody certificates, but cannot revoke them. The power to revoke a custody certificate lies with the Secretary of State. There have been no referrals to the Secretary of State to revoke a custody certificate as of yet, as the only circumstances where the YJB would be required to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, would be where the YJB have suspended a certificate but the contractor has refused to dismiss the employee.

The member of staff would then no longer be certified to work in any secure setting for young people

No monitor has reported to the Secretary of State for revocation of custody officer certification since each centre opened.