Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I was in the queue of noble Lords who wished to add their names to the amendment and I am very pleased to have been lucky enough to do so as it deserves support. It refers both to accommodation and appropriate care and support. Recently I have tabled Written Questions on the number of mental health experts available to treat young people in secure establishments but the Government were unable to tell me how many there are. I shall pursue the matter but it indicates that there is still a very long way to go on this issue. Since we debated this in Committee, Anne Owers published her shocking report on Oakhill, which deals with some of the matters to which the noble Lord, Lord Judd, alluded. She discovered that there was a 59 per cent turnover of staff. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, asked what we are running these homes for. Is it to make a profit or to rehabilitate young people? G4S obviously does not have the same inspection system as a local authority establishment, and if it did it would have been taken into special measures, which is, I think, what Anne Owers’s report was aiming to do. A local authority establishment would never have got away with doing nothing after four critical inspections. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, made the important point that the amendment must be fit for purpose. About three or four months ago I went round Reading Young Offender Institution which has the historic interest of containing Oscar Wilde’s cell. However, it should be turned into a museum as it contains very inappropriate accommodation. Conditions are very hard for the dedicated staff who have established innovative training systems. They are clearly working under incredible duress in surroundings in which it is difficult to produce the results they want. I shall say no more as the noble Lord, Lord Judd, has said it all. The figures reveal a shocking increase in the number of young people who are locked up. I am pleased to support the amendment.