Recommendation 16: Review mixed justice/welfare placement risk
From Sexual Abuse of Children in Custodial Institutions: 2009-2017 Investigation Report, published 28 February 2019.
Recommendation
The Chair and Panel recommend that the Department for Education and the Youth Custody Service conduct a full review of the practice of placing children for justice and welfare reasons together in SCHs to establish whether it increases the risk of sexual abuse to children. If so, appropriate action should be taken, including consideration of alternative models. The review should be completed within three months, and an action plan should be published within six months.
In brief (written by this site)
The Inquiry recommended reviewing mixed justice and welfare placements in secure children's homes. In May 2021, HM Government stated in a response published by the Department for Education that it had commissioned research and internal data analysis to review placement practice, finding no substantial evidence that mixed placements increase risk (Department for Education, May 2021). It concluded that "we do not believe the evidence supports the need to change placement practice at this time", while planning to keep the issue under review (Department for Education response, May 2021). The response described reviewing practice through internal research, but did not mention an action plan or alternative placement models (Department for Education response, May 2021; Department for Education, May 2021). The record holds nothing dated later than the response of May 2021 (Department for Education response, May 2021).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 19 Oct 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
In conclusion, we do not believe the evidence supports the need to change placement practice at this time. We hope the Inquiry will be reassured that we have plans in place to keep this under review and are considering the broader sectoral issues through ongoing development of policy in relation to the secure estate. We will seek to maximise opportunities to listen to children’s views on SCH policy through our relationships with the network of SCHs, the Children’s Commissioner Help at Hand, Ofsted, children’s rights charities, and other advocacy routes.
Delivery
Department for Education says in progress (7 May 2021)
The practice of placing children on justice and welfare grounds in the same SCH is not an issue on which we have a substantial evidence base to suggest that there is a greater level of risk to children when compared to placing children in welfare or justice only SCHs. However, the government takes recommendations from the Inquiry seriously, which is why we commissioned a short piece of research to review placement practice through a mixture of research and additional analysis of internal data.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department for Education
Response, delivery statement