Will the Minister provide a breakdown of how many children from Wales are in secure accommodation in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and from which local authority they come from?
The current breakdown figures for Welsh children currently in secure accommodation in Wales and England is set out below. In order to protect the anonymity of children and young people, due to low numbers we are unable to provide a breakdown of the local authority these children are from.
- There are currently 22 children from Wales in secure accommodation throughout Wales and England.
- 10 are on a welfare basis (6 of those children are at Hillside Secure Unit, Wales’s only secure provision, 3 are in England and 1 in Scotland).
- The other 12 children are in secure accommodation relating to Criminal Justice Orders.
The figures are obtained from the Secure Welfare Coordination Unit within Hampshire County Council, funded by the Department for Education. This is the central hub holding all current data on secure welfare placements for children in Wales and England.
The data from Scotland and Northern Ireland is unobtainable at present but we will investigate if the data is available.