<p>Safety in Youth Jails</p>

Part of 4. 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:21 pm on 19 July 2017.

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Photo of Carl Sargeant Carl Sargeant Labour 3:21, 19 July 2017

I think the Member raises some really interesting and important points about the state of the nation and particularly young people and how we have to ensure that they are protected at all costs in terms of where they are within the sector. I can say that the youth justice board relationship with Wales is very good, and there has been an inspection prior to the release of that report, and action has been taken, particularly on the secure estate here in Wales.

I can inform the Member that the published outcomes of the inspection of 2016-17 for Parc prison under ‘Safety’, ‘Respect’, ‘Purposeful activity’ and ‘Resettlement’ were all ‘reasonably good’. Arguably, that should be better, but it certainly is in a better place than all the other establishments that are secure across the country.

My whole ethos, and my department’s ethos, is, actually, that, when people end up in the secure estate, we’ve actually failed the system. We should be much further up front in making sure we have prevention in place to support young people. That’s why we’re investing in the adverse childhood experiences hub here in Wales to protect individuals from stacked ACEs. We’re working with Public Health Wales across the departments to make sure that we can help young people—prevent entering into these systems—but I’ve taken the points that the Member raises and will look carefully at the recommendations in the report, and, if there’s any more we can do, I will keep the Member informed of this.