Prisons

Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services – in the Senedd at 2:53 pm on 13 June 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of David Melding David Melding Conservative 2:53, 13 June 2018

As another Blaenau Gwent electoral old boy, if that's the right way of putting it, I think we've all met with limited success. That's been turned around by you lately, but certainly Mr Lee and I found limited appeal. Can I commend the work of Robert Jones, who I know—and I've had the pleasure of hosting an event at which he was the principal speaker here in the Assembly—but also the work of the Wales Governance Centre? This is really quality material and we need to reflect on it.

I am pleased to see that the number of Welsh children in prisons has dropped from 116 in 2010 to 32 in 2017. I think it should be the ultimate last resort to put any children in prison. That trend going down is a good thing. But, it does mean more and more children have to travel to young offender institutions, which themselves are closing. So, we have a higher percentage of Welsh children now travelling large distances, and some of them are reporting they never get a parental visit because of the hardship that causes. Can you look at this and see if we can improve the situation of these families?