4. Will the Deputy Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's justice policies? OAQ54472

While responsibility for justice policies and the justice system in Wales rests with the UK Government, delivery of justice services is inextricably linked to devolved services. The blueprints for youth justice and female offending, which I published in May, set out our distinct approach to the delivery of justice services in Wales.

I'm grateful to you for that, Deputy Minister. I think, Presiding Officer, the Conservative Member for North Wales possibly inadvertently made a stronger case for the devolution of these services than the rest of us could ever make, in his earlier question. The fact that we do have a settlement that is broken in this regard leads to human suffering, day after day after day, and the systemic failure of a political and service system to meet the needs of people who are in or have been in the criminal justice system. Within that context, Deputy Minister—and we understand the background to it—is it possible for you to provide this place with an update on the delivery of those blueprints? The blueprints were designed, of course, in order to bring together these services, in order to produce a more holistic approach to policy, to ensure that young people and women, who all too often bear the brunt of these failures, have the services that they require and need in order to be successfully rehabilitated in our communities.

I thank Alun Davies for that question, and also thank him for the work that he undertook, as my predecessor, leading up to the publication of those two blueprints on female offending and youth justice. I will be very happy to bring back an update to this Assembly in terms of the robust governance arrangements we're developing—that's both internally, in terms of Welsh Government policy, and our external stakeholders. We now have an overarching programme board for both blueprints. That met for the first time on 16 September. It does include senior officials, not just from Welsh Government—we are acting as chair—but the Ministry of Justice, the Youth Justice Board, the Home Office, and also representatives from police and crime commissioners. It is clear that we need to move forward on these blueprints and show that we can deliver, particularly, a youth justice system that treats children with fairness and respect and also an urgent solution to female offending in Wales. There are around 250 Welsh women currently held in prisons in England. We should not be in that situation. We want at least one residential women's centre in Wales. We've pressed for this, and I've been asking for an answer since April from Ministers. We now have a new Minister, and we will be meeting Robert Buckland shortly to discuss this and press further.