Written question asked by Chris Mullin (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 July 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 9 July 2009. It was answered by Maria Eagle (Labour) on Wednesday, 15 July 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Remand in Custody: Young People

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of people under the age of 18 years who are remanded in custody; and if he will make a statement;

Answer: Figures provided by the Youth Justice Board indicate that the number of young people under 18 remanded in custody or to local authority secure care has fallen significantly over the last few years. Since the peak year of 2003-04, court-ordered secure remands have fallen by 40 per cent. and remands in custody by 21 per cent.In each particular case it is for the court to decide, in the light of all the circumstances, whether to grant bail, to remand the young person to the care of a local authority or, if the young person is aged 17, to remand him or her in custody. (Some boys aged 15 and 16 may also be remanded in custody.)In the Youth Crime Action Plan, we indicated our intention to strengthen the response to youth crime at a local level, by supporting local authorities to provide earlier interventions and so reduce the need for custodial places. Youth Offending Teams have a range of non-secure remand options. These include remand fostering; bail support and curfew schemes; and the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme, which includes electronic monitoring.

Secondary information