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Secure Training Centres

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Linklater, for securing this debate and for her persistent and passionate advocacy of children in secure training centres. I welcome the fact that the Minister responding has social work training and will understand the concerns expressed in the House that children are being placed in such inappropriate settings and that the social care model is the correct one. I wish to address the issue of training, support and supervision for staff in secure training centres, making a comparison with provision in children’s homes. We know that there is, sadly, an over-representation of children in local authority care in the criminal justice system. Many of the troubled and troubling children in children’s homes are not that different to those in secure training centres. Good practice in children’s homes should be very similar to good practice in secure training centres. The Social Exclusion Unit identified 60 per cent of children coming into care as having had experience of abuse or neglect and a further 10 per cent of a family breakdown. The Office for National Statistics found that in children’s homes, which tend to take the most vulnerable and damaged young people, 68 per cent had mental disorders and 56 per cent had conduct disorders, which typically would include theft, fire-setting and other problems. There is a correspondence between the groups—although I am not saying that most children in children’s homes are going to end up in the criminal justice system, or will misbehave in that way or have those troubles. In 1998, 70 to 80 per cent of staff in children’s homes had no relevant qualification to work with these vulnerable children, and the most vulnerable children were being cared for by the least qualified staff. I am very glad that the Government recognised that and set a target that 80 per cent of such staff should have, by September last year, a national vocational qualification level 3 in childcare. That is a very basic start but it is a good start in the right direction. Why is training for staff so important? Of course it is necessary to understand control and restraint and to use it appropriately, and there are other important areas, but to my mind the crucial element is an understanding of child development. What flows from that is an understanding on the part of staff why one-to-one supervision with their manager is crucial to their successful functioning and why consultancy, which is normally to the staff group by a psychologist, psychiatrist or a child psychotherapist on an ongoing regular basis, is necessary and to be sought for. Training is vital for the confidence of staff to become people who learn throughout their time in residential settings and secure training centres to think about and to reflect on their practice, and to become sensitive and supportive individuals working in these difficult environments. It is the social care model. An article from the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care by Andrew Kendrick, called ““‘A Different Way to Look at Things’: The Development of Consultancy in a Residential Service for Children and Young People””, from February-March 2005 states:"““The support of consultancy and the tasks associated with consultation are considered to play a vital role in the development of good practice in residential care and in safeguarding children and young people. Back in the 1970s, Berry . . . recommended that all residential workers should have opportunities for support and consultation and ‘every residential unit requires a special senior supporter who devotes himself . . . to the staff without being directly responsible for the children . . . a consultant, counsellor, supervisor or therapist’ . . . More recently, however, Warner””—" now the noble Lord, Lord Warner, in his report on staff in children’s homes, called Choosing with Care—"““highlighted that too often staff in children’s homes are left to cope with abused, disturbed and violent young people””," so similar to those in secure training centres,"““without access to the specialist psychiatric and psychological services that are needed . . . He stressed the need for support from specialists in other agencies, such as child psychiatrists and educational psychologists, and for staff care schemes such as stress counselling””." The management of stress is very important to this area too. Noble Lords have referred to the high vacancy rates throughout the secure training centre provisions. In children’s homes last year vacancy rates were generally more than 11 per cent, and about 22 per cent in London, even higher than among child and family social workers, where there is the next highest level of vacancy in the social care arena. Many children’s homes still do not have the support described as necessary by the noble Lord, Lord Warner, as I know very well. I conclude by asking the Minister if he would be good enough, when the contracts for these centres are next negotiated and the parameters set for the training, supervision and support for staff, to inform Peers taking part in the debate tonight so we can help shape the framework for the training and support of staff in these settings. I look forward to the Minister’s response.