Arrangements for safeguarding arrested and detained children

The request was successful.

Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,

The following questions concern arrangements to safeguard children detained by police officers as required of the local authority under section 38(4) Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and related legislation. Questions have been sent to a number of other local authorities and will inform follow-up research to that which has already been published and is freely available.
In providing a response please consult your Out-of-Hours service in relation to questions concerning appropriate adults an detained children.
Policy etc.
1. Please provide your policy and procedures documents that cover arrangements concerning receipt of a request for an appropriate adult; attendance at the police station; addressing disposals (including youth cautions); Youth Justice Board remand management guidance; arrangements for accommodation usually of an emergency nature under section 21(2)(a) and(b) Children Act.
2. (i)Please provide details of policies and procedures concerning children making complaints including standard documentation that i given to children. (ii)Please describe if and how these are made available to children detained at the police station who are not accommodated as required by section 21 Children Act? For example, are such complaint procedures made available at the police station or by the YOT at court; to the child or to the child’s legal representative?
3. (i)Please provide policies and procedures concerning the schedule 2 duty under the Children Act to avoid the need for criminal proceedings (e.g. diversion from a decision to charge and to avoid the use of secure accommodation (including requests for it) insofar as they apply to children allegedly in conflict with the law.
(ii)Please provide the same concerning the provision for a section 17 assessment to be conducted at the same time as undertaking duties under any other enactment.
4. Please provide any other policy or protocol you are party to concerning arrangements for children under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and sections 17, 20, 21 and 25 Children Act in relation to children allegedly in conflict with the law.
Appropriate adult (AA)arrangements.

1. Please describe your arrangements in terms of service delivery method and provider type; availability; person specification criteria; status in terms of whether a volunteer, sessional worker or local authority full time employee; arrangements for supervision and management.
2. (i)How many appropriate adults do you or your service provider have available within your local authority area?
(ii)Over the last three month period what percentage have attended the police station on : Less than five occasions; 5 – 10 occasions; more than 10 occasions?
3. If you or your service provider have a job that fulfils the role of an appropriate adult coordinator please provide the job description and person specification and details of how, when and where the post was last advertised.
4. (i)Please provide specific details of the training that was delivered to your last cohort of appropriate adults who were recruited together with a summary of ongoing training.
(ii) Who delivered this?
(iii) How an in what way was the Children’s Services training department/officer engaged in this?
(iv) Is the program validated or accredited in any way and, if so, with whom?

The question is asking for a specific curriculum or training program. This will provide an important element of the follow-up study which will also consider relevant custody officer training and that for accredited police station representatives with relevant agencies in the process of providing detailed information.
5. Please provide details of written material provided to or available to appropriate adults. This may include legislation including secondary legislation, text books such as a primer on criminal law etc.
6. If not included in the above, what training do your appropriate adults receive concerning the Children Acts 1989 and 2004 and thresholds for action most recently referred to in Working Together 2013?

Statutory national standards and Youth Justice Board Guidance.
1. (i)Over the last three months how many requests have been received by the local authority under section 38(6) PACE and section 21(2)(b) Children Act 1989? Please break down these requests between secure accommodation and non-secure accommodation.
(ii) How many such children have been accommodated by the local authority and how many have been left in police cells?
(iii) In relation to those transferred to local authority accommodation how many have failed to appear in court or committed offences before doing so?
(iv) In how many of these cases did the local authority provide the appropriate adult through: the YOT or an externally provided service? There will be some cases where neither of these apply.
(v) Distinguishing between those left in police cells and those moved to local authority accommodation (it may be that there is no distinction if all were dealt with in one way or another) what were the remand outcomes at court on first appearance?
(vi) On how many occasions has a member of the YOT (as opposed to a volunteer or contracted out person) attended the police station in relation to the above cases and advocated for bail or made arrangements for a child detained under section 38(6) PACE to be transferred to local authority accommodation a required by law?
(vii) How does your YOT apply in practice the Youth Justice Board guidance pasted below?
(viii) Has the issue of children detained in police cells under section 38 been drawn to the attention of your Local Safeguarding Children Board and to what effect? Please provide minutes or links that relate to this.

Below I have pasted an extract from YJB Guidance for the sake of convenience.

• Bail and remand management is a crucial part of the service provided by YOTs at various points and places in the youth justice system. These include:
• at the police station, following the arrest of a child or young person

The overall aim of bail and remand management is to:
• minimise inappropriate use of custody
• ensure that children and young people attend court

Possibility of bail being refused
Where an appropriate adult identifies that there is a possibility that bail will be refused, they should alert the YOT immediately.
Where it is necessary to detain a child or young person overnight in accordance with section 38 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the YOT should be contacted to make the arrangements as outlined later in this section
The custody officer is required to liaise with the local authority to request PACE accommodation transfers. Given that the YOT may hold information and/or assessments on the child or young person, it is expected that the YOT will be involved in this referral process.
Preventing refusal of police bail
Alternatives to Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 transfers
Where there is a possibility that the police will refuse bail, the YOT staff responsible for bail and remand support should look at providing bail information and/or bail supervision and support to help facilitate bail being granted. As soon the appropriate adult identifies that there is a possibility of bail being refused, YOT staff should begin liaising with the custody officer to address any concerns about granting bail. If the liaison with the YOT does not satisfy the police concerns about granting bail then it is most likely that the child or young person will be put before a court to hear a remand application.
Addressing police concerns about granting bail
YOT staff should assess the young person's situation and circumstances to:
establish their previous offending and bail history
identify whether or not the child or young person is known to the YOT or other statutory service
determine whether they are able to return home
verify the suitability and stability of the proposed bail address.
The YOT practitioner should then:
advocate for bail where appropriate (it is always appropriate)
provide bail information that may address the police's concerns
outline the available support and the measures that will be taken to ensure the young person's attendance at court
ensure that all other available options have been considered.

Yours faithfully,

Charles Bell

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Please quote ID 4967 on all correspondence/emails/faxes

 

Dear Sir

I am emailing to confirm the receipt of your recent FOI request to Wigan
Council.

We will respond as soon as possible and in any case no later than 14th
October 2013, which is 20 working days after the receipt of your request.

If you have any comments or questions in the meantime, please direct them
to [Wigan Council request email], or at Wigan Council, Town Hall, Library
Street, Wigan WN1 1YN.

Your contact is Sharon Crippin.

Regards

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Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,

Please let me know when I shall receive a response to this.

Yours faithfully,

Charles Bell

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Sir,
 
I have chased up the response and will get back to you as soon as
possible.
 
Yours faithfully,
 

Rita Wood
Admin Assistant

Wigan Council
Resources Directorate - Legal and Risk
Town Hall,  Library Street, Wigan WN1 1YN
01942 488425 (Internal Ext. 8425)
[email address]
www.wigan.gov.uk

Please note that I only work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

This email together with any files transmitted with it are confidential
and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom they are
addressed.  The information may be covered by legal professional
privilege.  Do not copy, disclose or distribute the information.  If you
are not the addressee, please contact the sender and immediately delete
this email and any attachments

 
>>Corporate Disclaimer<<
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom
they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please
notify the system manager.

Email may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded
for legal purposes.

As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this
email or any response to it under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 unless the information in it is covered by one of the
exemptions in the Act.

This footnote also confirms that this email has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses.

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

9 Attachments

Dear Sir,

I am writing to respond to your freedom of information request. This
request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request is detailed below and our response is attached.

The following questions concern arrangements to safeguard children
detained by police officers as required of the local authority under
section 38(4) Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and related legislation.
Questions have been sent to a number of other local authorities and will
inform follow-up research to that which has already been published and is
freely available.

In providing a response please consult your Out-of-Hours service in
relation to questions concerning appropriate adults an detained children.

Policy etc.

1. Please provide your policy and procedures documents that cover
arrangements concerning receipt of a request for an appropriate adult;
attendance at the police station; addressing disposals (including youth
cautions); Youth Justice Board remand management guidance; arrangements
for accommodation usually of an emergency nature under section 21(2)(a)
and(b) Children Act.

2. (i)Please provide details of policies and procedures concerning
children making complaints including standard documentation that i given
to children. (ii)Please describe if and how these are made available to
children detained at the police station who are not accommodated as
required by section 21 Children Act? For example, are such complaint
procedures made available at the police station or by the YOT at court; to
the child or to the child’s legal representative?

3. (i)Please provide policies and procedures concerning the schedule 2
duty under the Children Act to avoid the need for criminal proceedings
(e.g. diversion from a decision to charge and to avoid the use of secure
accommodation (including requests for it) insofar as they apply to
children allegedly in conflict with the law.

(ii)Please provide the same concerning the provision for a section 17
assessment to be conducted at the same time as undertaking duties under
any other enactment.

4. Please provide any other policy or protocol you are party to concerning
arrangements for children under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and
sections 17, 20, 21 and 25 Children Act in relation to children allegedly
in conflict with the law.

Appropriate adult (AA)arrangements.

1. Please describe your arrangements in terms of service delivery method
and provider type; availability; person specification criteria; status in
terms of whether a volunteer, sessional worker or local authority full
time employee; arrangements for supervision and management.

2. (i)How many appropriate adults do you or your service provider have
available within your local authority area?

(ii)Over the last three month period what percentage have attended the
police station on : Less than five occasions; 5 – 10 occasions; more than
10 occasions?

3. If you or your service provider have a job that fulfils the role of an
appropriate adult coordinator please provide the job description and
person specification and details of how, when and where the post was last
advertised.

4. (i)Please provide specific details of the training that was delivered
to your last cohort of appropriate adults who were recruited together with
a summary of ongoing training.

(ii) Who delivered this?

(iii) How an in what way was the Children’s Services training
department/officer engaged in this?

(iv) Is the program validated or accredited in any way and, if so, with
whom?

The question is asking for a specific curriculum or training program. This
will provide an important element of the follow-up study which will also
consider relevant custody officer training and that for accredited police
station representatives with relevant agencies in the process of providing
detailed information.

5. Please provide details of written material provided to or available to
appropriate adults. This may include legislation including secondary
legislation, text books such as a primer on criminal law etc.

6. If not included in the above, what training do your appropriate adults
receive concerning the Children Acts 1989 and 2004 and thresholds for
action most recently referred to in Working Together 2013?

Statutory national standards and Youth Justice Board Guidance.

1. (i)Over the last three months how many requests have been received by
the local authority under section 38(6) PACE and section 21(2)(b) Children
Act 1989? Please break down these requests between secure accommodation
and non-secure accommodation.

(ii) How many such children have been accommodated by the local authority
and how many have been left in police cells?

(iii) In relation to those transferred to local authority accommodation
how many have failed to appear in court or committed offences before doing
so?

(iv) In how many of these cases did the local authority provide the
appropriate adult through: the YOT or an externally provided service?
There will be some cases where neither of these apply.

(v) Distinguishing between those left in police cells and those moved to
local authority accommodation (it may be that there is no distinction if
all were dealt with in one way or another) what were the remand outcomes
at court on first appearance?

(vi) On how many occasions has a member of the YOT (as opposed to a
volunteer or contracted out person) attended the police station in
relation to the above cases and advocated for bail or made arrangements
for a child detained under section 38(6) PACE to be transferred to local
authority accommodation a required by law?

(vii) How does your YOT apply in practice the Youth Justice Board guidance
pasted below?

(viii) Has the issue of children detained in police cells under section 38
been drawn to the attention of your Local Safeguarding Children Board and
to what effect? Please provide minutes or links that relate to this.

Below I have pasted an extract from YJB Guidance for the sake of
convenience.

• Bail and remand management is a crucial part of the service provided by
YOTs at various points and places in the youth justice system. These
include:

• at the police station, following the arrest of a child or young person

The overall aim of bail and remand management is to:

• minimise inappropriate use of custody

• ensure that children and young people attend court

Possibility of bail being refused

Where an appropriate adult identifies that there is a possibility that
bail will be refused, they should alert the YOT immediately.

Where it is necessary to detain a child or young person overnight in
accordance with section 38 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984,
the YOT should be contacted to make the arrangements as outlined later in
this section The custody officer is required to liaise with the local
authority to request PACE accommodation transfers. Given that the YOT may
hold information and/or assessments on the child or young person, it is
expected that the YOT will be involved in this referral process.

Preventing refusal of police bail

Alternatives to Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 transfers Where
there is a possibility that the police will refuse bail, the YOT staff
responsible for bail and remand support should look at providing bail
information and/or bail supervision and support to help facilitate bail
being granted. As soon the appropriate adult identifies that there is a
possibility of bail being refused, YOT staff should begin liaising with
the custody officer to address any concerns about granting bail. If the
liaison with the YOT does not satisfy the police concerns about granting
bail then it is most likely that the child or young person will be put
before a court to hear a remand application.

Addressing police concerns about granting bail YOT staff should assess the
young person's situation and circumstances to:

establish their previous offending and bail history identify whether or
not the child or young person is known to the YOT or other statutory
service determine whether they are able to return home verify the
suitability and stability of the proposed bail address.

The YOT practitioner should then:

advocate for bail where appropriate (it is always appropriate) provide
bail information that may address the police's concerns outline the
available support and the measures that will be taken to ensure the young
person's attendance at court ensure that all other available options have
been considered.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of this response, an independent senior
officer will review this decision. Please let me know if you would like to
arrange this.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner, who is the
regulator for Freedom of Information. His website is
[1]www.informationcommisioner.gov.uk and his helpline number is 0303
1231113.

His staff may ask you to exhaust our internal complaints procedure if you
choose to complain to his office now.

I apologise for the delay in responding to this request, this is due to
the high volume of requests that are currently being received.

Yours faithfully,

Rita Wood
Admin Assistant

Wigan Council
Resources Directorate - Legal and Risk
Town Hall,  Library Street, Wigan WN1 1YN
01942 488425 (Internal Ext. 8425)
[email address]
www.wigan.gov.uk

Please note that I only work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

[2]www.wigan.gov.uk
[3]www.twitter.com/wigancouncil
[4]www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline

 

This email together with any files transmitted with it are confidential
and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom they are
addressed.  The information may be covered by legal professional
privilege.  Do not copy, disclose or distribute the information.  If you
are not the addressee, please contact the sender and immediately delete
this email and any attachments

 
>>Corporate Disclaimer<<
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom
they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please
notify the system manager.

Email may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded
for legal purposes.

As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this
email or any response to it under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 unless the information in it is covered by one of the
exemptions in the Act.

This footnote also confirms that this email has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses.

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Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,

Please pass on my thanks to the compiler for the effort that has gone into this. It is appreciated.

Yours faithfully,

Charles Bell