Official Statistics

YCS Annex: 2023-24

Published 25 July 2024

Applies to England and Wales

Main Points

This publication sets out statistics from the YCS Performance Tool (YPT) for the performance year 2023/24 (1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024). This is the inaugural publication of the YPT, therefore comparisons to previous years cannot be completed. Across the identified ‘priority areas’ there are a suite of indicators, the section below shows the outcomes of those indicators.

Safety	Sites met expectations across 42% of indicator outcomes (10 of 24 outcomes), all sites met expectations for the escape indicator.
Staff	Sites met expectations across 55% of indicator outcomes (11 of 20 outcomes), with the indicators for staff attrition and Guided Reflective Practice largely accountable for more positive outcomes.
Education	Sites met expectations across 25% of indicator outcomes (3 of 12 outcomes), Oakhill Secure Training Centre and Parc Young Offender Institution were largely accountable for met expectations.
Resettlement	Sites met expectations across 42% of indicator outcomes (10 of 24 outcomes), this was mostly related to suitable accommodation being organised for community release and successful release on temporary licence.
Integrated Care	Sites met expectations across 33% of indicator outcomes (6 of 18 outcomes), mostly those related to outcomes across Custody Support Plan meetings.

1. Statistician’s Comment

This is the Youth Custody Service Performance Tool’s inaugural publication and covers reporting for the period between the 1st April 2023 and the 31st March 2024. Previously the performance of the Young Offender Institutions was reported through the annual Prison Performance publication, Young Offender Institutions (YOI) were removed to allow for a more focused tool to be created that better aligns to the YCS’ processes and priorities.

This annex includes the YOI and Secure Training Centre (STC) sectors only. As this is the tool’s first release, comparisons to previous years cannot be completed.

A suite of indicators was set for the start of the performance year across the following priority areas; safety, staffing, education, resettlement and integrated care.

Performance indicators show that sites have predominately ‘met expectations’ across Release on Temporary Licence (ROTL) (100%), accommodation suitability prior to release (67%), Guided Reflective Practice (88%) and Custody Support Plans (60%).

Performance indicators have flagged sites as of ‘concern’ across safety (78%), staffing (67%), education (75%), accommodation being organised prior to release (100%) and Education, Training and Employment opportunities being arranged prior to release (100%).

2. 2023/24 Overall Indicator Outcomes

The tool does not assign an overall score to sites and instead gives each of the indicators one of two ratings:

• Meeting Expectations
• Concern

Performance Areas

The performance indicators used in the YPT are driven by YCS priorities.

Safety

The indicator themes consist of assaults, self-harm and escapes:

All sites were seen to be meeting expectations within the escape indicator. For assaults, all but one establishment was a concern, with 83% of indicator themes a concern. 67% of self-harm indicators were also a concern.

Staff

There are three main areas under staff: staff resignations, staff sickness and guided reflective practice (GRP)^{[footnote 1]}:

88% of GRP indicators were meeting expectations. 67% of staff resignation and sickness indicators were a concern, one site fully met expectations over both areas.

Education

There are two main areas under education: inspection outcome and enabling education delivery:

One site met expectations on both indicators. 75% of education indicators were a concern, with four sites a concern over both education areas.

Resettlement

There are three main areas under resettlement: accommodation, education, training and employment (ETE) (both in preparation for release to the community) and successful release on temporary licence (ROTL):

ROTL expectations were met across all sites. 67% of accommodation indicators were a concern. ETE was a concern across all sites.

Integrated Care

There are two main areas under integrated care: custody support plan (CuSP)^{[footnote 2]} meetings, and enhanced support service (ESS)^{[footnote 3]} meetings:

Three sites met expectations across the CuSP indicators; with three sites meeting expectations on all three indicators.

3. Annual Performance Ratings

As part of the annual YPT process, a moderation panel met in June 2024 to determine final ratings, using the data outcomes and contextual information for each site. A rating within three themes were adjusted through the moderation process.

Across all indicators for all sites, only 41% of outcomes were ‘meeting expectations’. Parc Young Offender Institution had the highest % of outcomes ‘meeting expectations’ at 79%. The other 5 sites ‘met expectations’ 50% or less across the indicators. Cookham Wood YOI had the lowest met expectation at 25%.

Figure 1: Annual Performance Ratings 2023/24 by Performance Theme

Figure 2: Annual Performance Ratings 2023/24 by Establishment

4. Performance Drivers

Cohort Impact

The number of children and young people at sites differs, with the average population across the YOI and STC sites for the performance year ranging from 25 to over 150^{[footnote 4]}. Each site holds different cohorts (e.g. girls, Enhanced Support Units) and uses different delivery models, which have an impact on performance and target setting.

A small number of individuals can have a large impact on performance outcomes. For example, the number of girls across the whole CYPSE (including Secure Children’s Homes) is low, representing less than 2% of the overall average population in the recent period. Girls accounted for the majority of self-harm incidents in the recent period. Please see the Safety in the Children and Young People Secure Estate publication for more information.

External Scrutiny

The YCS estate has a higher number of external inspections in-comparison to the adult prison estate. Inspections across the YOI and STC estate are conducted by HMIP, Ofsted and Estyn. These scores contribute to performance indicator outcomes.

Cookham Wood YOI received an Urgent Notification from HMIP on 28th April 2023, it was announced in March 2024 that once fully decanted it would transition to the adult estate.

5. YCS Performance Tool Rationale and Methodology

The YCS Performance Tool (YPT) was developed for the performance year 2023/24, this is the inaugural YPT which incorporates indicators that more closely align to the YCS’ processes and priorities. The YPT will continue to be revised over future iterations.

The YPT indicators are currently used to assess Young Offender Institutes (YOI) and the Secure Training Centre (STC) performance, but not the Secure Children Home sector which is managed through the contractual relationship between the YCS and Homes’ Local Authorities. Due to differences between the sectors, not all indicators apply to both YOIs and the STC.

The YPT is structured against the following five priority areas:

• Safety
• Staffing
• Education
• Resettlement
• Integrated Care

The YPT indicators assess performance across each YOI and STC through two phases.

Phase One

Data-driven assessment, assurance and audit activity. Each assurance and audit activity contribution is structured and provides a rating which impacts the outcome of the indicator.

Phase Two

Application of context. Due to the complexity of the cohort and the impact of a small number of children and young people, context can be applied to overturn indicator outcomes. Context is applied following data analysis, audits, HMPPS and YCS assurance activity and via external inspection outcomes.

Targets

Targets for sites are developed across the indicators; targets for safety, staffing and integrated care are set at a site level, taking into account sites’ previous performance, and targets across resettlement and education are set the same for all sites regardless of their previous performance.

Statistical Code of Practice

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. The Code of Practice for statistics can be found at: https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Code-of-Practice-for-Statistics-REVISED.pdf

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

The statistics in this bulletin are classified as official statistics. The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 defines ‘official statistics’ as all those statistical outputs produced by the UK Statistics Authority’s executive office (the Office for National Statistics), by central Government departments and agencies, by the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and by other Crown bodies (over 200 bodies in total).

This publication has been produced to the high professional standards as set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics. However, the analysis is only as good as the data upon which it is based, and there is inherent uncertainty when the data is derived from diverse administrative data systems.

For further details on the methodology used to compile the report, please refer to the guide

General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available from: https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the-authority/uk-statistical-system/

Ministry of Justice publishes data relating to offender management in England and Wales. Equivalent statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/?cat=filter&publicationTypes=statistics https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/topics/statistics-and-research/statistics-and-research-publications

Further Information

Accompanying files

A data table accompanies this annex.

Further publications

The following publications contain related statistics and supporting information:

• Safety in the Children and Young People Secure Estate: Update to March 2024 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-the-children-and-young-people-secure-estate-update-to-march-2024
• Youth Custody Report: Monthly population statistics: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/youth-justice-statistics
• Overview of YCS: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/youth-custody-service
• Health and Justice Partnership: https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/health-just/children-and-young-people/

Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:

Tel: 020 3334 3536

Email: newsdesk@justice.gov.uk

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to:

Katherine Tatlock

Youth Custody Service
HM Prison and Probation Service
1 Ruskin Square
Ruskin Road
Croydon
CR0 2WF

Email: YCSInformationAndPerformance@justice.gov.uk

© Crown copyright

Produced by the Ministry of Justice.

Alternative formats are available on request from YCSInformationAndPerformance@justice.gov.uk

1. Guided Reflective Practice (GRP): A model of supervision for staff working in the YCS to support them with the emotional impact of their jobs and to enhance professional development through learning via reflection. ↩

2. Custody Support Plan (CuSP): The CuSP model is a pro-active care planning approach to actively meet the needs of young people through consistent face to face contact and collaborative positive goal setting, working with an allocated CuSP officer. ↩

3. Enhanced Support Services (ESS): A more intense service of the Behaviour Management Support involving a range of cross-agency initiatives designed to be responsive to the needs of a specific group of children in custody via a psychologically informed model of delivery. ↩

4. Safety in the Children and Young People Secure Estate: Update to March 2024 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-the-children-and-young-people-secure-estate-update-to-march-2024 ↩