Offender Management Bill

This subject deserves a lot more attention than we are likely to be able to give it at this stage of the Bill. It is a very important subject in its own right. I support the amendment. This matter has greatly concerned people for a long time. The independent monitoring board at Huntercombe young offender institution has raised with the Minister on a number of occasions the problem of the extremely late arrival of young people. In a Written Answer of 21 March the Minister told me that, "““two young people arrived at Huntercombe at 1.15 am””." It is hard to imagine what sort of reception children get—these are children—arriving at a prison a long way from their home at 1.15 in the morning. In a further Written Answer on 21 March the Minister told me that, "““between March 2006 and February 2007, 90 juvenile prisoners””—" that is, children— "““shared transport with adult prisoners while being escorted to HMYOI Huntercombe””.—[Official Report, 21/3/07; col. WA 211.]" Neither of those pieces of information in any way suggests a satisfactory situation. I hope that the Minister can assure us that she is very concerned that these transport arrangements should be radically changed.