The Justice Select Committee has opened an inquiry into care and welfare in the youth custody system. At its first hearing, MPs questioned the leaders of three different kinds of establishment.
Mark Scott is Governor of Wetherby Young Offender Institution (YOI). Rachel Ashurst is Service Manager at Barton Moss Secure Children’s Home (SCH). Phil Wragg is Director of Oakhill Secure Training Centre (STC).
Three establishments
Mr Scott has led Wetherby since May 2024, after 30 years in adult prisons. Wetherby holds 84 boys between the ages of 15 and 18. He said Wetherby has no staffing problems, though other establishments can struggle. Where needed, he lends them staff for short periods.
Ms Ashurst said Barton Moss can take boys aged 10 to 18, but those there now are aged 14 to 17. On some occasions it has held 12-year-olds. It currently holds 24 boys across four homes.
Mr Wragg has run Oakhill, which G4S operates, since September 2025. It can hold 80 but usually has 60 boys and four girls. It takes children from age 12, although few under 14 arrive. He said girls had more complex needs than boys because of abuse in childhood, and faced a higher risk of self-harm.
Committee Chair Andy Slaughter MP asked the panel what they wanted to see. All three agreed on the need for a common framework across every establishment that holds children. None reported staffing problems.
MPs asked whether funding depends on numbers, as it does for schools in the community. The panel said funding stays the same, but lower numbers allow them to do more. Wetherby, for example, has added a vocational training option.
Complex needs and long remands
With fewer children now in custody, the panellists said, those who remain have more complex needs, including mental health and neurodiverse conditions. Staff are managing trauma in a group that will struggle to move on to adult provision. Some are serving long sentences, and many find it hard to adjust to life outside after release.
There are 67 18-year-olds in the system, 16 of them at Wetherby. Some guide younger children, while others can be violent. Most were victims of abuse.
Many of the boys cannot read or write, and literacy is a priority. All the units run interventions to help convicted children face up to their crimes. These do not apply to those on remand, who are innocent until proven guilty. Remanded children still receive education and vocational training.
Some 44 per cent of those in youth custody are on remand, and waits for trial are long. Of those remanded, 62 per cent never receive a custodial sentence. Journeys between an STC and court can take a long time, raising anxiety and the risk of self-harm.
The leaders welcomed incentives for local areas to keep children in the community rather than in secure settings.
Committee member Ashley Fox MP asked: “Won’t victims dislike the suggestion that those in these centres are victims? Who cares about the real victims, those who have been hurt by these violent young people? They are the ones who count.”
All three replied that their work aims to prevent future crime. It also seeks to repair earlier damage in young people’s lives that led to their offending. They said confinement away from normal life is the punishment, while rehabilitation is an important part of changing lives. Young people who had suffered abuse were also “real” victims, they said.
At Wetherby, staff have drawn PAVA synthetic pepper spray only once since April 2025, and have never used it. Weapons finds and violence have both fallen. At Barton Moss, the staffing model has reduced violence. Physical interventions are rare there and injuries very rare.
Oakhill received an Urgent Notification in July 2025 over a series of failures. Mr Wragg accepted that safeguarding had been poor at the time and education inadequate. He said things had since improved. Ofsted inspectors who visited in February had agreed that Oakhill was now performing well, he told MPs. Children now have a full working day of education, sport and interventions, with education available up to A-level.
Wetherby offers 25 hours of education and 15 hours of other purposeful activity each week, but some young people opt out. Mr Scott said he did not want to force them out of their cells and offers incentives instead. His team also works to resolve complex relationships between young people that can lead to violence.
MPs asked about the information that arrives with young people, and heard that data needs better co-ordination. Members also discussed how distance makes family visits difficult. An assisted visits scheme exists, and chaplaincies support those who receive no visits.
The panel discussed transfers to adult prisons or the community in detail. They stressed that pre-planning and proper liaison are vital to make these moves work.
