Rainsbrook: Children to be removed over training centre safety fears

The Ministry of Justice is removing all children from a key institution detaining young criminals in the UK, amid serious concerns for their safety.

All 33 children currently detained at the Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre will be transferred to other institutions.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said private contractor MTC had "failed to deliver" vital changes.

The company said it was surprised by the move and challenged the findings.

During the peak of the pandemic last year, detainees were being locked up in near solitary confinement as a quarantine measure.

Three watchdogs were so concerned to find that children were still being held in those conditions in December, despite an order to the centre's management to stop, they ordered ministers to take urgent action.

That prompted Justice Secretary Robert Buckland to order major changes to how private contractor MTC ran the facility in Northamptonshire, including new managers responsible for more closely monitoring how the young detainees were being cared for.

But in a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice revealed that a further inspection by the education watchdog Ofsted had rated the centre as "inadequate", despite attempts to turn it around.

It said that the most urgent concerns about the time children spent locked up had been addressed - but the government did not believe that MTC had done enough to resolve "wider long-standing issues".

Mr Buckland said: "Six months ago, I demanded that MTC take immediate action to fix the very serious failings at Rainsbrook.

"They have failed to deliver and I have been left with no choice but to ask that all children are moved elsewhere as soon as possible.

"This move will help protect the public by ensuring often vulnerable children get the support they need to turn their lives around - ultimately resulting in fewer victims and safer streets."

The 33 current detainees will be moved out of the facility to other accommodation within the youth justice system. In practice that means the only other operating secure training centre (STC) or secure children's homes that are dotted around the country.

In a statement, MTC said the welfare of children had been its priority and it had been working in close partnership with officials from the Ministry of Justice since late last year.

"Given the previous positive assessments, including Ofsted's follow-up visit in January, we were very surprised to receive Ofsted's feedback at the end of last week's inspection," said the statement.

"We have a number of concerns about their approach and ultimately the conclusions they have reached. We plan to vigorously challenge this as we go through the fact-checking process."

Rainsbrook will be mothballed while the MOJ considers its future, including its contract with MTC.

It's not clear whether the contract can be automatically terminated.

The potential complete closure of Rainsbrook would mean that two of the three STCs in England have been emptied after serious allegations of poor management and care - the other being Medway in Kent.