Money could be spent on cutting youth reoffending and improving custody conditions, says Labour
About £111m of taxpayers’ money has been wasted by the government over a decade on empty secure children’s home beds across England and Wales, Labour has said after an analysis of official statistics.
Data released by the Ministry of Justice between 2010 and 2021 shows growing discrepancies between the number of secure children’s home beds procured, compared to the number of young people placed in them by the Youth Custody Service.