, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Experiences of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system—panel one
Who'd like to start?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Experiences of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system—panel one
Okay. Well, we clearly need to have that conversation with the Minister in due course. Very good. If I could now ask Sioned Williams to come in.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Experiences of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system—panel one
Excellent. And, Pippa, could you just elaborate on why it is that some local education authorities have no input from speech and language therapists?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Experiences of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system—panel one
Yes, in the first instance, and then I'll come back to colleagues in the room.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Experiences of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system—panel one
Okay. But there are 10 local authorities where there is no speech and language therapist, which is a bit worrying. Is this a conversation you've had with any of these local authorities, as to why they don't think a speech and language therapist is needed?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Experiences of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system—panel one
Adam Edwards, as you're the youth offending service team manager, how confident are you that your teams are aware of the prevalence of these problems?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Experiences of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system—panel one
So, you offer free training to anybody who's in the youth justice sector. How good is the take-up across the piece?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Experiences of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system—panel one
Thank you for that additional background information. So, given that we're talking about 60 to 90 per cent of all the young people who are coming into contact with the youth justice system, how confident are you that there's a shared recognition and…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Experiences of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system—panel one
You said they 'might' become disengaged from education. If they haven't got the reading level required for secondary education, it's almost certain they're going to become disengaged, is it not? Kim, do you want to just respond to that?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Experiences of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system—panel one
We are conducting a one-day inquiry into the experience of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system. I’m very pleased to welcome Pippa Cotterill, head of the Wales office for the Royal College of Speech and…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Introductions, apologies and substitutions
Welcome to the Equality and Social Justice Committee. I hope you'll be able to hear me, and also the simultaneous translation that is available.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Introductions, apologies and substitutions
Okay. Can you hear me now, Jane? We'll just take a break while we sort this out outside the public domain.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Introductions, apologies and substitutions
Thank you for pointing that out. Could somebody—?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Introductions, apologies and substitutions
Good afternoon, everybody. I'd like to welcome you to the Equality and Social Justice Committee, and this afternoon we're conducting an inquiry into the experience of young people with speech, language and communication needs in the criminal justice system…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
Thank you very much for allowing me to join you.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
That's good to know.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
—women in prison, both to their children, because it normally leads to the children going into care—. I really want to get a sense of the urgency, given that it's 15 years since Jean Corston wrote that report, and here we are. Governments of both stripes are…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
Okay, but given the cost of—
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
Okay. So, that would be a UK ministerial decision.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
So, if the Swansea venture doesn't come off, for whatever reason, it would be perfectly possible to vire that money into other ways of avoiding women being sent into custodial sentences.
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
Twenty-four million pounds has been allocated to support women in or at risk of contact of the criminal justice system over the next three years. That's excellent, but to what extent do the Welsh Government and its partners have any control or influence over…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
Well, perhaps we can send you the—
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
The Equality and Social Justice Committee has taken evidence from the Magistrates' Association, so we can tell you that half of the magistrates had never heard of the women's justice blueprint—that comes from their chief executive—and we were also told by the…
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
Okay. We'll come back to women's—
, Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee
Evidence session with Lord Bellamy KC, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice: Justice in Wales
Okay. I think the concern is that improving recidivism is really difficult if we've got this jagged edge where some services are supposed to be joining up—housing, et cetera—and others are not devolved and they're all based in Whitehall.
