1 May 2012
525.Section 103 gives the Secretary of State, and the Youth Justice Board, the power to make arrangements for accommodation in a secure children’s home for those children who are subject to a remand to youth detention accommodation. Existing legislation enables the Secretary of State to make arrangements for remands to secure training centres and young offender institutions.
526.Subsections (2) and (6) give the Secretary of State the power to make regulations (subject to the negative resolution procedure in Parliament) enabling the Secretary of State, the Youth Justice Board or another provider of youth detention accommodation to recover the costs of youth detention accommodation from designated local authorities. It also gives the power to recover associated costs, such as those for providing transport for the child from the court to the chosen form of accommodation.
527.Conversely, subsection (4) gives the Secretary of State the power to make payments to a local authority for the purpose of enabling it to exercise its functions in respect of children who are remanded to local authority accommodation or to make payments in respect of remands to youth detention accommodation.
528.Subsection (7) allows the Secretary of State to provide by regulations that those of his functions that are capable of being exercised concurrently by the Youth Justice Board are to be exercised solely by the Secretary of State either generally or in relation to a particular type of case. Such regulations are subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
529.Section 104(1) provides that any child remanded to youth detention accommodation is to be treated as looked after by the designated authority.
530.Subsection (2) gives the Secretary of State the power to apply with modifications or not apply, any legislation (including an Act or Measure of the National Assembly of Wales) to a child who is treated as looked after by virtue of being remanded under this Chapter (children who are remanded to local authority accommodation are treated as looked after by virtue of provisions in the Children Act 1989).
531.Section 105 gives effect to Schedule 12 which makes various amendments and repeals which are consequential on the new scheme for remands of children otherwise than on bail introduced by Chapter 3 of Part 3.
532.In general these are very straightforward and involve replacing references to sections of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 or repealing legislation that created powers and duties associated with remand under that Act. Of note however are:
Paragraphs 1 to 3 which amend the Criminal Justice Act 1948. This previously required 17 year olds to be remanded to prison. Under the Act they will be remanded to local authority accommodation or youth detention accommodation.
Paragraph 10 which amends section 32 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1969. It has the effect of providing that where a child is remanded to local authority accommodation and they abscond, if found they will be escorted back to local authority accommodation and the cost will be met by that local authority. Where the child is remanded in youth detention accommodation they will be escorted back to youth detention accommodation at the cost of the Secretary of State.
Paragraph 13 which inserts a reference to this Act into the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970. The effect of this is to include the functions carried out by local authorities in relation to children remanded to local authority accommodation under the Act in the definition of social services functions for the purposes of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970. This, in turn, brings children who are remanded to local authority accommodation under the Act into the definition of a ‘looked after child’ set out in section 22 of the Children Act 1989. In this way a child who is remanded to local authority accommodation under the Act becomes a “looked after child” within the meaning of the Children Act 1989.
533.Section 106 specifies which regulations made under Chapter 3 are subject to negative procedure and which are subject to affirmative procedure. Any regulations made under this Chapter may make different provision for different cases and may include supplementary, incidental, transitional, transitory or saving provision.
534.Section 107 provides definitions of terms used in Chapter 3.