The Children (Secure Accommodation) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2016

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Children (Secure Accommodation) (Wales) Regulations 2015 (“the Principal Regulations”) and come into force at the same time on 6 April 2016.

The amendments to regulations 1, 2, 9 and 12 of the Principal Regulations make changes to ensure that the requirements imposed on Welsh local authorities in relation to placements in secure accommodation apply regardless of whether they place children in Wales or in England. The amendments to regulation 1 amend the definition of “secure accommodation” so that where the words are used they refer to accommodation whether in Wales or England unless the contrary is indicated. The amendments to regulations 2, 9 and 12 insert words to make clear that in those regulations the references to “secure accommodation” are limited to Wales.

The effect of the amendment to regulation 7 is to ensure that a child who is remanded to local authority accommodation and who is placed in secure accommodation cannot be placed for longer than 28 days without reverting to the court.

The amendment to regulation 14 removes the prohibition on local authorities applying to court for authority to place 16 and 17 year olds in secure accommodation where the 16 and 17 year olds are accommodated under section 76 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.

The amendment to regulation 15 is made to reflect an amendment made to the effect of section 38 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 so that the obligation on a custody officer in section 38(6) to move arrested juveniles to local authority accommodation has now been extended to children under 18 years of age. This amendment therefore aligns the provisions of regulation 15 of the Principal Regulations accordingly so that the lower threshold applies to all such children.

The amendment to regulation 16 corrects an erroneous cross reference.

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these regulations. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations.