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Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Secure Accommodation Statistics 2007-08. This publication presents new statistics obtained from the secure accommodation census which was completed by all secure units in Scotland.

The main findings are:

• During 2007-08 a new secure unit opened (Kibble), providing an additional 18 secure places. Therefore at 31st March 2008, seven secure units provided a total of 130 secure places (excluding emergency beds).
• St Mary's Kenmure was closed temporarily from 30th March 2008 after several children escaped on the night of Saturday 29th to Sunday 30th March. This reduced the number of available places on 31st March 2008 from 130 to 100.
  
• There was an average of 102 residents in secure accommodation throughout 2007-08, up from 94 in 2006-07.
• The average cost per bed per week was £4,500, ranging from £4,100 to £5,000.
• The proportion of children admitted at age 16 or over increased from 18 per cent in 2006-07 to 24 per cent in 2007-08.
• Thirty two per cent of young people discharged during 2007-08 had been in secure accommodation for less than 1 month.

SECURE ACCOMMODATION UNITS - CAPACITY AND USAGE

1. At 31st March 2008 there were seven secure units providing a total of 130 secure places (excluding emergency beds), of which 100 were available. ( Table 1, Chart 1)

2. St. Mary's Kenmure was closed temporarily from 30th March 2008 after several children escaped on the night of Saturday 29th to Sunday 30th March. The remaining children were moved to other units. This reduced the number of available places on 31st March 2008 from 130 to 100.

3. As a result of the temporary closure of St. Mary's Kenmure, data on admissions and the number of young people in centres for 30th and 31st March will have been affected. This is because young people are counted in admissions for other centres on these dates without having been discharged from St. Mary's Kenmure. See background notes for details.

4. For 2007-08, St. Mary's Kenmure have included the emergency bed in their figures as they were not able to differentiate between emergency and non-emergency beds.

5. There was an average of 102 residents in secure accommodation throughout 2007-08, up from 94 the previous year. ( Table 2)

6. The number of young people in secure accommodation throughout the year ranged from 90 to 118. ( Table 2)

7. There were 346 admissions to secure accommodation in 2007-08. This is an increase of 13 per cent on 2006-07. There was also a 21 per cent increase in the number of discharges, to 335. ( Table 2, Chart 1)

8. Kibble secure unit opened on 23rd July 2007 but this did not have an immediate effect on the overall occupancy of secure units. Occupancy was lowest during the year around the end of December and beginning of January, and reached a minimum of 90 on 9th and 10th January 2008. Occupancy was highest on 31st March 2008 at 118. However, some children were counted twice on 30th and 31st March as residents transferred from St. Mary's Kenmure to other units. Prior to this incident, occupancy was highest in November, reaching 112 on 8th November. ( Chart 2)

9. Sixty nine per cent of young people in secure accommodation on 31st March 2008 were males. ( Table 4)

10. Seventy seven per cent of young people in secure accommodation on 31st March 2008 had at least one known disability, and for 15 per cent of young people it was not known whether they had a disability. Of those young people with at least one known disability, 95 per cent were known to have social, emotional and behavioural difficulties and 19 per cent were known to have a mental health problem. ( Table 4)

SECURE ACCOMMODATION UNITS - COSTS AND STAFFING

11. The average cost per bed per week during 2007-08 was £4,500, ranging from £4,100 to £5,000. ( Table 1)

12. On the 31st March 2008, there were 662 staff working across the secure estate, of which 36 were temporary. There were 51 vacancies, of which 31 had been vacant for more than three months. ( Table 3)

YOUNG PEOPLE ADMITTED TO SECURE ACCOMMODATION

13. Forty four per cent of children admitted to secure accommodation during the year were admitted when they were 15 years old. This is the same as the previous year. The proportion of children admitted at age 16 or over increased from 18 per cent in 2006-07 to 24 per cent in 2007-08. ( Table 5)

14. Forty four per cent of young people admitted to secure accommodation during the year were previously living with parents, other relatives or friends. More females than males were admitted from foster care or a children's home, despite many more males than females being admitted overall. ( Table 7)

15. The proportion of young people admitted to secure accommodation that were previously living with parents, other relatives or friends has increased almost constantly since 2000, to 44 per cent in 2007-08. ( Table 8)

YOUNG PEOPLE DISCHARGED FROM SECURE ACCOMMODATION

16. Thirty two per cent of young people discharged during 2007-08 had been in secure accommodation for less than 1 month, up one percentage point from the previous year. Five per cent had been in secure accommodation for more than 12 months, an increase of two percentage points since the previous year. ( Table 5, Chart 3)

17. Forty two per cent of all young people leaving secure accommodation in 2007-08 returned to the same type of placement as they were in before being admitted. ( Table 9)

18. Ninety four per cent of young people discharged during 2007-08 received medical care during their spell in secure accommodation. ( Table 12, Chart 4)

The following charts are available:

Chart 1 - Places, admissions and discharges: 1999-00 to 2007-08
Chart 2 - Daily occupancy of secure estate: 1st April 2007 to 31st March 2008
Chart 3 - Length of stay on discharge as a percentage of young people discharged during the year ending 31st March, 2000 to 2008
Chart 4 - Percentage of young people discharged from secure accommodation who received medical care and agreed aftercare plan during spell in secure accommodation, and placement on discharge was as agreed in aftercare plan, by length of stay, 2007-08

The following tables are available:

Table 1: Secure accommodation establishments 2007-08
Table 2: Secure accommodation capacity and usage 2000-2008
Table 3: Secure accommodation staff as at 31st March 2008 and 31st March 2007
Table 4: Young people in secure accommodation on 31st March 2000-2008 by gender, age, disability and length of stay
Table 5: Young people admitted to or discharged from secure accommodation during the years ending 31st March 2000-2008 by age and length of stay
Table 6: Number of young people admitted to secure accommodation 2007-08 by local authority
Table 7: Young people admitted to secure accommodation: Placement prior to admission and reason for admission, by gender, 2007-08
Table 8: Placement prior to admission and placement on discharge for young people admitted to or discharged from secure accommodation in the years ending 31st March 2000-2008
Table 9: Percentage of young people discharged from secure accommodation whose placement on discharge was the same as placement prior to admittance, 2007-08
Table 10: Young people discharged from secure accommodation during 2007-08 by age and destination on discharge
Table 11: Number and percentage of young people discharged from secure accommodation during 2007-08 who received medical care during their stay
Table 12: Percentage of young people discharged from secure accommodation who received medical care and agreed aftercare plan during spell in secure accommodation, and placement on discharge was as agreed in aftercare plan, by length of stay, 2007-08

BACKGROUND NOTES

1 The survey forms and guidance notes for data presented in this publication, and previous years' publications, can be seen at www.scotland.gov.uk/childrenstats

2 Kibble secure unit opened on 23rd July 2007 with 18 beds which increased the secure estate to 130 (excluding emergency beds). At 31st March, there were 100 beds available.

3 St. Mary's Kenmure temporarily closed from 30th March 2008 due to an incident that occurred on the night of Saturday 29th March and the early hours of Sunday 30th March which resulted in damage to the unit and a number of children escaping. The remaining children were moved to other secure units. This reduced the number of available places on 31st March 2008 from 130 to 100.

4 As a result of the temporary closure of St. Mary's Kenmure, data on admissions and the number of young people in centres for 30th and 31st March will have been affected. This is because young people are counted in admissions for other centres on these dates without having been recorded as discharged by St. Mary's Kenmure. For these two dates, occupancy figures are higher than they would have been in reality.

5 St. Mary's Kenmure has one emergency bed. Although this was not included in the total number of places available, young people staying in the emergency bed have been included for 2007-08 as the unit was not able to differentiate between the use of emergency and non-emergency beds.

6 The average number of young people in secure accommodation over the year is calculated using the dates of admission and discharge for every child.

7 Centres were asked to provide only the month and year of birth of young people admitted. In the 2007-08 data the young person's date of birth has been set to the 15th day of the month, so that on average young people's ages at admission will be correct. This was the same method as used in 2006-07.

8 We collect information on ethnicity of young people in secure but are unable to publish this due to some small numbers and data confidentiality issues.

9 Disability categories were based on ISD Health and Social Care Data Dictionary codes when the survey form was finalised in December 2006.

10 An error has been discovered in charts 2 and 3 of the 2006-07 publication for month of admission and discharge. For the charts, the fourth point corresponds to April 2007 (not July 2007) with all other months similarly affected. The points labelled for April to June 2007 are actually January to March 2008. The fifth bullet point on page 2 of the 2006-07 Statistics Publication Notice is therefore incorrect.

11 A correction was made to the 2006-07 placement on discharge percentages given for 'other placement' and 'not known' because the total percentage for both of these categories (26 per cent) had been given as 'other placement' only. Table 8 of this publication has been amended accordingly.

12 This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.

13 Public enquiries ( non-media) about the information contained in this Publication Notice should be addressed to:

Telephone: 0131 244 0313
e-mail: children.statistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

14 Media enquiries about the information in this Statistics Publication Notice should be addressed to Stephen Orr on 0131 244 2656.

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