The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Baroness Levitt) (Lab)

My Lords, I respond to the noble Lord with a great deal of sadness because he played a noble role in the Youth Justice Board and in the transformation of youth justice generally. However, the context

I pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Sater, for her work as a magistrate in the adult and youth systems. We have to be grateful to people like her for helping to keep the system going. I hope I h

I am aware of it. We are intending to make sure that everything possible can be done to ensure that children have as many opportunities as possible and therefore do not get drawn into crime.

I think the noble Baroness may be referring to the excellent report by the Michael Sieff Foundation, which, as she said, said that up to 80% of children in the custodial estate either have special edu

We have no plans. The Bar Council is conducting a review of this and we will, like any responsible Government, consider that review once it is reported and take matters from there.

My Lords, we are tough on crime but we are smart on prevention. We are focusing on what works: protecting the public and preventing reoffending. It is well known that locking children up, particularly