Hassockfield training centre since it opened in 1999. Photograph: Ian Nicholson/PA
A private company that operates prisons for the government has been
paid more than £1m for running an empty secure children’s unit for seven
weeks, the Guardian has learned.
Serco, which operates six prisons in the UK and jails in Australia and New Zealand, had managed Hassockfield training centre, near Consett, since it opened in 1999.
Its contract expired last September, but it was extended by the Ministry of Justice before the unit closed on 20 November last year, when the remaining children were transferred or released.
However, Serco continued to be paid until 9 January this year. A freedom of information request revealed the MoJ paid Serco £1.1m for that seven-week period.
The MoJ defended the payment, saying it had saved money across the last financial year and the centre had been closed “efficiently”.
But MP Meg Hillier, the chair of the parliamentary public accounts committee, said: “This is right out of Yes Minister. Even if some of this cost was for security of an empty building it suggests that there was little planning by the MoJ about what to do once the last child had left.
“This comes after the fiascos over prisoner tagging overpayments and the mishandling of the translation services contract. This all points to the need for the PAC to take a close interest in the MoJ’s management of taxpayers’ money.”
Hassockfield was one of four secure training centres in England. The other three – Medway in Kent, Rainsbrook in Northamptonshire and Oakhill in Milton Keynes – are run by G4S.
The units were established by the Labour government in 1998 and hold boys and girls aged 12-17 at an annual cost per child of around £160,000. In 2014-15 Serco was paid £6.4m for running Hassockfield.
In 2004, 14-year-old Adam Rickwood became the youngest child to die in custody for more than a century when he hanged himself at Hassockfield. Serco said at the original inquest that the restraint was lawful, which the coroner upheld. Rickwood’s family appealed that ruling in the high court, which granted a second inquest in which a jury ruled that unlawful use of force by staff at the centre contributed to the boy deciding to take his own life.
Serco expressed its condolences to Rickwood’s family.
Hassockfield occupied the site of a former detention centre, Medomsley. In 2003 and 2005, two former staff members were jailed for historical sexual abuse of boys at Medomsley in the 70s and 80s. Last year, Durham police launched their biggest investigation, Operation Seabrook, after over a thousand former detainees at the centre reported allegations of sexual and physical abuse there.
Carolyne Willow, director of Article 39, a charity which promotes and protects the the rights of children in institutions, made the FoI request about costs at Hassockfield. She said: “It cannot be right for Serco to be given £1.1m for looking after an empty building when services that help keep children out of prison are facing severe cuts.
“It’s like the bedroom tax in reverse, because here’s a property with not a single child sleeping in it and the state pays the equivalent of £154,000 a week to Serco for guarding it.”
An MoJ spokesperson said: “The closure of Hassockfield secure training centre was concluded efficiently and saved the Youth Justice Board £1.8m in 2014-15.”
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Serco, which operates six prisons in the UK and jails in Australia and New Zealand, had managed Hassockfield training centre, near Consett, since it opened in 1999.
Its contract expired last September, but it was extended by the Ministry of Justice before the unit closed on 20 November last year, when the remaining children were transferred or released.
However, Serco continued to be paid until 9 January this year. A freedom of information request revealed the MoJ paid Serco £1.1m for that seven-week period.
The MoJ defended the payment, saying it had saved money across the last financial year and the centre had been closed “efficiently”.
But MP Meg Hillier, the chair of the parliamentary public accounts committee, said: “This is right out of Yes Minister. Even if some of this cost was for security of an empty building it suggests that there was little planning by the MoJ about what to do once the last child had left.
“This comes after the fiascos over prisoner tagging overpayments and the mishandling of the translation services contract. This all points to the need for the PAC to take a close interest in the MoJ’s management of taxpayers’ money.”
Hassockfield was one of four secure training centres in England. The other three – Medway in Kent, Rainsbrook in Northamptonshire and Oakhill in Milton Keynes – are run by G4S.
The units were established by the Labour government in 1998 and hold boys and girls aged 12-17 at an annual cost per child of around £160,000. In 2014-15 Serco was paid £6.4m for running Hassockfield.
In 2004, 14-year-old Adam Rickwood became the youngest child to die in custody for more than a century when he hanged himself at Hassockfield. Serco said at the original inquest that the restraint was lawful, which the coroner upheld. Rickwood’s family appealed that ruling in the high court, which granted a second inquest in which a jury ruled that unlawful use of force by staff at the centre contributed to the boy deciding to take his own life.
Serco expressed its condolences to Rickwood’s family.
Hassockfield occupied the site of a former detention centre, Medomsley. In 2003 and 2005, two former staff members were jailed for historical sexual abuse of boys at Medomsley in the 70s and 80s. Last year, Durham police launched their biggest investigation, Operation Seabrook, after over a thousand former detainees at the centre reported allegations of sexual and physical abuse there.
Carolyne Willow, director of Article 39, a charity which promotes and protects the the rights of children in institutions, made the FoI request about costs at Hassockfield. She said: “It cannot be right for Serco to be given £1.1m for looking after an empty building when services that help keep children out of prison are facing severe cuts.
“It’s like the bedroom tax in reverse, because here’s a property with not a single child sleeping in it and the state pays the equivalent of £154,000 a week to Serco for guarding it.”
An MoJ spokesperson said: “The closure of Hassockfield secure training centre was concluded efficiently and saved the Youth Justice Board £1.8m in 2014-15.”
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