As the lead inspectorate, Ofsted works alongside the Care Quality Commission and HM Inspectorate of Prisons to inspect England’s 3 STCs.

Following consultation, the following changes to the way STCs are inspected will take effect from 1 April 2019:

• When an STC is judged to be inadequate, Ofsted and its partner inspectorates will respond more robustly. An urgent review meeting will be held with the Ministry of Justice to determine the most appropriate action, and inspectors will routinely return to check on the centre’s progress within 8 weeks of the initial inspection.
• The notice period that STCs are given before inspection will be reduced to 4 days. This is 1 day fewer than proposed in the consultation, and effectively 2 days fewer than under the existing arrangements.
• A ‘point-in-time’ survey of the views of children at an STC will be used to inform the timing of an inspection and key lines of inquiry. It is hoped the survey will empower children to speak more openly and honestly.
• A revised and simplified judgement structure will help tell a clearer story about what life is like for the children living at the STC.

Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s National Director for Social Care said:

Children living in secure training centres need to feel safe and well looked after. Although there have been some improvements in conditions at STCs, overall, our findings in recent years have reflected the serious concerns held nationally about the experiences of those living at the centres. These changes will see inspectors focus more on the difference that the centres make to children’s lives, and less on processes and procedures.

Peter Clarke, HM Chief Inspector or Prisons, said:

This is a robust multi inspectorate framework that include a strengthened response to inadequate judgements. The new framework has the experience of children at the centre of all judgements and provides the foundation for developing a comprehensive inspection regime as children’s custody is reformed and new models of detention developed.

Ursula Gallagher, Deputy Chief Inspector of General Practice and lead for care in secure settings said:

Secure training centres are home to vulnerable children and young people who often have a very complicated set of needs.

Knowing that the healthcare services available to them, which CQC inspects, will be looked at in the wider context of their experience and better represented in the overall judgement will give a clearer view of what does and does not work well in these settings. Knowing this, we as regulators can help drive improvements in the system and better outcomes for patients.

Read the new joint inspection framework: secure training centres for guidance about how secure training centres are inspected.

We have also published a report on the responses to the consultation on the new joint inspection framework for secure training centres.

There are 3 secure training centres in England: Medway, Rainsbrook and Oakhill.

No STC has been rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ since 2015. The new framework is anticipated to result in a more consistent approach to inspection of secure settings for children and bring it more in line with how Ofsted inspects secure children’s homes. There are 14 secure children’s homes in England, and 10 (71.4%) have been rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’.

Are you interested in a career in digital?

We’ve recently launched an ambitious transformation programme which will completely change the way we offer services to our customers. Digital services are an essential element of this transformation.

Over the next few months we’ll be advertising a number of job vacancies in our digital teams, including roles in:

• product management
• user research
• interaction design
• software development
• testing
• architecture
• DevOps
• infrastructure

If you’re interested in being part of our transformation, please come along to one of our digital open days and recruitment sessions at our head office in Cardiff.

Located close to the city centre, our experts will be waiting to talk to you about our exciting digital strategy and the new roles available. Most importantly, you’ll learn more about our culture and why we’re a brilliant place to work.

There are 2 separate drop-in sessions.

Ross Maude, Director of digital said:

We’re starting on a really exciting transformation journey at Companies House, and we have a brilliant culture and way of working here. We’ve fully adopted working with Scrum, we’re working with agile and we’re at the forefront of using things like DevOps to make sure that we’re using the best practices to deliver our services in the most efficient way we can.

We’d really like people to come and see the work that we’re doing, and be part of a team that’s doing really quite amazing things here in the middle of Cardiff.

If you have the skills and experience we’re looking for, we want you to be part of this ambitious programme of change. You’ll have the opportunity to be at the forefront of the government’s digital transformation, and to develop our services to meet the ever-changing demands of the UK’s business landscape.

Find out more about working for Companies House.

• Strictly temporary, unilateral approach to checks, processes and tariffs in Northern Ireland announced in the event the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
• Approach is key to protecting the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland and avoiding a hard border.
• In no deal, UK Government is committed to entering discussions urgently with the EU and Irish Government to agree long-term measures.
• The government is publishing this approach ahead of the vote in Parliament on No Deal to ensure MPs are fully informed.
• The UK Government has today confirmed the strictly temporary, unilateral approach it would take to avoid a hard border if the UK were to leave the EU without a deal.

In this scenario, the UK Government’s priority would be to enter into discussions urgently with the European Commission and the Irish Government to jointly agree long-term measures to avoid a hard border.

Recognising the unique social, political and economic circumstances of Northern Ireland, the UK Government would not introduce any new checks or controls on goods moving from Ireland to Northern Ireland in a no deal scenario, including no customs declarations for normal goods. The UK temporary import tariff announced today would therefore not apply to goods crossing from Ireland into Northern Ireland.

The UK Government would only apply a small number of measures strictly necessary to comply with international legal obligations, protect the biosecurity of the island of Ireland, or to avoid the highest risks to Northern Ireland businesses — but these measures will not require checks at the land border.

The government recognises that Northern Ireland’s businesses and farmers will have concerns about the impact that the government’s approach will have on their competitiveness. However these are the only steps the UK government can unilaterally take to deliver on our absolute commitment to avoid a hard border in the event of no deal.

A summary of the approach:

• To prevent unfair treatment of Northern Ireland businesses, goods arriving from Ireland would still be subject to the same VAT and Excise duty as today and the UK Government would continue to collect these taxes on Irish goods in future. VAT registered businesses would continue to account for VAT on their normal VAT returns. Small businesses trading across the border and not currently VAT registered would be able to report VAT online periodically, without any new processes at the border. As in Great Britain, businesses currently registered on the EU Excise system would register on a UK equivalent.
• To protect human, animal, and plant health, animals and animal products from countries outside the EU would need to enter Northern Ireland through a designated entry point, regulated plant material from outside the EU and high risk EU plant material will require certification and pre-notification before arriving in the UK. Plants and plant products from a non-EU country which have not been previously checked by an EU Member state would also be checked at authorised inland trade premises.
• To fulfil essential international obligations, there would be new UK import requirements such as checks on documents or registration for a very limited set of goods, such as endangered species and hazardous chemicals. This would not involve any infrastructure or checks at the border including in Northern Ireland.

These unilateral measures only mitigate the impacts of exit that are within the UK Government’s control. They do not set out the position in respect of tariffs or processes to be applied to goods moving from Northern Ireland to Ireland.

This regime is only temporary as we recognise that there are challenges associated with this approach, including the unmonitored flow of goods into the UK and the potential for exploitation of any new system. The government is committed to entering into discussions with the European Commission and the Irish Government as a matter of urgency.

The government will lay the appropriate legislation in light of the outcome of the vote on no deal today.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley, said:

The Government has been clear that a deal with the European Union is the best outcome for Northern Ireland.

But we will do all we can to support people and businesses across Northern Ireland in the event that we leave without a deal.

The measures announced today recognise the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland. These arrangements can only be temporary and short-term.

Notes to editors

Click here for more details on this announcement.

New legislation to extend the ‘no-fly’ zone around airports comes into force today (13 March 2019). It is now illegal to fly a drone within 5km of an airport, with major penalties for those who break the law.

The government has acted to bring the law change in ahead of a new Drones Bill which will give police significantly increased powers to deal with those using drones illegally. Penalties for breaking the law on misusing drones range from fines to life imprisonment if the device is intentionally used to cause violence.

Drone users can only fly within the restriction zones if they have the correct permission from air traffic control or the airport.

On 20 March 2019, the Aviation Minister Liz Sugg will meet with global leading drone manufacturers to discuss how to tackle criminal drone use. They are expected to discuss a range of topics including counter-drone technology and software – such as ‘geofencing’ – that could be built into drones at the point of manufacture.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said:

The UK has been consistently at the forefront of legislation to tackle drone misuse.

All drone users should be aware that flying a drone within 5km of an airport or over 400ft is a serious criminal act, one which could put lives at risk and risks penalties ranging from significant fines to a life sentence.

I urge people to report any suspicious drone activity to local police or Crimestoppers UK on 0800 555 111.

Aviation Minister Liz Sugg, said:

Flying drones illegally puts others at risk both in the air and on the ground, so it’s vital they are used safely.

The majority of people using drones want to do so responsibly, so we have expanded a national campaign to ensure they know the rules – and the penalties.

The new Drones Bill, which is currently being drafted, will give new powers to the police to clamp down on those misusing drones and other small unmanned aircraft – including the power to access electronic data stored on a drone with a warrant. It will also include stop and search powers for drone users near aerodromes.

Drones exclusion zone video

The Home Office is also reviewing the UK’s approach to countering the malicious use of drones, and will consider how best to protect the full range of the UK’s critical national infrastructure – including testing and evaluating technology to counter drones.