Up to £6 million is needed to fix 184 faulty doors at the Oasis
Restore Secure School (ORSS) which closed last month, MPs
have been told. Replying to queries from the Justice Committee, new Youth
Justice Minister Jake Richards wrote that concerns were first raised about “internal
door functionality” in February, when vandalism exposed weaknesses in the
locking systems and fabric of some doors. This increased risks to the safety of
children and staff at the school in Kent.
There were ten children at ORSS when the closure was
announced, eight children were moved into different establishments whilst two
were released having served their sentence or the end of their period on
remand. The furthest distance a child moved was more than 200 miles to Parc
Young Offender Institution in South Wales.
Responsibility for the fiasco lies with the Ministry of Justice
which is accountable for the school’s infrastructure. An Independent Review is looking
at the decision-making which led to the inadequate specification for the original
doors.
Richards says a proportion of the costs of replacing them will
be recovered from a budget surplus arising from the temporary closure of the school-
but up to a million pounds a month will be spent to retain staff and essential
services there.
It’s not clear when the school will reopen. Specialist
architects have identified the available replacement options for the doors with
site visits from suppliers underway to develop detailed specifications.
Neither is it clear how far problems at Oasis Restore may go
beyond building failures.
According to Richards:
“Caring for children with complex needs in a secure setting
is extremely challenging and the secure school model was new and innovative.
Whilst it is inevitable that there would be learning to take, the issues
experienced with the site in recent months are not an acceptable outcome for
children or staff. For these reasons, the Department is working at pace to
learn from these issues and rectify them as quickly as possible”.
In the meantime, secure school staff are undertaking training,
placements at other sites and other “improvement work” in response to issues raised
in recent Ofsted inspection reports.
By coincidence, on Friday the House
of Lords is debating the Secure 16 to 19 Academies Bill which would reduce
the minimum notice period for termination of a secure schools funding agreement
from seven to two years. Although it’s a Private Members bill, it has government
support. Unless things improve at Oasis Restore, the government may need to use
its provisions.
