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REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS OF TYNWALD COURT (DEBATES AND OTHER MATTERS) Douglas, Wednesday, 20th March 2002 at 10.30 a.m. Present: The President of Tynwald (the Hon N Q Cringle). In the Council: The Lord Bishop (the Rt Rev Noël Debroy Jones), the Attorney-General (Mr W J H Corlett QC), Hon Mrs C M Christian, Messrs E A Crowe, J R Kniveton, E G Lowey, Dr E J Mann, Messrs J N Radcliffe and G H Waft, with Mrs M Cullen, Clerk of the Council. In the Keys: The Speaker (the Hon J A Brown) (Castletown); Mr D M Anderson (Glenfaba); Hon A R Bell and Mr L I Singer (Ramsey); Mr R E Quine OBE (Ayre); Mr J D Q Cannan (Michael); Mrs H Hannan (Peel); Hon S C Rodan (Garff); Mr P Karran, Hon R K Corkill and Mr A J Earnshaw (Onchan); Mr G M Quayle (Middle); Messrs J R Houghton and R W Henderson (Douglas North); Hon D C Cretney and Mr A C Duggan (Douglas South); Hon R P Braidwood and Mrs B J Cannell (Douglas East); Hon A F Downie and Hon J P Shimmin (Douglas West); Mr D J Gelling (Malew and Santon); Hon J Rimington, Mr Q B Gill and Hon Mrs P M Crowe (Rushen); with Mr M Cornwell-Kelly, Clerk of Tynwald. The Lord Bishop took the prayers. Young People in Care — Definite Matter of Urgent Public Importance — Debate Commenced The President: Now, hon. members, last evening we had completed item 4 on the order paper. As you are aware, item 3, the hyperbaric chamber, was withdrawn, but I have had notice from Mr Houghton who wishes to move a matter of urgent public importance under standing order 2.8. Hon. members, we will require four to stand with him. (Four members stood in their places.) Thank you. In that case I will call upon the hon. member for Douglas North, Mr Houghton, to move the motion which is in his name and, I understand, has been circulated to hon. members. Mr Houghton. Mr Houghton: Thank you, Mr President. I beg to move under standing order 2.8 that the motion as set out in my name and as circulated amongst those hon. members today be so moved, sir: (1) That Tynwald is of the opinion that the Council of Ministers must implement urgent measures in order to prevent young persons with challenging behaviour from absconding from care establishments; and (2) a select committee of five members be set up to investigate and report, with recommendations, by the July 2002 sitting. The Singer: I beg to second. The President: Hon. member, Mr Singer, seconds. Now, hon. members, are we happy about that? Those in favour that the motion should be moved, please say aye; against, no. Accepted, so Mr Houghton, continue with your motion, sir. Mr Houghton: Thank you, Mr President, and I am very grateful for the indulgence of this hon. Court this morning. At about 11.15 last Friday night, a police motor patrol vehicle came upon a vehicle being driven erratically in Peel Road, Douglas. There were four young people on board and the vehicle accelerated away at high speed. It travelled towards Foxdale via Spring Valley and Braaid. At the Eairy Dam the vehicle went out of control and nearly crashed. The vehicle travelled through Foxdale up onto the shoulder road and towards the Sloc. As it reached the Sloc, the vehicle entered a fogbank where the visibility was virtually zero. This did not deter its driver, a 16-year old girl who had no driving licence, from travelling at high speed and completely beyond her capabilities. The standard of driving was dangerous, to say the least, and on numerous occasions it travelled on the wrong side of the road and around blind corners without any regard for other road users. Had any motorist been travelling in the opposite direction there would certainly have been a head-on collision which would almost certainly have led to death. When the vehicle travelled down the Sloc it very nearly left the road on a number of occasions. If this had occurred, there would have been multiple fatalities, sir. At the bottom of the Sloc on the approach to Ballakilpheric junction, a police van had been parked across the road in order to prevent the vehicle from passing. The visibility was clear at the bottom of the Sloc and the police van could be seen from a long distance away. The vehicle slowed down initially and then immediately accelerated towards the police van and rammed it at full speed. The motor patrol police vehicle in pursuit pulled up behind this vehicle, only for it also to be rammed by the offending vehicle, which then had been reversed at speed in order to collide with the police vehicle as heavily as it possibly could. Fortunately, the police officer was not hurt. The police van which was hit first was unattended. Four young people were arrested and were conveyed to police headquarters. The young people, aged between 15 and 16 years, were also uninjured and they all resided in the same care establishment located on the outskirts of Douglas. No further details can be disclosed with regard to this incident for obvious reasons, save to say that the driver’s actions clearly intended to harm police officers and cause maximum damage to both vehicles. The police van, a relatively new vehicle, I understand, has been completely written off and the motor patrol police vehicle has been extensively damaged. This incident is the fourth such incident in a six-month period whereby young persons who have absconded from care have rammed police vehicles in a stolen vehicle. It is the second such incident in just three consecutive weeks. The previous incident involved five young persons, all in care, in another stolen vehicle which, after ramming a police vehicle at speed, went out of control and collided with an innocent motorist travelling in the opposite direction. I have copied a newspaper article to all hon. members which gives accurate details of that particular incident, sir. In last Friday’s incident, the driver was detained over the weekend awaiting a court appearance on Monday. The other three were police station bailed to their care establishment, where they promptly absconded again the next day, and on Sunday, two of them were again arrested in connection with an unrelated matter. Mr President, last weekend was a particularly busy weekend because at another care establishment a riot broke out on Sunday evening resulting in those premises being trashed. Returning to vehicles which are taken without the owners’ consent or stolen the answer in a Keys written question totaled some 30 vehicles which were TWOC - or taken without the owners’ consent - by absconders from care establishments over the last six months. This figure accounts for stolen vehicles directly attributable to absconders. However, I would confidently assume that many more of the 82 vehicles reported stolen during that six-month period were attributable to absconders from DHSS care establishments. In another written answer to a Keys question, the Department of Health and Social Security gives a total of 316 absconders whilst the police have reported some 270 absconders in a six- month period. At weekends, the numbers of young persons absconding from care average between 12 and 15 persons. I would estimate that some 15 young persons are responsible for persistently absconding from care. They all have challenging behaviour and are extremely difficult to control so why are they allowed to roam the streets and get involved in criminal activities when they should be supervised at all times? The hon. member for Douglas East, Mr Braidwood, Minister for Home Affairs, stated in the Keys only last week that the police were dismayed about this serious and developing situation. He further reported that one third of police time in the Douglas division alone was spent doing the work that the Department of Health and Social Security are paying their care agencies for. Many young people are entering care establishments with few or no criminal records, and in no time at all they clock up long lists of convictions for serious offences which include assault, assault causing actual bodily harm, burglary, theft, drunken behaviour, organised shop theft, drugs including dealing drugs in care establishments, and are also involved in many other incidents of a very serious nature. These 15 young people are making peoples lives a misery. These people who we are talking about are members of the public who are taxpayers and who look to members of this hon. Court to deal effectively and appropriately with dangerous matters such as this. It is quite clear that the Department of Health and Social Security are out of their depth in containing this very serious matter. Parents of children in care are distressed at what is happening to their children, and I hope no-one will make a cheap remark relating to whether the child should be returned to the parents for better control. These parents are so concerned - those who are responsible parents, that is - that a number of them have formed a pressure group in order to lobby the department and members of Tynwald to have this disgraceful situation remedied as soon as possible. One also wonders about the quality of service within some of the care establishments. In some establishments there are some staff who themselves have criminal records. Some young people are turning up to their educational courses drunk and are clearly incapable of lasting five minutes, let alone all day.

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