Vinney Green custody unit improves after children unlawfully restrained

The unit, run by South Gloucestershire Council, is located in Emersons Green

Some progress has been made at a secure children's home where its young residents were subjected to painful and unlawful restraint, a report has found.

Vinney Green was criticised by Ofsted in April when inspectors discovered the children were being unlawfully treated.

It was too soon to judge the effectiveness of all measures, it said.

But necessary improvements were being made and children said the unit felt "much calmer" after staff received training to promote positive behaviour.

A monitoring visit was carried out by Ofsted in June to assess progress at the secure youth custody unit run by South Gloucestershire Council.

In its latest report Ofsted stated: "Sufficient action has been taken to address the action points set out in the compliance notices," the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

According to Ofsted, the Youth Custody Service had stopped placing youngsters at the unit due to the "serious concerns" that were raised in the full inspection in April.

An improvement board consisting of the home's managers and external professionals was then set up to ensure improvement, but the report said it was too early to determine its effectiveness.

South Gloucestershire Council's head of integrated children's services, Jo Cross, had committed to spending more time at the unit to provide a "more rigorous level of scrutiny."

The report said: "Managers and staff have been provided with good-quality training in the legal criteria that determine the circumstances when physical restraint and single separation (where children are locked in an area when they meet the legal criteria of being a significant risk to themselves or others) can be used with children."