Judge lambasts education secretary over lack of secure places for children

The president of the family division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, has deplored the extreme shortage of secure placements for children at risk of self-harm and suicide. Photograph: Courts and Tribunals Judiciary/PA

The country’s most senior family judge has accused the education secretary of “complacency bordering on cynicism” in a scathing judgment that deplores the lack of secure, therapeutic placements in England and Wales for scores of children with complex needs at risk of taking their own lives.

Dealing with a case involving a 15-year-old girl in care known as X, who experienced trauma in early childhood and has repeatedly self-harmed, absconded, threatened herself and others and spoken of suicide, the president of the family division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, lambasted Gillian Keegan for asking to be excused from coming to court to account for failures to keep the child and others like her safe.