2021/24778 - Acquired brain injury amongst young adults

REQUEST

The United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF), a charity which aims to raise awareness of acquired brain injury, is currently working on a project on the treatment of young adults (aged 18-25) in the criminal justice system and the prevalence of ABI and other forms of neurodiversity within that group. UKABIF runs the Criminal Justice Acquired Brain Injury Interest Group which is supporting this work. We are also interested in the awareness of professionals of these conditions and training which may or may not be available to them. The project aims to raise awareness and improve outcomes for young adults who have ABI in the early stages of the criminal justice system and is funded by Barrow Cadbury Trust under its young adult programme, Transition to Adulthood. 

Questions 

The questions we have under the FOI request are: 

1. Does screening for acquired brain injury take place among detainees in any part of your force? If yes: 
2. Which detainees are being screened?  
3.         What are the triggers for an acquired brain injury screening? 
4. Who does the screening, where and at what stage? 
5. What screening tool is used? 
6.         In the year 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021, what was the prevalence of acquired brain injury amongst those screened? 
7.          In the year 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021, what proportion of those screened were aged 18-25? What was the prevalence of acquired brain injury amongst that age cohort during that time period? 
8. What pathways are in place if an acquired brain injury is identified? 

 

2.         Does screening for other neurodiverse conditions take place? If yes: what other neurodiverse conditions are screened for? 
3.         What screening tools are used? 
4.         In the year 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021, what was the prevalence of other neurodiverse conditions amongst those screened? 
5.         In the year 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021, what proportion of those screened for other neurodiverse conditions were aged 18-25?  
6.         In the year 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021, what was the prevalence of other neurodiverse conditions amongst that age cohort?  
7.         In the year 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021, where a young adult aged 18-25 was screened as having acquired brain injury, what other neurodiverse conditions, if any, did they also have? 
8.          What pathways are in place if other neurodiverse conditions are identified? 

 

3.         Has training for custody or other frontline officers taken place on a) acquired brain injury and/or b) maturity and young adulthood in any part of your force in the last 3 years?  

Definitions  We are using a broad definition for neurodiversity that includes the following conditions:   – ADHD   – Asperger’s/Autism   – Communication, speech, language disorders   – Intellectual disabilities   – Motor disorders (e.g. Tourette’s)   – Neurogenetic disorders (e.g. Down syndrome)   – Specific learning disorders (e.g. dyslexia, dyscalculia)   – Acquired brain injury.    An acquired brain injury (ABI) is an injury to the brain that is not hereditary, congenital, degenerative, or induced by birth trauma. This type of brain injury is one that has occurred after birth. There are two types of acquired brain injury: traumatic and non-traumatic. We are primarily interested in traumatic brain injury (TBI), which is caused by an external force. It would be very helpful if you hold data that distinguishes between ABI and TBI if you could be specific in the use of these terms, please.

 

RESPONSE