To recommend the Youth Justice Plan for approval by Council.

The Youth Justice Plan was presented by West Mercia Youth Offending Service (YOS). This was an annual plan determined by the Youth Justice Board, and which linked to other plans in the county.

The plan reported positively for last year and the current year, with 11% fewer young people entering the system and a reduction in youth custody.

The plan used a national tool which measured performance in real time, month by month and there was closer integration in Herefordshire with regard to Families First and looked after children and links to the Children and Young People’s Plan. There was a clear plan for further progress in 2015/16.

In answer to a query from the Cabinet Member for Economy and Corporate Services regarding a review of the YOS, it was clarified that the review has led to a recommendation that the Police and Crime Commissioner hosts the service. In his role as chair of the Community Safety Partnership, the Member also asked if issues regarding tracking of data were resolved.  It was confirmed that data was now being tracked monthly.   Further clarification showed that with regard to a reduction in the numbers of young people reoffending, whilst the cohort was smaller, there were more young people with complex needs who were at greater risk, although reoffending rates were reducing.  It was confirmed that regional figures were provided in the plan so that a profile for the county could be seen.

It was also noted that the report contained abbreviations which had dual meaning, such as FTE meaning both full time equivalent and first time entrants.

The group leader of Herefordshire Independents welcomed the reduction in figures and asked about the 37% of children who are in care. It was explained that looked after children have more complex needs and mechanisms were in place to gather feedback from these children about how the service could be improved. It was noted that children and young people who engaged with the YOS were less likely to offend; however, more was being done to improve this service as offending was still occurring.

The group leader of It’s Our County welcomed improvements in the service but observed that the county had the highest first time entrant (FTE) figure in the region only partly due to the detection rate. He noted that Herefordshire was a demographically smaller partner but had the highest statistic on FTEs and sought assurance that there were sufficient resources to reduce FTEs. It was clarified that the county did have a higher detection rate and that there was comparatively less use of community resolution and therefore the FTE rate was higher than in other areas.

The service was consulting with young people about provision and there was good progress and use of resources despite a further in-year reduction in resources.

The director for children’s wellbeing explained that there was a relatively higher proportion of looked after children entering the county due to the availability of accommodation. Since residential children’s homes tended to have higher callout rates to police, there was more work required on restorative justice and direct work with homes. She added that it was the responsibility of corporate parents to decide whether to criminalise a looked after child and this was a particular issue for Herefordshire. As regards resources, there was recent consultation on a 6% in-year reduction to the grant from the Youth Justice Board to the YOS; it was not considered that this would adversely affect a continued downward trend in figures. 

In answer to a question from the Green group leader regarding the service’s effectiveness at preventing reoffending, it was clarified that each person was assessed with regard to either transition into probation or retention in the YOS and there was a member of staff looking at new ways of working.

The leader of the Green group made a further observation regarding satisfaction levels in service provision for those involved in drug use and those experiencing upsetting thoughts, which meant that one person in four was not getting the right help.  It was confirmed that the YOS was engaged in the new contract for drug and alcohol services.

RESOLVED

That the Youth Justice Plan be recommended to Council for approval.