Agenda item

The Buckinghamshire Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2021-2022 provides details of progress made against agreed outcomes for Children and Young People. It outlines priorities, alongside potential future challenges for the partnership over the coming year.  It also highlights the partnership arrangements and budget position for the Youth Offending Service Partnership.

RESOLVED –

That the Buckinghamshire Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2021-22 be endorsed and Council recommended to adopt it.

Councillor Cranmer, Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services introduced a report on the Buckinghamshire Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2021-2022 which provided details of progress made against agreed outcomes for Children and Young People. The plan outlined priorities, alongside potential future challenges for the partnership over the coming year.  It also highlighted the partnership arrangements and budget position for the Youth Offending Service Partnership.

Buckinghamshire Youth Offending Service was a multi-agency partnership between the Police, Children’s Services, Health Services, Probation, Community Safety and both voluntary and private sector providers.  The Youth Offending Service (YOS) played a key role in keeping communities, families, children and young people safe through the prevention of offending and reoffending, reduction in the use of custody and through contribution to multi-agency protection and safeguarding.

The Youth Justice Strategic Plan had been produced in compliance with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, Section 40 which required each local authority, after consultation with the relevant persons and bodies, to formulate and implement for each year a plan (a “youth justice plan”) setting out:

(i)                  How youth justice services in their area are to be provided and funded; and

(ii)                How the Youth Offending Team (YOT) or teams established by them (whether alone or jointly with one or more other local authorities) would be composed and funded, how they would operate, and what functions they would carry out.

The plan also incorporated guidance from the Youth Justice Board (YJB) and had to be submitted to the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales and published in accordance with the directions of the Secretary of State.

Members were informed that Multi-agency YOT/YOS had been established in 2000 following the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act with the intention of reducing the risk of young people offending and re-offending, and to provide counsel and rehabilitation to those who do offend. The act stipulated the composition of the YOT and identified statutory partners to work alongside the Local Authority.

The Youth Justice Board (YJB) had set three national outcome indicators for all YOTs which formed the baseline for performance information included within this year’s plan. These were as follows:

·                     Reduce the number of First Time Entrants (FTE) to the Youth Justice System.

·                     Reduce Re-offending

·                     Reduce the Use of Custody

The Cabinet report provided local context information for Buckinghamshire on areas including first time entrants to the youth justice system, re-offending rates and on the use of custodial sentences.  The statistics on sentencing showed that Buckinghamshire’s figure was lower than the National average and the South East figure but slightly higher than the Thames Valley figure.

There had been an increase in both the number of young people remanded to custody and the number of bed nights accrued in 2019-20, that was reflective of the seriousness of offending which was a national trend. 

Members were informed that all young people offered a Prevention programme by Buckinghamshire YOS had been tracked for 12 months to monitor whether they commit any offences and subsequently become a first-time entrant.  Of the 58 young people offered a voluntary programme in 2019-20, 1 (1.7%) went on to commit offences and become a first time entrant within 12 months, that was similar to 2018-19 and compared positively to 2017-18. The Council had been successful in obtaining external funding.

The plan included priorities for the coming year and mentioned that despite challenges presented by Covid 19, the Youth Offending Service continued to deliver creative solutions to maintain service delivery. The YOS worked alongside partners to continue to assess the quality of provision being delivered, including adapting the performance framework to focus on Covid related intervention delivery.  There were a number of systemic issues which led young people into the Criminal Justice System. The YOS was keen to influence change across the organisation to not only prevent young people entering the Criminal Justice System but also to secure more positive outcomes for those that have already entered.  The YOS would continue to underpin all the work they did on the following 3 areas to contribute to systematic change across the wider organisation.

·                     Continuing to address disproportionality.

·                     Addressing exploitation of young people; this priority will also consider focussing on serious youth violence given the introduction of the new statutory duty.

·                     Embedding an evidence based model of practice.

For 2021/22 the YOS would continue to make progress towards the above strategic priorities and alongside Covid recovery planning, would progress work streams and work towards securing positive outcomes against the three national indicators.

During discussion the following points were made:-

·                     A question was asked about what role schools play in the early identification of children being involved in crime. The Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Service reported that the YOS continued to have an excellent relationship with schools and training was also provided. Schools were good at identifying children who were at risk, as children spend a long time at school and once identified they agree with partners what steps to take going forward.

·                     Further to this question the Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services was asked about children being criminally exploited. The YOS worked with children services and partners in this area and provided interventions for children at risk of exploitation who would have been identified through schools or the police or other partners. This was a collaborative effort which was led by the staff in the YOS. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services reported that early identification was crucial and that criminal and/or sexual exploitation meant that children could be victims as well as perpetrators and it was important that there was a strong multi-agency response. The Council worked hard with partners to share information about children and young people where necessary to identify if they needed an intervention to stop them being exploited in the future.

·                     Reference was made to Section 2 of the report and data received on the decrease in offending with regard to the work that had been carried out to  improve target levels. There were lower number s but seriousness increased. An application had been made for increased external funding to support increased provision around prevention which included youth workers based in schools. There was also a mentoring programme specifically for black and minority groups who were transitioning from primary to secondary – It was an unsettling time for them and they needed extra mentoring. Other measures were in place. The Corporate Director drew Members attention to 2.9 and 2.10 of the report; 2.9 referred to the use of custody – the numbers were very small at 0.04 per 1000 for under 17s. However small, the use of custody was a significant event and only used when required. Under 2.10 of the report the measure referred to the fact bed nights had increased; covid 19 would have an impact and also the length of time waiting for a court case. The Council were working with partners regarding the increase in serious violence, which was being experienced across the Country.

·                     There was a Serious Violence Task Force investigating reasons for the increased violence which was putting in stronger measures and working with the Youth Justice Team to address the situation. Reference was made to exploitation. Some youths between 10 and 17 have been involved with serious offences and been arrested. Work was being carried out about the risks of future violence and measures taken to reduce that risk. There was a multi-agency response to all incidents.

·                     The reasons for crime were complex – children lost their base and schooling, family groups splintered coupled with the fact there were growing exploitation groups preying on children through the internet or in person.

·                     The Corporate Director reported that the more challenging individuals were not solely Looked After Children. There were 506 Looked After Children in Buckinghamshire many of whom were in good foster homes and 25 LAC were adopted every year. For all youths who offend reasons for this could often be linked to their early years so the Council work with education and concentrate on early years help to ensure core values were established.  Children need aspirations for the future and preventative work was undertaken to lead them on the right path for a strong future and economic wellbeing which removed the motivation for crime and not caring about consequences.

·                     If children offended outside of Buckinghamshire but lived in Buckinghamshire they were included in the Council’s local data. The Council have partnerships with local council to help the individual.

RESOLVED –

That the Buckinghamshire Youth Justice Strategic Plan 2021-22 be endorsed and Council recommended to adopt it.