Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

In January 2004, the Audit Commission published `Youth Justice 2004,' a review of changes in the youth justice system in England and Wales since its earlier report, `Misspent Youth,' was published in 1996. Whilst the report is positive about many improvements, it highlights further work to be undertaken and makes 105 recommendations, 5 of which are specifically for Local Authorities.

2 RECOMMENDATION

The Council Executive is asked to note the implications for Local Authorities arising from the Audit Commission report, `Youth Justice 2004,' and the actions being taken in respect of 5 specific recommendations.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

There are no immediate financial implications arising from these recommendations.

However, the further development of information sharing panels [4.2 below] is likely to have financial implications for all partner agencies in the future Childrens Trust arrangements.

4 THE REPORT

4.1 The Audit Commission report, `Youth Justice 2004,' makes 105 recommendations. Many of these are for government, the Youth Justice Board and other partner agencies. The 31 recommendations for Youth Offending Teams have been addressed by the management group within the local team, and the 12 recommendations for Steering Groups will be considered as part of a wider discussion about its function.

4.2 There are 5 specific recommendations for Local Authorities. These all arise in section 4, Delivering Services, which highlights the importance of mainstream services taking more responsibility for preventing offending by young people.

4.3 Recommendation 1: Local Authorities should ensure that Information, Referral and Tracking schemes become more than just information-generating and sharing systems and that they deliver real improvements on the ground, at an earlier point in time, to those who need them most.

4.3.1 The Youth Offending Team has been actively involved in the development of information-sharing protocols and practices in this area, with the Service Manager a member of both the Information, Referral and Tracing Board and its Model of Need sub-group, which has undertaken some of the more detailed work.

4.3.2 From the outset, Bath and North East Somerset has focused on developing joint assessment and decision-making about vulnerable children. It is taking this work forward by piloting a number of different multi-agency panels, some of them school-based, where professionals share information and expertise, and agree early support for children and young people, where needed.

4.3.3 One of these pilots is the Youth Inclusion and Support Panel, funded by the Children's Fund and facilitated by the Compass group within the Youth Offending Team. The Panel is made up of strategic managers from Social Services, Health, Police and Education, and has an independent chair from Barnardos. It receives referrals of 8-13 year olds who are assessed as being at high risk of offending, and the children and their parents are invited to meet with the Panel to agree the level and nature of support to be provided. Two full-time key-workers are employed to work with the children and their parents for up to 6 months, in order to access mainstream services to address their risk of offending.

4.4 Recommendation 2: Youth Offending Teams should work closely with Children's Trusts, but not allow this to jeopardise their links with criminal justice agencies.

4.4.1 The Youth Offending Team Service Manager is an active member of the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership, and there is a clear local commitment to the same principles underpinning work with young people who have offended as there is with any work with children and young people. At the same time, the Youth Offending Team has statutory obligations to parents of young people who have offended and also to their victims, and has developed professional links with other agencies in support of this work. The Service Manager sits on four of the task groups that report to the Avon and Somerset Criminal Justice Board and is also a member of the Avon and Somerset Multi-Agency Public Protection Panel. These responsibilities, together with the involvement of Police and Probation as statutory partners, will support the Youth Offending Team to maintain its necessary position as a children's service within a wider criminal justice system.

4.5 Recommendation 3: Social Services Departments, using existing resources for Youth Offending Teams, should second a social worker to the Youth Offending Team.

4.5.1 The Audit Commission reports that Looked After children are three times as likely as others to commit offences, and that more than half of all young people in custody have been in Local Authority Care. The Department of Health has a Public Service Agreement for 2001-4 to reduce the gap between the proportions of children Looked After and others who admit offences to the Police and are Reprimanded or Finally Warned, or who are convicted in the Courts. It describes a close relationship between Social Services and Youth Offending Teams, but highlights that in some areas, young people who offend, and their families, are not receiving the Social Services support they need.

4.5.2 In this area, the Youth Offending Team is managed within the Children and Families Service, and Social Services also provide significant infrastructure resources and accommodation for the team. The Head of Children and Families also chairs the Youth Offending Team Steering Group. When the Youth Offending Team was established, 1.7 full time equivalent social worker posts were transferred directly in to the Youth Offending Team, and continue to be funded by Social Services. Whilst this is not a secondment arrangement, a link manager has been identified to meet regularly with these staff to address specific training and other needs, and a written protocol has been agreed, and is regularly reviewed, between the two services. There are a number of innovative examples of working together to promote access to Social Services support for young people, including a forthcoming joint staff seminar about risk management.

4.6 Recommendation 4: Local Education Authorities should encourage head teachers to become involved in local forums to engage schools much more fully in the work of Youth Offending Teams.

4.6.1 Many young people known to Youth Offending Teams, particularly those who offend persistently, have difficulties with their education, and there is a strong association between the number of young people not engaged in education and the level of youth offending. Returning to full-time education can help young people to stop offending, and employment has been shown to be the single most effective factor in programmes to reduce re-offending by young adult offenders.

4.6.2 In Bath and North East Somerset, the Local Education Authority funds a part-time Education Worker in the Youth Offending Team, provides 0.2 full time equivalent Educational Psychology time via a service level agreement, and 0.1 full time equivalent Education Welfare Officer time. The Head of Inclusion Services is a member of the Youth Offending Team Steering Group. There is a national target that 90% of young people known to Youth Offending Teams should be in full-time education, training and employment. Overall, this target was met in Bath and North East Somerset in 2003-4, although not for the small number of persistent young offenders.

4.6.3 Schools, unlike Local Education Authorities, are under no statutory requirement to cooperate with the work of Youth Offending Teams and there are practical constraints on how many out-of-school meetings head teachers can attend. In this area, head teachers support the Youth Offending Team's work by facilitating information sharing. A head teacher sits on the multi-agency commissioning group for a local crime prevention project. Another head teacher chairs a pilot multi-agency information-sharing panel for children in his school. Yet another head teacher sits on the monthly Pupil Review and Reintegration Panel, addressing those at risk of exclusion as well as those already excluded; the Youth Offending Team Education Worker also sits on this panel, and offence-related issues are regularly addressed. In addition, both a Headteacher representative and the Head of Service for Children and Families are members of the Pupil Referral Unit management committee which is the multi agency group overseeing the provision made for excluded pupils. The Youth Offending Team has previously made presentations to the local forum for head teachers, Bath and North East Somerset Headteachers, and has approached the chair to attend again in the present academic year.

4.7 Recommendation 5: Housing Authorities should be part of the Youth Offending Team Steering Group, so that suitable provision can be planned jointly.

4.7.1 Young people who are homeless or living in unsatisfactory accommodation are at much greater risk than others of committing offences. There is a shortage of suitable accommodation for all young people in Bath and North East Somerset, not just for those who have offended. Vulnerable young people also need support and supervision to enable them to manage their lives independently. In this area, the national target that all young people known to the Youth Offending Team should be living in suitable accommodation has never been met [performance in 2003-4 was 88%].

4.7.2 From the outset, the local Housing Authority has demonstrated its commitment to the work of the Youth Offending Team by funding a part-time accommodation post. The post-holder attends a number of multi-agency groups to address young people's accommodation issues at a strategic level, and she also takes on individual casework.

4.7.3 Following publication of the Youth Justice Board's report on the management of Youth Offending Teams, `Sustaining the Success,' the local Youth Offending Team Steering Group has been reviewing its steering and monitoring arrangements for steering and monitoring, including a review of its membership.

5 RISK MANAGEMENT

A risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations has been undertaken, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.

6 RATIONALE

The Council is not required to request this progress report, but it is considered good practice to review the Audit Commission's recommendations in this way.

3 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

None

4 CONSULTATION

The issues addressed within this report are regularly reviewed by the multi-agency Youth Offending Team Steering Group. This report has been sent to relevant Unions for their comments.