Issue - meetings

The Local Authority has a statutory duty, in partnership with Health, Police and Probation, to produce a Youth Justice Plan. The Plan sets out how services are to be organised and funded and what functions will be carried out to prevent youth offending and re-offending across Bath and North East Somerset. The Plan was presented to the Children, Adults, Health and Wellbeing Policy, Development and Scrutiny Panel and then to Cabinet and is now recommended to Council for approval. A final version will then be submitted to the national Youth Justice Board (YJB).

The Council considered the refresh of the Youth Justice plan for 2025-26.

On a motion from Councillor Paul May, seconded by Councillor Mansell, it was unanimously

RESOLVED to approve the refreshed Youth Justice Plan.

The Local Authority has a statutory duty, in partnership with Health, Police and Probation Services, to produce a Youth Justice Plan.  The Plan sets out how services will be organised and funded and what functions will be carried out to prevent youth offending and re-offending across Bath and North East Somerset.  Once approved, the Plan is submitted to the national Youth Justice Board.

Cllr Paul May, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, introduced the report, moved the officer recommendation and made the following points:

• B&NES is the lead partner for Youth Justice under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
• The council collaborates with Police, Probation, and health bodies to publish the annual Youth Justice Plan.

• The plan aims to prevent offending and reoffending by children aged 10–17.
• This year’s decision is an update and confirmation of the existing two-year plan.

Youth Justice in B&NES:

• There is a low rate of youth crime, and few children are in the formal justice system.
• Children in the system are often highly vulnerable.
• The service works closely with the Violence Reduction Partnership to address serious violence.

Funding:

• The total budget is £949,744
• The B&NES contribution is £508,581
• Funding is statutory and is supported by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales.

“Child First” Approach:

• Children are treated as children first, not offenders.
• There is a focus on:
  • Best interests of the child and victims
  • Understanding needs and vulnerabilities
  • Family involvement
  • Reducing reoffending
  • Listening to children, families, and victims

Strategic Priorities (2024–2026):

1. To reduce disproportionality – especially for minority ethnic children and those with special educational needs.
2. To strengthen participation and to amplify the voices of children, parents, and carers.
3. To embed child-first principles through training and new tools for co-creating support plans.
4. To reduce serious violence, with a focus on knife crime intervention.

Progress and Outcomes:

• First-time crime and reoffending rates are much lower than national averages.
• There was only one custodial sentence last year.
• Strong relationships with children and families help build trust and reduce crime.

Inspection Results:

• The HMIP inspection rated the partnership as:
  • “Good with many areas of outstanding”
  • 3 areas were rated “Outstanding”
  • 9 areas were rated “Good”
  • 1 area (“assessments for out of court disposals”) was rated “Requires Improvement”
• The delivery of court disposals and staff performance were rated “Outstanding”.
• The service has effective, evidence-based interventions.

Cllr Alison Born seconded the motion.  She praised the comprehensive report, and the work carried out to deliver the best outcomes for young people, their families and local communities.  She noted the positive outcome of the recent inspection and stated that the key performance indicators and activity data provide assurance that this is a high performing service.  The Service also demonstrates a commitment to reflection and continuous improvement.

RESOLVED (unanimously):

To recommend full Council to approve the Youth Justice Plan.

The Local Authority has a statutory duty, in partnership with Health, Police and Probation, to produce a Youth Justice Plan. The Plan sets out how services are to be organised and funded and what functions will be carried out to prevent youth offending and re-offending across Bath and North East Somerset.

Councillor Paul May introduced the report to the Panel. He explained that the current two-year Plan had been presented to the Panel, Cabinet and Council in July 2024 for approval. He said that the Panel were now receiving a progress report on the two-year plan ahead of a refreshed version of the Plan being presented to Cabinet and Council in July.

He added that the service recognises the issue of over-represented groups in B&NES who are in the Youth Justice System and informed the Panel that these were groups of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and children from minority ethnic backgrounds.

The Head of Young People's Prevention Services addressed the Panel. She stated that it had been a successful year overall and highlighted the following areas.

Inspection Outcome – HMI Probation

·  Overall ‘Good’ Rating

·  3 areas = Outstanding, 9 areas = Good, 1 area = Requires Improvement

Performance Indicators

·  Rate of Custody Jan 2024 to Dec 2024

o  There was one custodial sentence in this reporting period. Our rate has reduced to 0.00 per 1,000 in the population.

o  The B&NES custodial rate is better than all Comparators. The rates for Comparators are: South West Region (0.07), PCC Area (0.08) and England and Wales (0.10).

·  First Time Entrants Jan 2024 to Dec 2024

o  The rate of First Time Entrants has increased in this period from 108 to 137(46.6%) per 100,000 in the population. This equates to 24 individual children compared with 16 in the previous reporting period (Jan to Dec 2023).

o  The rates for our comparators are: South West (135), PCC Area (122) and England and Wales (161).

·  Re-offending Binary rate April 2022 to March 2023

o  The B&NES binary percentage of re-offending has reduced by 5% for the period April 2022 to March 2023. There were 20 children in the previous cohort, 6 re-offended, compared with 20 in the current cohort of which 5 have re-offended.

o  The binary percentage of re-offending is showing as 25%, which is lower than all of our Comparators.

o  The percentages for our Comparators are: South West Region (31.3%), PCC Area (28.9%) and England and Wales (32.5%).

• Re-offending Frequency April 2022 to March 2023

o  The rate of re-offending for this period is 2.00. This is a reduction from 3.67 (-45.5%).

o  This is due to there being fewer children in the cohort and fewer children re-offending. There were 6 re-offenders in the previous reporting period committing 22 further offences and 5 re-offenders in the current period committing 10 further offences.

B&NES Youth Justice Service Priorities

·  1.Reduce Disproportionality – over-represented groups in B&NES include children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and children from minority ethnic backgrounds.

·  2.Strengthen Participation – youth justice work is most effective when it consults children, parents and carers and those harmed by children’s offending and works with them to co-create and develop the service.

·  3.Embed Child First Principles – This principle is the corner stone of our approach moving forward, so  ...  view the full minutes text for item 118