Agenda item

The Local Authority is lead partner for the establishment of a multi-agency Youth Offending Service to work with young people at risk of offending and re-offending. This work is set out in an annual Youth Justice Plan.

The 11 - 19 Preventions Service Manager introduced this item to the Panel. She explained that a target was set for this period to improve the rate of first time entrants by 10% (i.e. reduce to a rate of 511). She said that the rate of first time entrants had reduced (i.e. improved) from 556 to 505, a reduction of 15.1%, exceeding our local target. This represents 78 young people entering the youth justice system for the first time and the rate is lower (better) than the Avon and Somerset average but higher than other comparator groups.

She stated that 45 of the 151 young people in the October 2013-September 2014 cohort re-offended (29.8%, a slight reduction on our previous cohort). She said that this rate remains much better than all comparator groups. However, these 45 young people committed a further 163 offences between them, giving a frequency rate of 1.08. This is equivalent to the national average but higher (worse) than other comparators. It represents a small number of young people within this cohort re-offending very prolifically.

She explained that for the rate of custody, the indicator is the number of custodial sentences passed by the Courts, presented as a rate per 1000 young people in the general population aged 10-17. We set a local target of reducing our already low rate of custody to 0.10.

The latest data available is for the period January – December 2014, compared with the baseline January to December 2013. There were no custodial sentences passed between April to December 2014 and so the local rate is now 0, a reduction of -0.19, exceeding the local target. Our rate of reduction is better than most comparators and Bath and North East Somerset is currently one of only four Local Authorities within England and Wales to have a zero custody rate.

She stated that work is currently underway to produce a Youth Justice Plan for 2015-16, to be taken to Council for approval in July 2015. Emerging priorities include:

·  Reducing first time entrants – continuation and evaluation of a project to divert young people arrested for Possession of Cannabis away from the youth justice system and into support from Project 28

·  Reducing re-offending – employment of a tracking tool produced by the Youth Justice Board to improve understanding of the re-offending cohort, together with focused work with the small group of young people who are re-offending most prolifically

Councillor Liz Hardman asked what factors had helped in the reduction of custody figures and first time entries into the youth justice system.

The 11 - 19 Preventions Service Manager replied that the work of Mentoring Plus and Compass has helped significantly alongside assigning key workers to work with individuals.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked if they worked with the Connecting Families project.

The 11 - 19 Preventions Service Manager replied that they did work closely alongside the project and believed in taking on the whole family approach.

Councillor Nicholas Coombes commented that the attendance of young people at school should be monitored as that could be used as a preventative measure.

The 11 - 19 Preventions Service Manager replied that a lack of school attendance can be a factor and said that she would make a note as to whether any data relating to this could be used in the next plan.

Councillor Michael Evans asked if the rate of first time entrants had decreased because of the increase in detection rates by the Police.

The 11 - 19 Preventions Service Manager replied that she was aware of this and that the Police had improved their work on community resolutions.

The Panel RESOLVED to:

i)  Note the progress made in the partnership’s statutory work of preventing youth offending

ii)  Support the identification of priority areas for the Youth Justice Plan 2015-16