Agenda item

The Panel are asked to consider the report and presentation from Sally Churchyard (11-19 Outcomes Manager).

The Chairman invited Sally Churchyard (11–19 Outcomes Service Manager) to give the presentation to the Panel.

Sally Churchyard gave a presentation where she highlighted the following points:

·  Statutory Framework - Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012

·  Who are service users

·  Reduce rate of first time entrants – 3 year data

·  Reduce rate of re-offending – 3 year data

·  Reduce the rate of custody – 3 year data

·  Youth Justice Plan

A full copy of the presentation from Sally Churchyard is available on the Minute Book in Democratic Services.

The Panel made the following points:

The Panel welcomed the presentation, in particular the information that crime figures were going down and asked why the figures went down over 3 years.

Sally Churchyard replied that crime rate figures were going down tremendously and there is a lot of speculation why that is happening though there is no real evidence yet.  Sally Churchyard said that one of the speculations was due to changes in young people’s behaviour, in particular spending more time on internet, social media, etc.

The Panel asked how BANES compare with the other areas in terms of young offenders figures and what prevention techniques are used to stop young people committing the offence.

Sally Churchyard replied that the data is reported nationally.  BANES figures are better than national average.  In terms of the neighbouring areas – BANES is better in ‘Reduce rate of re-offending’ and ‘Reduce the rate of custody’ whilst ‘Reduce rate of first time entrants’ is slightly proportionally higher.  Sally Churchyard also said that the service is keen to work with partners in schools, colleges and with the Police and co-fund new projects in order to prevent young people committing a crime.

The Panel commented that BANES population is smaller than Bristol or Wiltshire so statistics could be quite high when counted proportionally to population figures

Some Members of the Panel suggested that one way of preventing young people committing an offence is to create centres of excellence for youth in areas such as sport, science, art, culture, etc.  Sally Churchyard welcomed the suggestion from the Panel.

The Vice-Chair asked about the impact of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) appointment on young people.

Sally Churchyard replied that her service work quite close with the PCC, Sue Mountstevens.  The PCC showed a real commitment to work with young people even though it is not on her list of main priorities.

The Panel asked about the work with parents.

Sally Churchyard replied that parents are some of the key people to work with. 

The service makes an assessment on the needs that families and parents have, and the service is also co-ordinating accredited parent programme. 

The Panel asked how the service copes with the reduction in funding.

Sally Churchyard replied that there was a significant reduction in funding and because of that the service is much smaller than it used to be.  Nevertheless, there is still the capacity to increase preventative work and the service is working closely with the Connecting Families project.  Sally Churchyard also said that it is difficult to understand, or project, what are the crime trends, though the level of offending in BANES are really low.

The Chairman thanked Sally Churchyard for her presentation.

It was RESOLVED to note the presentation and report.