Agenda item

The Director of Childrens Social Work and Early Help submits a report providing a summary of the annual Youth Justice Plan refresh highlighting progress to date and new emerging priorities.  The commission is recommended to consider, note and comment on the recommendations to the Executive set out in Paragraph 6.

The Director of Childrens Social Care and Education submitted a report providing a summary of the annual Youth Justice Plan refresh, highlighting progress to date and new emerging priorities. The Head of Prevention and Safer Communities and the Service Manager for Children and Young Peoples Justice Service and Youth Service presented the plan, and it was noted that:

The Deputy City Mayor for Social Care, Health and Community Safety introduced the item and noted that the team involved was fantastic and that they were passionate to get it right. Page 143 of the report summed up the plan and the work of partners behind the scenes and demonstrated how it was also relevant and meaningful to the young people who were vulnerable in the city and helped to support them to make changes.

Head of Service Prevention Services and the Service Manager for Children and Young Peoples Justice Service and Youth Service presented the report.

It was noted that:

·       The team was proud of what had been achieved and were now working on next year’s plan. The Service Manager for Children and Young Peoples Justice Service and Youth Service had been instrumental in the development of the plan.

·       The last inspection had been in 2019. The inspectorate had put together a new package and as such an inspection was anticipated soon and priorities have changed due to Covid and the challenges that brought.

·       The Youth Justice Board created a new monitoring framework – Leicester were rated in quadrant 2 and aimed to be in quadrant 1.

·       The aim of this plan was to be collaborative all the way through from children to leadership team.

·       One of the key priorities is first time entrants into the system. There were 200 young people in the service at one time and 40% were first time entrants. The service would like intervention in place before they become first time entrants.

·       The reoffending rate was excellent with those who were being engaged with and the service wanted to continue to mainstream intervention with the budget available.

·       A key challenge was that youth offending has increased. A requirement was knowing the population, and it was known who and where reoffending was and it was being addressed.

·       Another key challenge was the smaller number of young people who offended with high frequency. This has required trauma informed approaches to help them as it had been notable that there were increased complexities.

·       Education was raised as a big issue for ages 16-19 as fewer had gone into employment or placements post-covid.

·       Serious youth violence was a very small concentration of young people, contrary to what had been suggested in the media. There was a multi-agency collective to address this working with the police and community safety.

·       A collective partnership offer to victims through court and pre-court processes which allows the victims voices to be heard whilst supporting them.

·       The focus is very much on a child first approach - focused on them being children first and an offender second using a children’s plan which is child led and was impactful.

·       Young people would like safe spaces, training in life skills, emotional support etc. All of which were core basics of youth work.

·       There would be a meeting on 5 September to face challenges and respond to what the children want.

·       An example of a key success has been the REACH service. They were given funding to provide intervention in eight schools for children who were vulnerable or at risk of exclusion to help prevent them entering the criminal justice system. The project engaged with 240 children. However, the concern is the sustainability of these programmes, as they are provided using short term funding offered by government.

·       The Children and Young Peoples Justice Service (CYPJS) had been awarded the SEND Youth Offending Service) YOS Charter Mark and were now working towards the SEND leaders award.

·       A consistent approach to working with children and young people on Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) had been developed to ensure staff were skilled and able to adapt plans to meet identified needs.

·       Nine different training sessions from the Crown Prosecution Service had been offered on preventing unnecessary criminalization of children in the city.

·       In terms of risk, there had been a large impact from Covid and the ensuing isolation of young people, as they became disassociated and disenfranchised with the wider community.

·       A balance of prevention and early intervention was required and there was more work the team wanted to see happen in the communities.

·       The Director of Social Care and Education was the chair of the partnership board and commented on the strength of the partnership and commitment from the police and other partners. Noting that these relationships had helped how the challenges could be addressed.

The Detective Chief Inspector from Leicestershire Police commented that this report documented the progress made as a partnership and how the partnership could move forward.

The Commission was invited to ask questions and make comments and the officers to respond. Key points included:

·       The length of the report was commented on as particularly large; this was noted as being the statutory length but is an issue that was raised annually.

·       The statistics in the report demonstrated that the work being done had been working and the team was commended on the work done.

·       It was suggested that the plan could be sent to schools to help address the fact there was an increase in first time entrants to the system.

·       Quarterly meetings with the magistrates were held and there was significant training, especially around how to talk to children. Similarly, language work with the children occurred along with what to expect in the system. The intention had been to help make the process as kind as possible for the child and to help them be relatable to the magistrate.

·       Engagement had occurred through a range of methods including music or cartoons. There had been focus groups to help understand how to engage the children best. However, engagement was voluntary, and it was around 90%.

·       Work had recently been commissioned on cost of living and deprivation in relation to youth offending rates increasing.

·       Each member of the Leicester Youth Justice Management Board had adopted a measure to scrutinise to ensure they were addressed.

·       The Youth Justice plan was best in country in 2022/2023.

·       The key frustrations for officers in the service were how the media reported children and criminal offences.  It was highlighted that this has been one of the benefits of the child first approach as it allowed them a voice and to push back against the labels and still be seen as children. Another frustration was funding as the work needed long term investments to make sustainable changes.

The commission thanked the team for the report and their work.

AGREED:

That the report be noted.