Agenda item

To consider improvements in the Youth Offending Service since Full Joint Inspection in 2013, the impact of developments in the sector and the opportunities the developments present.

Mr Lowe, Youth Offending Team Manager, provided the Committee with a summary presentation of the improvements in the Youth Offending Service since the Full Joint Inspection in 2013, the impact of developments in the sector and the opportunities the developments presented.

It was explained to the Committee that the Youth Offending Team Partnership’s vision was to prevent offending and reduce reoffending by young people, through working effectively with partners. Mr Lowe advised Members that there had been significant rises in the number of young people coming into the youth justice system in the past decade as a result of the growth of ‘sanction detentions’ by the police, which had imposed formal responses to incidents that would have previously attracted an informal response. The impact in Blackpool of the rise had been that caseloads became twice the national average and were considered to be a significant barrier to achieving quality and effectiveness in the protection of the public and of young people themselves. It was noted that the result had been a poor inspection outcome from the HM Inspector of Probation in 2009.

In response to the poor inspection, Mr Lowe informed Members that the aims of the Youth Justice Strategy had been to develop processes and services to divert young people with low level offending behaviour away from the youth justice system into informal and voluntary forms of support. The Committee was advised that the success and improved performance of the Partnership could be demonstrated through an 80% reduction in the number of ‘first time entrants’ into the Youth Justice system in Blackpool.

The Committee was provided with case study examples of the young people the Youth Offending Team had worked with, which helped to illustrate the support that was provided to young people. Members noted the high rate of youth offenders with mental health problems and raised questions regarding what work was undertaken with the particular cohort. Mr Lowe advised that managing the cohort of young offenders with mental health problems was a challenging process, particularly with the transfer from youth to adult services at 16, but that the Youth Offending Team met monthly with the Adult Mental Health Team in order to improve pathways and ensure appropriate care was identified.

Members discussed the provision of sport opportunities and other activities as a potential rehabilitator of young offenders and Mr Lowe informed Members of the wide variety of various activities that were provided around the town, including the Summer Arts College, which were used to divert young people away from offending. Mr Jack, Chief Executive and Chairman of the Youth Offending Team Board, advised the Committee that in the past a lot of focus of the Youth Offending Team Board had been on preventing re-offending, but now the emphasis of work had shifted to prevent first time offending. He informed Members of the work that was being undertaken into how the issues causing young people to offend were addressed, reporting that the focus of Headstart and the work being undertaken with schools were building up a variety of means to engage with young people and prevent them from offending.

The Committee questioned how rates of offending and reoffending compared to other local authorities and Mr Lowe advised that the prevalence of offending and anti-social behaviour by young people in Blackpool was higher than in other areas. However, it was noted that the increased rates were associated with the effects of poverty and deprivation, which were particularly acute problems in Blackpool.

The Committee noted that the 2013 inspection of Blackpool Youth Offending Team had assessed that considerable progress had been made and Members questioned whether there had been any particular areas that had been identified as good practice. Mr Lowe advised that the Team now had a much improved system for identifying victims to engage in the restorative justice process and that the Team had made good use of the grant money that it had received.

Members considered that the 80% reduction in ‘first-time entrants’ to the youth justice system committing low-level offences was an impressive achievement, but questioned the reasons for the high rates of re-offending for the young people remaining within the youth justice system remaining static. Mr Lowe explained that the Team had struggled to meet the requirements of the National Standards for Youth Justice when case managers had caseloads of up to 25 cases, which reduced resources  in the service to address re-offending by the more serious and persistent offenders. However, as a result of the work undertaken to divert young people with low level offending behaviour away from the youth justice system into informal and voluntary forms of support, caseloads had reduced and the effort that was now focused on more persistent and complex offenders had reduced the frequency of re-offending to a rate below the national average.

The Committee noted further comments that had been made following the 2013 inspection, specifically that ‘for the Youth Offending Team to be fully effective, it must be supported by a management board that provided strategic leadership.’ Members challenged whether that strategic leadership was now being provided and Mr Jack explained that part of the challenge for the Board in the past had been that the senior officers from partnership agencies had not been attending the meetings. However, changes had been made and Mr Jack considered that the leadership being provided by the Board was as strong and effective as it had ever been.

Members noted that in September 2015 a comprehensive national review of the youth justice system had commenced but that publication of the final report had been delayed following ministerial changes. Questions were raised regarding to the changes to the youth justice system and legislation. Mr Jack advised that his conversations with the Chairman of the Youth Justice Board, Lord McNally, suggested that the outcome was likely to be in line with the expectations of the sector.

The Committee agreed to note the report.

Background papers: None.