Archived decisions
Combined Youth Justice Standing Conference Item 5
6 October 2004
Recent developments in the Youth Offending Team
Report of the Head of Youth Offending Services
Contact: Phil Sutton, Head of Youth Offending Services 01962 876100
1. Background
1.1 The purpose of this report is to bring Members up to date with developments in the Wessex Youth Offending Team since the last meeting on 24th March.
2. Youth Justice Plan
2.1 The annual Youth Justice Plan was submitted to the Youth Justice Board on 31 March. A short summary of the plan is attached to this report (App. A). This was the final up-date of the 2002-05 three year plan. Work has commenced on setting the priorities for the 2005-08 plan. The Management Board of the Youth Offending team met for a planning day on 23 June. The draft three year plan will be brought to this Standing Conference early in the New Year.
3. Visit to Poland
3.1 Also in June, the Head of Youth Offending Service visited Poland at the invitation of the British Embassy, Warsaw, to give lectures and seminars to criminal justice practitioners about the youth justice reforms in the UK. As a new member of the European Union, Poland is determined to reform her criminal justice system and is looking more widely for models of good practice other than at its traditional neighbours of Germany and the former Soviet-bloc countries.
4. Local Criminal Justice Board
4.1 The Youth Offending Team is one the local criminal justice agencies who are represented on the Local Criminal Justice Board. The Board has two main aims: to improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system and to increase public confidence in it. In pursuit of the second aim, the Board has held two public open days. All the criminal justice agencies, including the Youth Offending Team, have provided information at these events. The first open day in Portsmouth attracted over 1300 people, the second, held in Winchester on 11 September drew over 2000. A further event is planned for March 2005 in Southampton.
5. Parenting
5.1 The BBC has completed the filming and editing of a three part documentary about parenting programmes for parents of young offenders. Filmed entirely in Hampshire and Southampton the programmes follow five sets of parents as they participate in the Wessex Youth Offending Team's parenting programme. Despite the difficulties that these parents face, there is no doubt that the programmes capture the significant progress which they all made in managing their relationships with their teenagers. The programmes are entitled "Blame the Parents" and are expected to be shown on BBC2 later in the autumn.
6. Youth Offender Panels
6.1 Members of the Youth Offending Team's "Youth Offender Panels" have developed a "public presentation pack" aimed at Neighbourhood Watch Groups and other small community groups. Youth Offender Panels were recruited in 2000/01 to support the implementation of Referral Orders. They are all volunteers, specially trained by members of the Youth Offending Team, to negotiate contracts with young offenders and the victims of youth crime. The public presentation packs enable selected panel members to give a short, positive presentation about the work of the Youth Offending Team.
7. Investor in People
7.1 In July, the Youth Offending Team was assessed against the standards of the Investor in People Award. Investor in People is an award which recognises good practice in the induction, support and development of staff, including volunteers. The assessor interviewed a cross section of staff and volunteers, and gave a positive assessment. It was noted that many of the personnel systems introduced into the Youth Offending Team are relatively recent innovations and therefore somewhat fragile. It was recommended that the next assessment should take place within two years, even though the IiP Award is valid for three years.
8. Duke of Edinburgh Award
8.1 A number of young people under the supervision of the Youth Offending Team have recently completed Duke of Edinburgh Awards. The Hampshire Youth Service supports a project which involves attaching youth workers to the Yot in southwest and southeast Hampshire. The youth workers have developed the Award Project for young offenders subject to final warning interventions and court orders. The young people are introduced to a wide range of constructive activities and have the opportunity to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award. A formal presentation of Bronze Awards will take place to these young people in October.
9. Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme
9.1 Members may recall from the national media, the publication in early September of the evaluation of the Youth Justice Board's Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP). The report highlighted the reductions in frequency and seriousness of offending by the young people who completed ISSP, while acknowledging that overall re-conviction rates are very high. Another significant encouragement was the number of young people on ISSP who are enabled to re-engage with education or training. In partnership with the Probation Service in Hampshire, the Wessex ISSP team are participating in a national pilot of Electronic Tracking. This allows the whereabouts of persistent offenders to be monitored on a daily basis in order to enforce Exclusion Orders, or requirements of post-custody supervision. The pilot will run initially until March 2005. Further press coverage accompanied the Home Secretary's announcement of the pilots.
10. Inspection of Youth Offending Team
10.1 The joint inspection team for Yot's led by Her Majesty's Inspector of Probation has published its first annual report. This report summarises its findings from its inspections of the first eleven Yots which have been subject to full inspection. Although not included in the first eleven Yots to be inspected, Wessex was asked to participate in a "thematic inspection" of the arrangements that criminal justice agencies are making to safeguard children from abuse. The inspectors visited Southampton and the Isle of Wight teams to review the arrangements for interviewing young people at police stations and for remands into custody and local authority secure accommodation. With regard to the full inspection, no date has yet been set for the inspection of Wessex Yot. However in preparation for a future inspection, the Yot will be carrying out its own internal inspection of casework and management arrangements using the assessment tools of the national inspectorate. This will take place in November.
11. Quarterly Performance Data
11.1 In relation to the performance of the team, the latest quarterly performance reports are attached for each of the four local authority areas (App. B). This should be read in conjunction with the summary of national performance targets in the youth justice plan. Performance dipped in the quarter ending 30 June 2004. This is explained partly by changes in the counting rules. New performance targets were introduced and some performance thresholds were raised. A further contributing factor was the change in the Yot's computer system; a single database for Wessex replaced the four separate databases. This will produce long term efficiency savings now the initial disruption is over.
12. Youth Justice Board Annual Convention
12.1 Finally, the Youth Justice Board's annual convention will be held in London on 3 / 4 November. The event is entitled "Building in Confidence". A number of managers and staff from Wessex Yot will be attending and the parenting support co-ordinators will be contributing to one of the workshops. The Standing Conference will be represented by its vice-chair, and it is proposed to bring a report on the national convention to the next meeting.
13. Recommendation
13.1 It is recommended that the Standing Conference note the report about developments in the work of the Youth Offending Team between March and September 2004.
Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents
The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.
N.B. The list of schedules:
(1) Published works
(2) Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.
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