Agenda item

To present the Youth Justice Plan for 2022/23. There is a statutory requirement to publish an annual Youth Justice Plan which must provide specified information about the local provision of youth justice services. This report summarises the Youth Justice Plan for 2022/23, with a copy of the Plan appended. The Youth Justice Plan needs to be approved by the full Council.

The Service Manager, Dorset Combined Youth Justice Service

presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The purpose of the report was to present the Youth Justice Plan for 2022/23. There was a statutory requirement to publish an annual Youth Justice Plan which must provide specified information about the local provision of youth justice services. The report summarised the Youth Justice Plan for 2022/23, with a copy of the Plan appended. The Youth Justice Plan needed to be approved by the full Council.

The Committee discussed the report, and comments were made including:

• In response to a query regarding recording gender identity, the Committee was advised that nationally there was still a position to identify as male or female based on birth sex, but the desired position would be to have two markers, where a selected gender could be recorded in addition to birth sex.
• A Committee Member stated that the report was very readable and understandable and enquired about accounting rules for reoffending rate and if changed regularly how was it possible to have comparison data sets, in response the Committee was advised of nine new indicators which were currently being consulted upon and would be used for youth justice nationally.
• A Committee Member highlighted the diagram on page 30 of the plan which detailed all the multi-agency services which could be involved with a young offender and in response to a concern about too many contacts dealing with them, the Committee was reassured that the relationship with the youth justice worker was central to the Youth Justice Service’s work and whilst it may be needed to bring in some additional workers as highlighted on the diagram, it was done cautiously, with the case manager being the main contact with the young offender
• In response to a query regarding the Annual Youth Justice Grant and the reduction shown, the Committee was advised that the level of reduction had been absorbed, helped by merging the Youth Justice Service across the two local authorities and provided resilience to streamline and manage the budget successfully
• It was acknowledged there was currently pressure in the assessments capacity of the speech and language therapists which was resulting in prioritisation of those most in need
• In response to a query regarding the percentage of youth offenders who had past trauma or childhood experiences, the Committee was advised most under the age of 13 who were entering the had experienced some form of childhood trauma, such as being a witness of domestic violence
• In response to a query regarding the first-time entrant’s reduction for BCP and a bigger reduction for Dorset, the Committee was advised that whilst the demographics across the two authorities were similar, there was differences between living in a rural area and a urban setting.  It was also highlighted that whilst Dorset where further ahead in its development of a strategic approach to early intervention.  It was noted that this area needed to be strengthened across BCP
• A Member of the Youth Parliament highlighted the link between early childhood trauma and links to crime and was pleased that this was being highlighted, she advised that there were systems in place in schools to help those children, raising awareness and working together to ensure they don’t resort to crime.
• The Service Manager summarised the work which was ongoing in relation to previous childhood trauma to ensure the children got the support they needed.
• In response to a query regarding fixed term and permanent exclusions, the Committee was informed of the work undertaken by fair access panels and how more work was being focused on a coordinated response to make positive recommendations for the child
• In response to a query about what early intervention looked like, the Committee was advised of the importance of a strategic response, to ensure the right support was provided, at the right time in the child’s life to ensure they have a better future
• In response to a query regarding exclusions, the issues were highlighted and the importance of building an inclusive environment to ensure children receive an education was important.  It was noted that Officers were setting up a pre-exclusion panel which schools would refer pupils to before an exclusion took place to try and consider different options and reduce exclusions.

The Chair summarised the discussions as follows:

• Gender identity reporting
• Moving target due to data recording changes
• Relationships between offender, case manager and multi-agency response
• Annual youth justice grant, merger helped managed cost
• Speech and language
• First time offenders, importance of early intervention
• Childhood trauma
• Permanent exclusions

RESOLVED that the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee endorse the Youth Justice Plan so that Cabinet can recommend its approval to the Full Council.

Voting: For – unanimous