Meeting documents

Cabinet
Wednesday, 22 June 2005

CA220605-10

Return to Agenda

Division(s): All

ITEM CA10

CABINET – 22 JUNE 2005

YOUTH JUSTICE PLAN

Report by Director for Community Safety

Introduction

  1. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires that a Youth Justice Plan be produced annually. Previous plans have been required by March, reporting on performance in the previous calendar year. From 2005/06, the Plan addresses performance in the current financial year and is thus aligned with other planning frameworks required within Children’s Services.
  2. The draft Plan for 2005/06 (download as .doc file) is circulated with the agenda (circulated to members only and available for public inspection). It is written to a template provided by the Youth Justice Board (YJB), which is responsible to the Home Office for the performance of Youth Offending Services (YOS). This format, and some of the measures, have altered since last year and direct comparisons are therefore not always possible.
  3. This report provides an overview of the Youth Justice Plan, which, following approval by the statutory partner agencies, has to be submitted to the Youth Justice Board by 30 June 2005. The Board recognises, however, that plans may at that stage still require further member approval. The Plan is one of the strategic plans which are subject to approval by full Council following consideration by both the Cabinet and relevant Scrutiny Committee in accordance with the Budget and Policy Framework Procedure Rules set out in the Constitution.
  4. The Cabinet is therefore asked to agree the document as the basis for seeking the advice of the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee and, subject to their comments, submission to the Council in September for approval.
  5. Overview of Performance

  6. In 2004, the YOS was subject to a joint inspection by eight National Inspectorates. It was rated ‘good’, one of only three to have achieved this judgement in the two years in which this inspection regime has been in place.
  7. 2004/05 saw the continuation of a downward trend in offending by young people in Oxfordshire which has been consistent since the YOS was established in 2000. A further 4% reduction (to 2,178 offences) produced a 17.3% reduction over the last four years.
  8. Females committed 23.6% of offences, a marked increase over the previous year, when the figure was 17.4%. This included a significant rise in violent crime by young women. Theft is still the most prevalent offence by both males and females (559 offences), with violence against the person next at 341 offences.
  9. The peak age for offending by boys and girls is 16. 50.1% of offences were committed by young people aged 16 and 17 years, a fall of 4% over the previous year, but with a higher proportion (of the reduced number of offences overall) committed by under 16’s.
  10. During the last year, the YOS has significantly expanded its prevention services, making use of specific funding streams from government (Positive Activities for Young People, Children’s Fund, U Project). Whilst such interventions are targeted on those at risk of offending or re-offending, the majority of those young people are also experiencing educational and/or other difficulties and there are clear additional benefits in these areas.
  11. The Plan includes in Appendix B detailed data in relation to a large range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The Delivery Plan addresses each of 15 categories of Performance Measures in detail. These are:

    • Prevent Offending
    • Intervene Early
    • Provide Intensive Supervision in the Community
    • Reduce the use of Custody
    • Reduce re-offending
    • Ensure the swift administration of justice
    • Ensure effective and rigorous assessment planning and supervision
    • Support young people engaging in education, training and employment
    • Support access to substance misuse services
    • Support access to mental health services
    • Support resettlement in the community
    • Provide effective restorative justice services
    • Ensure equal treatment regardless of race.

  1. Overall performance in 2004/05 improved, despite significant staffing pressures (produced by deletion of posts and freezing of others in response to an accumulated overspend). This was at least partly due to quality improvement processes being brought to fruition and integrated into systems.
  2. However, performance in relation to Education, Training and Employment remains ostensibly poor, with as many as 46% of offenders over 16 unemployed and 28% of young people not receiving, or attending, full-time education. The performance measure from the YJB of 90% in education, employment or training is highly aspirational and a range of actions, including a joint Learning & Culture/YOS Panel, have been taken forward to seek to improve this performance.
  3. Whilst 2004/05 has seen the creation of a Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team (CAMHS), jointly funded by the YOS and prison inreach revenue to Huntercombe Young Offenders Institute, a major concern has been the continued failure of Health to meet its minimum statutory responsibility. This was a key finding of the Joint Inspection and the Action Plan required Health in to reconsider its funding. While initially Health offered an additional £70,000 pa (in addition to its current contribution of £15,000) to bring the funding level closer to the Thames Valley average, this was subsequently withdrawn. The Steering Group must now consider its future financial commitment to the Forensic CAMHS Team.
  4. The YOS’s funding comes from a wide variety of sources, however, with the County Council being responsible for almost half. Some of these resources are ring fenced to specific purposes, and some come via secondments or payments in kind. In the last year it has become evident that there is a need for more comprehensive financial monitoring to respond to an accumulated overspend that emerged. Posts have been deleted, and others frozen, to address this and work is in hand to construct a budget that brings together all the funding streams in order to facilitate accurate monitoring. It is inevitable that staff reductions required to bring the budget into balance will impact upon future performance.
  5. Conclusion

  6. There is evidence from the continued reduction in youth offending, improved performance against KPIs and the outcome of the recent Joint Inspection, that the Youth Offending Service is having a positive impact upon crime in Oxfordshire. It is, however, clear that increased demands from government (e.g. to respond to the major anti-social behaviour initiative) without further resources pose considerable challenges to performance in the future.
  7. RECOMMENDATIONS

  8. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:
          1. refer the report and the accompanying draft Plan to the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee for their advice;
          2. authorise the Director for Community Safety, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, to amend the Plan in the light of any comments from the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee, subject to the reference back to the Cabinet of any issues of policy arising from such comments;
          3. subject to (a) and (b) above, RECOMMEND the Council to approve the Youth Justice Plan for submission to the Youth Justice Board.

JOHN PARRY
Director for Community Safety

Background papers: Nil

Contact Officer: Michael Simm Tel: 01865 202218

June 2005

Return to TOP