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ITEM CA5
CABINET
– 16 MAY 2006
YOUTH JUSTICE
PLAN 2006/07
Report by
the Head of Community Safety & Youth Offending Service
Introduction
- Each Youth Justice
Service is required by statute to produce an annual Youth Justice
Plan (download as .doc file)
for approval by the constituent agencies that are responsible for
the service. This has then to be submitted to the Youth Justice Board
(YJB) which is responsible to the Home Office for the performance of
Youth Offending Services (YOS). Core funding from the YJB is dependent
on the submission of a report that meets its extensive guidance. Approval
of the Plan by full Council is required.
- The draft Plan
for 2006/07 has been circulated to all members and is available for
public inspection. It is written to a template provided by the YJB.
So as to align the process with the Annual Performance Assessment for
Children’s Services, the timescale for the Plan, and its data requirements,
has been altered. As a result, data included in this Plan relates to
April – December 2005, whereas the previous year’s Plan covered the
period April 2004 to March 2005. As a consequence, exact comparisons
are not possible.
Performance
- While over the
previous four years there has been cumulatively a 17.3% reduction in
crime known to have been committed by young people, there has been a
significant increase over the last period. In all, a 21.4% increase
has occurred. This apparent increase in youth crime, however, has to
be put in the context of the Thames Valley Police sanction detection
initiative, which has seen an over 40% improvement in its performance
in Oxfordshire in offences brought to justice (i.e. crime levels are
down, but a far higher proportion of crimes are ‘solved’). This major
change has had a very substantial impact on the workloads of all local
criminal justice agencies and particularly for the YOS in producing
very heavy increases in demand for Final Warning interventions and pre-sentence
reports.
- In addressing
these higher demands from within the criminal justice system, the YOS
has made considerable reductions in staffing to rectify an historical
budget deficit. The Youth Justice Board has provided a cost free consultancy
service to assist the YOS in a major Service Review, of which the initial
report was approved the by YOS Steering Group in March 2006 and an improvement
plan is currently being implemented.
- Not surprisingly,
there have been some reductions in performance in comparison with the
previous year. These have mainly been evident in terms of process (e.g.
completion of ASSET forms) rather than outcomes (lowering levels of
recidivism, maintaining low levels of custodial sentences).
- Prevention has
been an increasing element of the YOS’s work and this will be strengthened
in 2006/07 and subsequently by additional grant support from the YJB
to support early intervention and the government’s Respect agenda. Much
of this new funding will be allocated to expand significantly the YOS’s
parenting work.
- Multi-agency support
to the YOS continues to be strong and Thames Valley Police has increased
its commitment to improve work with persistent and prolific young offenders.
Scrutiny
Views
- A draft of this
report has been circulated to the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee
for consideration at its meeting on 8 May. Comments from the Committee
will be reported at the Cabinet meeting.
RECOMMENDATION
- The Cabinet
is RECOMMENDED, subject to consideration of any comments from the Community
Safety Scrutiny Committee, to RECOMMEND the Council to approve the Youth
Justice Plan for submission to the Youth Justice Board.
MIKE
SIMM
Head of Community
Safety & Youth Offending Service
Background papers:
Nil
Contact Officer:
Mike Simm, Tel: 01865 202218
May 2006
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