Agenda item

This report outlines the Medway Youth Justice Plan Re-draft 2014-2016, which has been developed following discussions and consultations with partner agencies via the Youth Offending Team (YOT) Management Board and the requirements by the Youth Justice Board to submit a costed plan in respect of the Effective Practice Grant to the Youth Offending Team.

Discussion:

The Youth Offending Team (YOT) Manager introduced the report to the committee, which set out the Youth Justice Plan re-draft for 2014-16.  It had been developed following discussions with partner agencies via the YOT Management Board and a provisional version had been submitted to the Youth Justice Board which had responded favourably.

Members then asked officers questions, which included: -

• Transition from youth offending to adult services and how this was working.  The YOT Manager explained that Medway had been leading on some work around transition via a working party of the Kent and Medway Reducing Reoffending Board, which had recently been re-established to look at how transition can best be managed.  The working party was currently looking at a 6 month tapering of support so that Adult Services could work with children services three months before and three months after the young person becomes 18 years old.

• An update on the mindfulness training.  The YOT Manager explained that staff were continuing their mindfulness training and that the Medway YOT was the first YOT to adopt this approach and were working with schools, such as Silverbank Pupil Referral Unit, to deliver mindfulness workshops to pupils there.

• Work with Medway Action for Families (MAfF) helped with transition. In response to a question on how working with the MAfF Team had helped the work of the YOT, the YOT Manager explained that the teams had been working closely, with two YOT staff Members being dedicated to working on this project.  Furthermore, he added that YOT had invested half a full time equivalent post to provide functional family therapy (FFT).  Early evidence had demonstrated that reoffending of young people from families who received support under MAfF had reduced by 50% and where FFT had also been provided, reoffending had reduced by 60%.

• Review of the move to Strood.  The YOT Manager explained that the move itself had been very efficient, being completed two days before deadline and service downtime had been less than two working days.  The move had enabled a much more integrated approach with the Youth Service and owing to the premises being smaller the YOT were now holding appointments in hubs within neighbourhoods making the service more local to the user, which had proved successful.

• Representation on the YOT Management Board.  In response to a question as to whether a representative from private sector housing should be included, the YOT Manager explained that because private sector housing was so large and diverse it would be difficult to be representational and as the majority of youth offenders were placed via the Council’s Housing Services, who were represented on the Board, it was not considered necessary to include a private sector housing representative at this point.

• Preventing looked after children from becoming criminalised. Following a request for an update on this issue, the YOT Manager confirmed that this was an area of concern with around one third of young people involved with the YOT being looked after.  The YOT was about to launch a protocol so that when a report was made about a Looked After Child, unless the incident was of a serious nature, the Police would instead refer to the YOT who would then carry out restorative justice methods to attempt to resolve issues

• Managing further possible budgetary cuts.  In response to a question about how the service would accommodate any possible further cuts to budgets, the YOT Manager explained that a number of efficiency measures had already been made, for example the move to Strood, however, further cuts would require a need to safeguard statutory functions by reducing levels of preventative work. He explained that this would have potential implications in terms of increased statutory work levels.

• Monitoring extremism. When asked whether the YOT monitored any signs of extremism, the YOT Manager explained that Medway YOT had run a programme for two years, which did work on this issue and although this programme had now ended due to the funding ending, the service was benefiting from the expertise gained from this project.  Plus, the YOT worked closely with Police in sharing information and intelligence and also worked with local mosques.

Decision

The committee recommended the Cabinet and Full Council to approve the Youth Justice Plan re-draft 2014-16.