Agenda item

Report of the Interim Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services – presented by the Strategic Manager, County Durham Youth Offending Service.

The Chairman introduced the Strategic Manager, County Durham Youth Offending Service (CDYOS), Gill Eshelby who was in attendance to give a 2015/16 update for Members in respect of the Youth Justice Plan 2015/17 (for copy see file of minutes).

The Strategic Manager, CDYOS referred Members to the report circulated with the agenda papers and associated appendix which set out the refreshed Youth Justice Plan 2016/17.  Councillors noted that number of First Time Entrants (FTEs) to the Youth Justice System was the lowest ever, being 161 a reduction of 16.6% when compared to 2014/15 and an 85.7% reduction since 2007/08.  It was added that use of custody had also reduced by 60% compared to 2014/15, with the figure of 8 being better than the regional and national figures and that the number of remand bed nights had also reduced by 35.9% on the previous year.  Members were reminded that the costs of remand bed night were met by the Local Authority, partly offset by a grant from the Youth Justice Board (YJB), and 227 bed nights in 2015/16 represented an overall reduction of 78.1% since 2010/11.

The Committee noted that Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data showed that the re-offending rate was 44.7% from a cohort of young people sentenced in court or cautioned.  The Strategic Manager CDYOS highlighted the table on page 5 of the Youth Justice Plan 2016/17 which shows the impact of successful diversion and robust case management.  Since 2007/08 the number of young people in the cohort has reduced by 80.2% (from 2145 to 425); the number re-offending has reduced by 73.9% (from 728 to 190); and the number of re-offences committed has reduced by 68.7% (from 1950 to 611). 

The Strategic Manager, CDYOS explained that there had been a 54.6% reduction in the number of offences committed and the number of young people offending since 2010/11 (see page 5 of the Youth Justice Plan).

The Strategic Manager CDYOS also highlighted the service’s innovative work on speech language and communication needs.  Two members of staff were awarded a joint Butler Trust Award 2015/16 for their innovative work and leadership of the CDYOS’s Speech and Language Communication Needs Strategy and development of ClearCut Communication resources.  Members noted this was evidence of the focus in Durham on quality, adding that the CDYOS having achieved the Restorative Service Quality Mark (RSQM) was another demonstration of this, noting that the CDYOS was the only service in County Durham and Darlington to have achieved the RSQM.  Councillors noted other achievements included the renewal of Investing in Volunteers Quality Mark and achieving Investing in Children status.  The Strategic Manager, CDYOS noted that Lord McNally and Colin Allars, the Chairman and Chief Executive of the YJB, were in Durham today to present the RSQM, Investing in Volunteers and Investing in Children awards to CDYOS. The Strategic Manager CDYOS added that Lord Ramsbotham, the former Chief Inspector of Prisons and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Speech and Language Difficulties, had commended CDYOS staff for their work in this area.  Councillors noted that the ClearCut Communication resources were copyright to Durham County Council, recognised by the Butler Trust and purchased by other youth offending services/teams nationally.

The Strategic Manager, CDYOS concluded by encouraging Members to read the executive summary within the Youth Justice Plan if they had not already done so and added that the message to take away was that reductions in re-offending meant in turn that there were fewer victims of youth crime.

Councillor S Iveson noted the excellent work of CDYOS and congratulated the Strategic Manager, CDYOS and her staff.  The Strategic Manager, CDYOS thanked Councillor S Iveson. Linking to the Media Relations Item, the Strategic Manager CDYOS noted another example of partnership - the Paws4Change programme with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), one of only two pilots in the country.  Young people help to train abandoned dogs to get them ready for rehoming, with a graduation ceremony after completing the programme.

The Chairman noted the reducing resources in the public sector and also the huge successes made to date.  He asked the Strategic Manager, CDYOS if the service would be able to continue to see improvements or would performance level out; would the service still be able to ensure young people were in suitable accommodation after custody.  The Strategic Manager, CDYOS explained that there were very few young people from Durham in custody, and having reduced from over 3,000 to a under nine hundred nationally over a number of years.  It was added that now any young person in custody was classified as a “looked after child”, with this not being an issue for County Durham as numbers were very low.

Councillor F Tinsley noted that the huge reduction in the number of FTEs and asked whether this was through restorative approaches and as this seemed to be going against national trends, was there pointers for the wider culture beyond young people specifically. 

The Strategic Manager, CDYOS explained the service was fully engaged in the partnership arena and shared good practice with the Safe Durham Partnership (SDP), Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) and Checkpoint and the service’s out of court disposals work and early intervention helped to reduce the number of FTEs.  It was added that the Taylor Review of the Youth Justice System had an interim report in February 2016 and had suggested secure schools that would have between 70-80 young people and that education would be at the heart of youth justice.  Members noted there was no due date as yet in terms of the final report from the Taylor Review. It was noted the Strategic Manager, CDYOS and the Head of Children’s Services, Carole Payne had met Charlie Taylor in March and he had understood the issues in terms of speech language and communication needs.  Officers were awaiting the final report.    

The Strategic Manager, CDYOS reminded the Committee that the CDYOS was fully integrated into Children’s Services; there were excellent relationships with partner agencies and this was vitally important in ensuring success.

Resolved:

(i)              That the report and Youth Justice Plan 2016/17 be noted.

(ii)             That a progress update be received by the Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee in 12 months.