Agenda item

The Assistant Director of Children and Family Support Service and Youth Offending Services presented a report to be considered by the Executive on 16 November 2021 and by the full Council on 1 December 2021, noting that the Council had a statutory duty to publish an annual Youth Justice Plan which provided specified information about the local provision of youth justice services.

Arising from discussion and member questions, the following principal points were noted:-

1. Northamptonshire was showing an increase in custody rate per 1000 population against England, Regional and Family Average for the period 2020/21. There were a total of 13 custodial sentences in the period. The Youth Offending Services had developed a new panel approach to offer robust and credible alternatives to custody in order to address the increase in custody rates.

2. It was important for young people to have a positive destination at the end of their orders as it stabilised them.  Education and training were key in this as well, with an estimated number of 86% engaged with employment, training and education at the end of this period (subject to a 50% reduction when taking into account Covid lockdowns and resultant school closures during 2020/21.)

3. There was a strong focus on community resolution because where it worked it prevented young people from becoming criminalised.  This involved all partners, including the courts, with a ‘court process’ being undertaken but not formalised in order to provide a deterrent effect but to avoid criminal prosecutions where suitable.

4. Some of the pupils under the care of the virtual school could also be YOS clients.  Moving forward they were developing support of the young people by creating a sense of understanding of what they had done and helping them to view the world without the trauma they had experienced.

5. There was a significant increase in the number of children suffering mental health.  Mental health was proving to be quite a challenge judicially.  The children could be self-harming or contemplating suicide;

6. A focus going forward was the development of training to respond to trauma in practice to gain acceptance of what youth offenders had done, why they had done it and the emotional reasons for seeing the world in the way they did. The mental health of children proved quite a challenge for the judiciary – with a particular concern on how they were supported through mental health teams, by avoiding putting them into custody and finding more appropriate route to support them.

7. The world had changed for young people in terms of lifestyle in recent years.  Many still had healthy lifestyles but not all.  YOS attempted to channel young people back to healthy lifestyles, attempting to get them interested in other things outside of crime.  Initiatives such as the Adrenaline Skate Park and Football Friendly were things they attempted to channel them into, which were welcomed. 

RESOLVED:

That the Education Skills and Employment Advisory Panel endorses the Youth Justice Plan for 2021/22, prior to its consideration by the Executive on 17 November 2021.