Agenda item

UPDATE ON PROGRESS OF THE YOUTH OFFENDING SERVICE IMPROVEMENT PLAN

Minutes:

Report ED15133

 

The Committee considered a report providing an update on progress in delivering the Youth Offending Service Improvement Plan.

 

The Local Authority was notified in early January 2015 that an inspection of the Youth Offending Service would take place from 19th January 2015 as a result of a number of concerns being identified around the Local Authority’s performance in certain key areas.  Four HM Inspectorate of Probation Inspectors worked with Youth Offending Service Officers during the first week of the inspection to review a short list of 34 cases out of a cohort of approximately 60 young people.  The Inspectors then returned to the Local Authority for a further week from 2nd February 2015 to review the partnership arrangements in place to support young offenders, after which the Local Authority had been advised that the outcome of the inspection was poor and that there were a number of areas for improvement, including a more robust Quality Assessment Framework and improved performance management and data reporting processes. 

 

Following publication of the final report of the inspection, a number of actions had been taken by the Local Authority to deliver the required service improvement.  This included the creation of a single, strengthened Youth Offending Service Management Board and the development of an Improvement Plan which incorporated the outcomes of ‘Leadership and Partnership’, ‘Quality’, ‘Looked After Children’ and ‘The Voice of the Young Person’.  The Local Authority was working closely with the Youth Justice Board to implement the Improvement Plan, which had been approved by the Lead Inspector, and an Improvement Board had been established to monitor progress.  A staffing review of the Youth Offending Service had also been carried out following the inspection, and a number of new permanent staff were now in post.  An interim Head of the Youth Offending Service had been appointed to support the delivery of the Improvement Plan and a further staff member had been recruited on a six month secondment from the Youth Justice Board.  

 

Work was also underway to improve quality assurance and data processes and Members were advised that the Youth Justice Board monitored a rolling cohort of young people accessing the Youth Offending Service to track the level of reoffending on an ongoing basis.  The Youth Justice Board had recently provided training to Youth Offending Service staff on using a comprehensive audit tool to ensure that casework would meet all national standards, and a development programme was being delivered to all Officers.  A mock inspection would be undertaken by the Youth Justice Board in January 2016 to assess the impact of these changes in preparation for a re-inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation, which would take place a maximum of one year from the publication of the final report of the inspection.

 

In considering the report, the Chairman queried the casework load of Officers across the Youth Offending Service.  The Interim Head of the Youth Offending Service advised Members that there were currently 109 active cases.  Bromley’s casework load levels had previously been high but were now lower to reflect the number of new Officers in the service who had a range of experience in working with young people but were not qualified in youth offending work.  As Officers developed skills and experience, it was expected that casework load levels would increase in line with other Youth Offending Services across London, with an average caseload of around twelve.  A review of the structure of the Youth Offending Service was currently underway which would be implemented in Spring 2015 to ensure that staffing and casework load levels were appropriate.  In response to a question from a Member, the Interim Head of the Youth Offending Service explained that Intensive Supervision and Surveillance services were contracted to the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, but that it was planned to undertake work to identify if there was a more cost-effective way to deliver this service in future.

 

A Member noted the comprehensive training programme being provided to Youth Offending Service Officers and queried how the impact of this training was being monitored.  The Interim Head of the Youth Offending Service confirmed that high level supervision and support was in place to track the performance of Officers as they progressed through the training programme.  Quality assurance audits were also being undertaken of casework to monitor the way that Officers were applying their learning and it was expected that the quality of casework would improve as the skills and experience of Officers increased. 

 

A Member was concerned to note that of the 15 court and community cases audited by the team in October 2015, 66% of Asset/ROSH cases had been judged to be inadequate, 80% of intervention plan cases had been judged to be inadequate and 60% of risk management plan cases had been judged to be inadequate.  The Interim Head of the Youth Offending Service advised Members that this reflected the issues identified within the Youth Offending Service during the inspection and that these figures gave an honest benchmark by which improvement across the service could be measured. 

 

The Interim Head of the Youth Offending Service updated Members on progress in implementing the Youth Offending Service Improvement Plan.  Work was in progress to review and update the protocol between the Local Authority and its partners and childrens’ residential home providers to set out the expectations of dealing with in-house incidents and when it was appropriate to call the Police, and to ensure that there were effective mechanisms in place for consulting with and involving the Living in Care Council about Children Looked After who were offending.  Two Youth Offending Service Officers had responsibility for restorative justice and were working with Children’s Social Care and other partners to implement these actions and deliver training to residential care homes and foster carers.  The Youth Offending Service worked closely with parents and carers wherever possible, including parenting groups and home visits. 

 

The Chairman requested that anonymised cases be provided to the next meeting of the Education PDS Committee to assist Members in understanding the process young people experienced when accessing the Youth Offending Service

 

RESOLVED that progress in delivering the Youth Offending Service Plan be noted.

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