Agenda item

Report ED16019

Members considered a report which provided an overview of the progress of the Youth Offending Service (YOS) Improvement Plan.  The updated Improvement Plan demonstrated that work had progressed on all planned actions with the exception of 7(d) - Create a service user forum for current and former young people to enable the service to consult effectively - which had been delayed due to other work priorities including the planning and implementation of an IT upgrade. The service continued to work hard to introduce further improvements identified in the plan.  Due to a reduction in the Youth Justice Board (YJB) grant during 2016/17 and the need to meet the local savings target it was necessary to reorganise the service to ensure that the team could continue to provide a seamless service.  As part of the reorganisation, a decision had been taken to end the NACRO contract to provide an Intensive Supervision and Surveillance (ISS) programme.  The contract would end on 31 March 2016 after which the ISS programme would be provided in-house by YOS staff ad managed by one of the Operational Managers.  From April 2016 there would no longer be funding to enable an in-house substance misuse worker or a CAMHs worker.  In addition the post of “Counsellor” would also be ending.  Instead from 1 April 2016, any young person being assessed as being in need of any of these services would be referred to the Bromley Well Being Service, or the Bromley Young People’s Substance Misuse Service.  The post of Parenting Worker would also cease from 1 April 2016 with all future referrals for parenting support being directed to the Bromley Children’s Project.

Members noted that the service was in the initial phase of planning the implementation of Asset Plus, the national assessment tool used by Youth Offending Services.  In addition, Members also noted that the YOS Management Team undertook a thematic audit in December 2015 using police intelligence on young people known to the service who were at risk of being involved in transporting drugs across county lines.  The audit had looked at 4 cases and found that Assets were being completed within National Standards timescales.  The majority of Assets were judged to be ‘good’. The quality of active engagement work being carried out with young people and parents/carers to inform the initial assessment was either good or outstanding. Partnership working on safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of the young person was judged to be ‘good’ in all cases where this was relevant. The quality of the Intervention Plan for the majority of cases was either ‘satisfactory’ or ‘good’.

The Interim Head of the Youth Offending Service reported that good progress on the current YOS Improvement Plan had been made and that action to develop the next Improvement Plan was being taken by the Management Board.  Once the Plan had been developed it would be shared with the Committee.

A number of Members expressed concerns surrounding the reduction in cases that met the standards required in terms of planning as without good planning there could not be good delivery.  In response, the Deputy Head of the Youth Offending Service highlighted that there had been a change in the audit tools used by the Service and as a result of this the figures were not directly comparable.  It was disappointing that more cases had not met the standard and work was being undertaken to improve standards.  However, staff would continue to receive training on the new audit tool and monitoring would continue.  In addition, work was ongoing to recruit more permanent staff in order to bring some additional stability to the Service.

The Chairman noted that a mock inspection of the YOS would be undertaken by the Youth Justice Board.  The Chairman requested that the outcome of the mock inspection be circulated to Members of the Committee when it was available.

Another Member expressed concerns surrounding the loss of the post of Parenting Worker and the impact that this may have on the Service.  The Interim Head of the YOS responded that the Bromley Children’s Project currently worked with parents through the Troubled Families Programme and was therefore very experienced in providing this type of support.  A number of very difficult decisions had needed to be made in light of financial constraints.  However, the programmes offered by Bromley Children’s Project were intense and designed to challenge and support parents in taking responsibility for their children’s behaviour.  YOS Caseworkers would continue to work with the young offenders and their families and parenting support would be offered to all families.

The Portfolio Holder reported that he saw it as a positive that these issues were being identified while there was excellent interim management in place and support from the Youth Justice Board was ongoing.  The Portfolio Holder stressed that the inspection in February 2015 had identified a number of issues with the Service and it would naturally take time to correct these issues.  In response to a question, the Portfolio Holder reported that he had the utmost confidence in the staffing and leadership currently in place in the YOS.

The Chairman questioned whether there would be any merit in merging back office functions with other Local Authorities, similar to the Tri-Borough approach.  In response the Portfolio Holder stressed that the problems that had been identify during the inspection in February 2015 needed to be address and resolved before embarking on any form of shared service.

The Chairman thanked the Interim Head of the YOS and the Deputy Head of the YOS for their ongoing work.

RESOLVED: That

1. The progress of the YOS Improvement Plan be noted; and

2. The outcome of the Mock Inspection be circulated to the Committee when it becomes available.