Youth Justice Strategic Plan Executive summary
Section 7 - Service business and improvement plan
Gateshead Youth Justice Service has consulted with all partners as to what our key priorities should be over the next 24 months.
Priority 1
Ensure our young people are children first and offenders second
The voice of the child and family needs to be at the centre of the work that is carried out with our young people. Further development of this will include greater liaison with young people when making changes to the Youth Justice Service (YJS). We will do this by supporting young people to take part in exit interviews and encouraging them to attend the Gateshead YJS or make a film or write an account of their experiences.
We will also use the work produced by young people in public spaces. Life story work is being developed across Gateshead Children Services, case managers and advocates will have the opportunity to attend this training and apply the principles to their intervention with our young people.
| Actions | Who | Time / Measure / Milestones of Success |
|---|---|---|
| Increase our consultation through exit interviews with young people to understand their experiences of our service and implement changes when identified | Youth Engagement Officers, Youth Justice Service | Monitored at each performance subgroup (bi-monthly), findings of this will be reported to the YJS board |
| Ensure the "Voice of the Child" is at the heart of our assessments and interventions | Youth Justice Case Managers | Assessments / intervention will be quality assured and audited. Feedback through the monthly performance clinic and monthly, supervision, HMIP |
| Implement Divert from Charge alongside Northumbria Police | Police and Crown Prosecution Service | 6-month pilot, performance to be monitored regular reviews and overall findings at the end of the pilot will inform future delivery |
| For young people impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences have trauma informed intervention plans over seen by a Clinical Psychologist | Looked After Team, Youth Justice Service and Clinical Commissioning Group | Service level agreements are in place for the commissioning of the Clinical Psychology. Recruiting of staff due to commence, July / August 2021 |
| Apply the principles of Life Story work when intervening with young people | Children's Social Care | Workforce Development sourcing and offering training. Monitored through the bi-monthly Training Advisory Group |
| All young people to have access to advocates support | All partners | Case study's to be presented to the Youth Justice Board - bi-Monthly |
| Only hold children in custody in the police station as a last option and provide a proactive service to encourage parents / carers to attend. Send Children services staff to attend where other options are not possible. | Police and children's Services | Monitor the use of police custody for young people in Gateshead through the Heads of Service meeting bi-monthly |
| Out Of Court Disposal Panels to reduce the number of young people becoming First Time Entrants into the Youth Justice Service | Police, Victim liaison and Youth Justice Service | Monitored at each performance subgroup (bi-monthly), findings of this will be reported to the YJS board |
Priority 2
Ensure Looked After Children are not over represented in the Criminal Justice Service
Decriminalisation of LAC is a key priority and an area where there has been significant development. However, there is more work to be done and by linking up with Children's Homes, police, Independent Return workers and Social Work colleagues so we can further push this agenda to avoid these children coming into the Criminal Justice system. There are plans in place to develop a psychology offer which will help us to develop the Enhanced Case management model.
| Actions | Who | Time / Measure / Milestones of Success |
|---|---|---|
| Implement Divert from Charge alongside Northumbria Police | Northumbria Police and YJS | 6-month pilot is in place and is being monitored in Heads of Service meeting across Northumbria alongside the Police. Initial findings will be fed into the performance subgroup |
| To ensure YJS are actively involved in the Corporate Parenting of Looked After Children | LAC / Leaving Care, YJS | Present annually the feedback at the Corporate Parenting Board |
| Youth Justice will liaise with Probation Service to provide additional support for Looked After Children | LAC, YJS and Probation Service | Impact and outcomes to be presented to the YJS board and Corporate Parenting Board annually |
| Restorative Justice Training in Local Authority Children's Homes | Workforce Development / Children Workforce | This is being sourced by Workforce Development and is monitored in the bimonthly Decriminalisation of LAC children group |
| Joint PACE training across the Children's Workforce | Workforce Development / Children Workforce | This is being sourced by Workforce Development and is monitored in the bimonthly Decriminalisation of LAC children group |
| Develop systems in place to share police arrest information with Social Workers and Early Help case managers | Police / Children's social Care | Internal process has been put into place as a result of the bimonthly Decriminalisation of LAC children group. This is now completed but needs to be monitored to ensure it is embedded though the Decriminalisation of LAC children group |
| Support relationships between Community Police teams and Local authority Children's Homes | Police and LA Children's Homes | Monitor through the bi-monthly Decriminalisation of Looked after Children group |
Priority 3
Identify and intervene early with young people to address behaviours that could lead a young person into the Criminal Justice System
Prevention needs to be everyone's agenda. Young people at risk of offending need to be able to access services to support their needs at the earliest opportunity. There needs to be co-ordination of what is available to young people in Gateshead.
| Actions | Who | Time/Measure/Milestones of Success |
|---|---|---|
| Families to feel supported and listened to, helping to embed more long-term changes in young people's behaviour | YJS | YJS engagement strategy is being developed and is monitored at each performance subgroup (bi-monthly), findings of this will be reported to the YJS board |
| Map out the prevention offer for young people | YJS, Early Help and Community Safety | This will be monitored through the Bi-monthly performance clinic and annually at the YJS Board |
| To Develop the Parent Navigator role within the Youth Justice Service | VRU, YJS, Family Gateway | Bi-monthly meetings will monitor the intervention and outcomes |
| YJS to support a child being served with a Civil Injunction | YJS, Community Safety, Police | This is in place but is implemented on a case by case basis monitored through the weekly tasking meeting |
| YJS to support Young people who are charged and are awaiting a court appearance | YJS, Police, Court Services, Liaison and Diversion | YJS is set up to support high risk cases through the court process. This will be monitored through the weekly |
Priority 4
Ensure education teams effectively meets the needs of young people within the criminal justice system
We are going to continue to complete deep dive education audits twice a year to be able to monitor the progress of how we are responding to the needs of children. This work will include looking at attendance, placement, exclusion and SEND. The YJS will continue to work with schools and education providers, we will also advocate of the behalf of young people at the various education panels that we attend for the benefit of our children.
| Actions | Who | Time/Measure/Milestones of Success |
|---|---|---|
| Ensure education providers are made aware of how their decisions impact on young people's offending/reoffending and work collaboratively to improve education offers and engagement | YJS, Education Teams, Education Providers, Schools | YJS to attend all panels where young people actively engaged with the YJS are being discussed eg. Pupil Placement Panel, Education Inclusion Panel and Complex Pupil Panels. Also attend Pastoral leads meeting by exception. To be reported t the Youth Justice Board on an annual basis |
| Complete deep dive education sample audits twice a year to be able to monitor and evaluate the progress children and young people, actively engaging with YJS, are making | YJS leading with support from education providers | Outcome and impact of audits to be shared at each performance subgroup (bimonthly), findings of this will be reported to the YJS board |
| Work with SEND Teams to ensure young people's needs are identified, fully understood and met | YJS and SEND Service | Monitored at each performance subgroup (bi-monthly), findings of this will be reported to the YJS board |
| Commission wider training/ education in schools (e.g. hate crime, drug and alcohol awareness etc) and link in closely with the VRU (e.g. through link workers) | Community Safety and the Violence Reduction Unit | To be reported to the Youth Justice Board on an annual basis |
Priority 5
Promote the health and wellbeing of young people in the Youth Justice System
There is a health needs assessment of children open to YJS that has just began. Looking at the health needs of this cohort it is hoped that we will be able to identify what other health provision is needed within the service and work with our partners to provide some additionally.
| Actions | Who | Time/Measure/Milestones of Success |
|---|---|---|
| Ensure that service delivery continues to consider the impact of trauma on young people and their families and deliver practice that has the young person's health and wellbeing at its heart | YJS, ICB | Service level agreements are in place for the commissioning of the Clinical Psychology. Recruiting of staff due to commence, July / August |
| Identify the health needs of young people in the Youth Justice Service and work with health partners to ensure access to services | YJS, ICB, 0-19 Health Partnership | Complete a deep dive piece of work in August 2021 alongside the ICB |
| Advocate on behalf of young people in the Youth Justice Service at the various health meetings | YJS, ICB | YJS to attend the Health and Wellbeing Partnership meetings and the Gateshead Children's Safeguarding partnership |
Priority 6
Support young people transitioning between Children's and Adults Services
The newly formed post of a Probation Support Officer will help young adults who fall out of the transition arrangements to have the support put in place that they need to ensure compliance with probation orders and reduce re-offending. This work is being monitored by Gateshead YJS.
| Actions | Who | Time/Measure/Milestones of Success |
|---|---|---|
| The Probation Support Officer will help young adults who fall out of the transition arrangements to be supported to comply with their adult orders | YJS, Probation Service | Impact and outcomes to be presented to the YJS board and Corporate Parenting Board annually |
| Community Safety are aware of individuals 16-20 years that are responsible for crime and ASB - attendance at multi-agency meetings to support, as necessary | Police and Community Safety | Monitored through the bi-monthly Community Safety Board |
Priority 7
Understand and intervene with young people experiencing criminal exploitation
County lines and the Criminal Exploitation of young people continues to be a concern. Gateshead YJS will work with voluntary and statutory partners to ensure that information is shared appropriately and resources are used to help support these vulnerable young people.
| Actions | Who | Time/Measure/Milestones of Success |
|---|---|---|
| Gateshead YJS will work with voluntary and statutory partners to ensure that information is shared appropriately and resources fully utilised | Children's Social Care / Edge North East / Police | Attendance at MSET and MAAPPA with updates at the bi-monthly YJS Board |
| Commission ASB outreach provision and specialist mentoring projects to help deter and prevent young people from offending | Community Safety, EdgeNE, Family Gateway, POP | Monitored through the bi-annual Youth Justice and Community Safety Board |
| Criminally exploitative influences will be understood and intervention put in place | Police | Regular information and intelligence sharing meetings between the police and Gateshead Youth Justice Service. Gateshead Youth Justice Service to link with other local youth Justice Services to ensure information is shared across localities |
| Identify hotspot locations and offer diversionary activities within those areas | Police, Community Safety, EdgeNE, Family Gateway, POP | Monitored through the bi-monthly Youth Justice and Community Safety Board and the operational and strategic MSET groups |
| Commission training with Safeguarding Adult Board and Gateshead Safeguarding Children's Partnership | Community Safety | Monitored through the Youth Justice and Community Safety Board |
Priority 8
Understand Serious Youth Violence in Gateshead and what can be done to reduce harm to the public and manage the risk
Knife Crime and the use of weapons will feature in the intervention planning that we do in the coming 24 months.
| Actions | Who | Time/Measure/Milestones of Success |
|---|---|---|
| Knife Crime and the use of weapons will feature in intervention planning | YJS | This will be monitored in monthly case file audits and quality assurance |
| Contribute directly to the VRU Sub-Groups and Insights Report to better understand the nature of violence in Gateshead | Police / VRU/ YJS | YJS attends the bi-monthly VRU Reduce Offending Sub-Group Meeting and the Operation Victus meeting - (it is a multidisciplinary group set up as part of the VVECG (violence, vulnerability, exploitation and co-ordination group) |
| YJS will complete a benchmarking exercise in relation to weapons and knife crime in Gateshead | YJS | Monitored at each performance subgroup (bi-monthly), findings of this will be reported to the YJS board |
| Work with and support the Violence Reduction Unit on various project and activities to tackle/prevent serious violence | YJS, Community Safety | Monitored through the Youth Justice and Community Safety Board |
| Harm hotspot locations have been identified by Police/VRU and we will help support POP plans (problem solving) in these locations | Police, Community Safety, VRU | Monitored through the bi-monthly Youth Justice and Community Safety Board |
Priority 9
Build our understanding of the specific problems faced by young people in Gateshead
Disproportionately of Black, Asian and minority ethnic children will continue to be monitored through the performance subgroup and reported to the board.
| Actions | Who | Time/Measure/Milestones of Success |
|---|---|---|
| Complete a review of the disproportionately of Black, Asian and minority ethnic children | Children's Social Care | Monitored at each performance subgroup (bimonthly), findings of this will be reported to the YJS board |
| Report disproportionality into the LCJB | YJS / LSCB | Gateshead YJS manager is due to present this report on behalf of all 6 Northumbria YJS in July 2021 |
| The YJS performance subgroup will provide local data analysis and consider the findings of the Young people's survey carried out by VRU recently and feelings of safety survey | Children's Social Care, Community Safety / VRU | Use of data through VRU Insight Report; anecdotal information collated from partners at Operational Tasking/Planning Group; CSB strategic assessment; and through feedback from commissioned services. Monitored at each performance subgroup (bi-monthly), findings of this will be reported to the YJS board |