Agenda item

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Neighbourhood Working, the Strategic Director – Children and Young People’s Services, the Assistant Director - Early Help and Family Engagement and the Service Manager - Evidence Based Hub and Youth Offending Team attended the meeting to present a report that detailed the outcomes of the HM Inspector of Prisons inspection of the Rotherham Youth Offending Team (YOT) that had taken place between 14 and 17 September 2020. It was noted that due to the impact of the pandemic that the inspection had been carried out remotely. The inspection had looked at YOT activity over the three domains of Organisational Delivery, Court Disposals and Out of Court Disposals.

 

Jenny Lingrell, Joint Assistant Director, Commissioning, Performance and Inclusion, Alison Cowie and Paul Theaker from Rotherham NHS/CCG, Catherine Barnett, Youth Justice Board Acting Head of Innovation and Engagment, Yorkshire and Humberside and Inspectors Natalie Gilmour and Abdul Aziz of South Yorkshire Police also attended the meeting for this item.

 

The Inspection report had been published on 17 December 2020 with the Overall judgement being “Requires Improvement”. The full inspection report was attached as an appendix to the officer’s report.

 

In introducing the report, the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Neighbourhood Working noted the disappointment that had been felt across the service when the outcome of the inspection had been announced as “Requires Improvement”. Despite the disappointment , the Deputy Leader advised that he was pleased to note the swift response taken by the Assistant Director - Early Help and Family Engagement, the Service Manager - Evidence Based Hub and Youth Offending Team to implement the recommendations that would address the areas of concern that had been detailed in inspection report. The Deputy Leader noted that while the outcome had been “Requires Improvement” that the inspection report had highlighted many examples of good practice across the service.

 

The Strategic Director – Children and Young People’s Services echoed the disappointment in the outcome of the inspection that had been expressed by the Deputy Leader. The Strategic Director noted the extra challenges that an inspection carried out virtually had created for reducing the opportunities for officers across the YOT to have the type of communication with the inspection team that would have been possible had the inspection taken place physically. The Strategic Director advised that she would also now be attending YOT Board meetings along with Chief Superintendent Steve Chapman of South Yorkshire Police.

 

The officer’s report provided a summary of the activities that were planned to address the issues raised in the inspection. The full Inspection Action Plan was attached as an appendix to the officer’s report.

 

The Assistant Director - Early Help and Family Engagement and the Service Manager - Evidence Based Hub and Youth Offending Team made a presentation to the meeting that presented the findings of the inspection and detailed the activities planned to address the areas of concern highlighted in the report.

 

As a result of the outcome HMIP had made five recommendations that were:

 

The Chair of the YOT Management Board should:

 

·       Make sure that Board members understand the specific needs of children known to the YOT and advocate on their behalf in their own agencies.

The YOT Management Board should: 

·       Ensure the partnership understands the reasons for the significant number of Looked After Children known to the YOT and reviews the policies and practices of all agencies to minimise the possibility of children entering the criminal justice system unnecessarily.

·       Undertake a comprehensive health needs analysis of YOT children to better understand the health provision being delivered and what needs to be developed.

·       Review the quality and accessibility of education, training and employment provision for post-16-year-old children known to the service.

The YOT Service Manager should: 

 

·       Review the quality of risk of harm work and improve the effectiveness of management oversight in all cases.

The inspection report also included details of areas of strength in the YOT service that included:

 

·       The Chair of the YOT Management Board was very committed to his role and was a strong advocate for children. 

·       There was priority given to involving children, listening to what they said and responding to their feedback in order to influence future service delivery. 

·       The Management Board and the partnership were aware that there was a disproportionate number of black, Asian and minority ethnic children known to the YOT, and had projects in place to try to address the issue. 

·       YOT staff did all they could to encourage good engagement and compliance from the child and their family, and staff and managers were child-centred and knew their children well. 

·       The YOT had good transition arrangements with the National Probation Service and the Community Rehabilitation Company, that included regular transition meetings where cases were monitored and reviewed. 

·       The service had good links with the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Team, and the Head of Inclusion was a member of the YOT Management Board.

The Inspection Report highlighted areas for improvement that included the following areas for improvement:

 

·       Although health provision was available through the Early Help Service, the arrangements did not recognise the specialised needs of children known to the YOT, including physical and emotional, mental health and wellbeing concerns. 

·       The pathways for YOT staff to access health services, for example speech, language and communication provision, lacked clarity. 

·       Board members did not understand the specific needs of YOT children so could not effectively advocate on their behalf in their own agencies. 

·       The Management Board and the partnership had not focused on why so many Looked After Children were known to the YOT.

·       YOT figures for post-16-year-old children who were not in education, training or employment were high, and the partnership had not done enough work to review what provision was available in the locality for this cohort of children. 

·       Although YOT practitioners could access the interventions that were available as part of the wider Rotherham early help offer, there was little evidence that these services were regularly used for children known to the YOT. 

·       The inspection found that management oversight was poor both for post-court orders and out-of-court disposals.

Over the 12 strands of the three domains that had been assessed of Organisational Delivery, Court Disposals and Out of Court Disposals, three had been found to be inadequate that were:

 

·       Court Disposals - Assessments had been rated as inadequate. It was noted that this judgement related to six cases that had been inspected out of a cohort of 15 (40%).

·       Out of Court Disposals - Planning – It was stated that “The quality of planning is rated as ‘Inadequate’. Planning relating to desistance was outstanding but planning for a child’s safety and wellbeing and keeping other people safe was inadequate, and this has led to the overall rating of ‘Inadequate.”

·       Implementation and Delivery were also judged to be inadequate. It was stated that “The quality of implementing and delivering interventions and services is rated as ‘Inadequate’. Delivering services to promote desistance was good; however, for safety and wellbeing and keeping other people safe it was inadequate.” It was noted that four cases had been inspected out of a cohort of 181 (2.2% of cases).

 

In advance of members asking questions related to the report the Chair invited the guests at the meeting to comment on the report and the issues raised.

 

Alison Cowie and Paul Theaker of Rotherham NHS/CCG noted the importance of the partnership working that was enabled by the Youth Offending Board and advised that work was being carried out to ensure that processes were in place to enable health and wellbeing needs to be identified and addressed met more effectively.

 

Inspectors Nathalie Gilmour and Abdul Aziz stated that South Yorkshire Police continued to be committed to working with the YOT in order to deliver the best possible outcomes for the service and advised that the role of youth engagement officers in the force would be further developed to support the work of the YOT.

 

Catherine Barnett, Youth Justice Board Acting Head of Innovation and Engagement, Yorkshire and Humberside noted the disappointment felt by everyone involved at the inspection result but emphasised that Rotherham YOT was only part way through an ongoing improvement and development journey and that that had be recognised and acknowledged by the inspectors. The Acting Head of Innovation and Engagement also noted that the report had detailed many of the strengths of the YOT including how the Youth Offending Board placed the voice and experiences of the children and young people that it worked with at the heart of all of its activity. The inspection report had also acknowledged that the YOT had a deep and sound understanding of the current cohort of YOT cases and of their individual needs. The Head of the Youth Justice Board confirmed the commitment of all partners on the YOT Management Board to deliver the actions detailed in the inspection action plan that would address the areas for improvement that had been highlighted by inspection.

 

The Assistant Director - Early Help and Family Engagement noted the excellent level of support received from the Youth Justice Board and welcomed the contribution that they would be making to support the delivery of the actions as set out in the Inspection Action Plan.

 

Jenny Lingrell, Joint Assistant Director, Commissioning, Performance and Inclusion reaffirmed that the health assessments would focus on both physical and mental health needs, and that the process would ensure that the outcomes of these assessments could be clearly evidenced and understood by all of those involved in the process.

 

Members noted their disappointment at the result of the inspection, having been previously been given assurances on how well the YOT was functioning. Members however acknowledged the challenges that the remote inspection had created, the small number of cases reviewed out of a very complex cohort and that the YOT was still only part way through an improvement journey.

 

Members asked whether training was being planned to ensure that all members of the YOT Management Board were able to understand the specific needs of children known to the YOT and were able to advocate on their behalf in their own agencies. The Assistant Director advised that training would be delivered to YOT Management Board members to enable them to maximise the effectiveness of their roles. The Service Manager advised that the YOT Management Board had undergone a period of expansion to make its membership broader, and as such had more diverse membership of stakeholders, some of which did not have the background and deeper understanding of youth offending issues. The Service Manager advised that as such many of the Board members were still developing into their roles. The Service Manager advised that a varied and in depth training offer would be provided to enable the newer members gain a broader understanding of youth offending issues that would enable them to contribute fully to the workings of the Board.

 

Members asked how service users were involved with the YOT Management Board and how the Board used their experiences to shape service delivery. The Assistant Director advised that service user’s experiences were central to the working of the YOT Management Board with service user feedback and other listening activities being widely used.

 

Members asked whether a skills audit had been completed for the members of the YOT Management Board to ensure that the Board was fully utilising the skills of its members. Members also asked whether former service users were involved in the governance role of the YOT Management Board. The Assistant Director confirmed that a skills audit had been conducted and that a robust Induction pack, recognised as best practice by the Youth Justice Board was in place to support Board Members and advised that at present, former service users were not directly involved in the governance of the Board but noted that some former service users continue to attend Board meetings and were employed in support roles in the YOT with their experiences and input having been fed into service development. The Assistant Director noted that case studies that captured the voice and experience of service users also regularly came to the Board and that a dedicated Voice worker was a regular Board Member.

 

Members asked about how the YOT worked with wider families to ensure that other family members did not start offending behaviour and to prevent offending behaviour becoming normal behaviour for those families. The Service Manager advised that this absolutely was a focus for the YOT. The Service Manager advised that the adoption of the Early Help assessment process had enabled a much more holistic approach to support to be taken as the assessment process for service users was much broader in its scope than the assessment process that had been used previously. The Service Manager advised that the new assessment process enabled consideration to be given to how other issues and the wider social environment may impact on a service user. The Service Manager advised that this broader approach enabled work to be carried out with the wider family and supported activity designed to prevent family members following into offending behaviour. Members asked that case studies regarding this area of the YOT’s work be included in any future YOT updates to the Improving Lives Select Commission.

 

Members welcomed the focus on preventative work with families and noted the importance of working to break offending cycles of behaviour. Members asked for further information on the work that was carried out before young offenders were released from young offender institutions. The Service Manager advised that the YOT started working with and providing support to individuals before sentencing and then throughout their sentence in order to prepare them for release and reduce the risk of them reoffending.

 

The Chair asked what could be learned from the outcome of the inspection. The Deputy Leader advised that prior to the inspection that an improvement plan for the YOT had been being progressed, and that while the outcome of the inspection had been disappointing the inspection report hadn’t highlighted any areas for improvement that had not already been included in the improvement plan for the service. The Chair noted these assurances and welcomed the speed in which the Inspection Action Plan had been put into place. The Chair asked how much confidence there the required activities included in the Inspection Plan being delivered. The Deputy Leader advised that he was as confident as he could be on the delivery on the Inspection Action Plan given the uncertainties surrounding the pandemic. The Deputy Leader advised that the Corporate Parenting Panel would be looking into the issue of the number of Looked After Children in the current YOT cohort.

 

The Acting Head of Innovation and Engagement advised that there was the potential for a reinspection of the YOT within the next 12 months and noted that the Inspection Action Plan would ensure that the YOT would be fully prepared for any future inspection.

 

The Chair thanked Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Neighbourhood Working, the Strategic Director – Children and Young People’s Services, the Assistant Director - Early Help and Family Engagement and the Service Manager - Evidence Based Hub and Youth Offending Team for attending the meeting and answering members’ questions.

 

The Chair also thanked Jenny Lingrell, Joint Assistant Director, Commissioning, Performance and Inclusion, Alison Cowie and Paul Theaker from Rotherham NHS/CCG, Catherine Barnett, Youth Justice Board Acting Head of Innovation and Engagement (Yorkshire and the Humber Region) and Inspectors Nathalie Gilmour and Abdul Aziz of South Yorkshire Police for attending the meeting and answering members’ questions.

 

Resolved: -

 

1)    That the report be noted.

 

2)    That a progress report on the implementation of the Youth Offending Team Improvement Plan be brought to the July 2021 meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission.

 

3)    That the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Improving Lives Select Commission be consulted as part of the activities included in any future peer reviews conducted by the Youth Offending Service.