Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, the Assistant Director - Early Help and Business Support and the Service Manager - Youth Offending Team and Evidence Based Hub attended the meeting to provide a progress report on the Youth Offending Team (YOT) Inspection Action Plan that had been put into place following the Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) inspection of the Rotherham Youth Offending Team that had taken place in September 2020.

The report stated 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. The Inspection report had been published on 17 December 2020 with the Overall judgement being “Requires Improvement”. The inspection report had made five recommendations that were:

The Chair of the YOT Management Board should:

1.    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:

2.    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.

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

4.    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:

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

In response to the outcome of the inspection report an action plan had been put into place to address the areas of concern. It was noted that of the 46 identified actions contained in the plan that 43 had been completed. The full action plan was attached as an appendix to the officer’s report.

In introducing the report, the Service Manager - Youth Offending Team and Evidence Based Hub noted the significant progress that had been made against the objectives contained in the plan to address the five recommendations that had been made in the inspection report including the development of the role of the YOT Board and its members, and the training that had been provided for YOT Board members and YOT staff. It was noted that this development work would be continued and developed moving forwards.

The Service Manager provided information around the activity that had been carried out to develop and improve management oversight and risk management processes in the YOT. The Service Manager advised that the recording processes used by the YOT had been overhauled so as to enable information and data related to cases to be recorded in such a way that all actions could be clearly seen, and assurance could be given on the work that was being carried out with each individual. The Service Manager emphasised that the concerns of the inspectors was that the activity being carried out across the YOT service was not being adequately recorded, and not that quality of activity that the service was providing was inadequate itself.

Members noted that the while the inspection report had highlighted areas for improvement across the three areas that had been inspected, the improvement action plan only appeared to address issues related to Domain Three (Out of Court Disposals). The Service Manager advised that the inspection that had been carried out had only examined 10 cases across the YOT cohort and that the main concern of the inspectors had been around the recording of activity being carried out with young people, and not in regard to actual activity being out. The Service Manager advised that she was confident that if the service were to be reinspected that the changes to processes that had been made would mean that the service would be able to clearly evidence the work that was being carried out by the YOT across the cohort.

Members noted the high proportion of Looked After Children (LAC) in the current YOT cohort and asked for further information on the work that was being carried out to reduce the numbers of LAC entering the criminal justice system.

The Service Manager advised that significant work had been carried out by the YOT in order to gain an increased understanding of the experiences and needs of LAC in the YOT cohort. The Service Manager noted that in many cases that the offending behaviour carried out by young people who entered the criminal justice system was directly related to the trauma surrounding their entry into the care system, and that in other cases a young person had entered the care system due to issues surrounding their offending behaviour. The Service Manager assured members that work was continuing with the YOT Board and the Corporate Parenting Panel in order to ensure that the needs of LAC were adequately addressed and that the numbers of LAC across the YOT cohort were reduced. The Assistant Director - Early Help and Business Support assured members that of the current YOT cohort of 177 only 17 were LAC. The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services noted that this issue was an area of focus and was on the work programme of the Corporate Parenting Panel.

Members sought assurance that the activities surrounding information sharing with the YOT Board, as detailed in the action plan, were ongoing activities. The Service Manager advised that presentations that detailed case studies, cohort information and learning opportunities were, and would continue to be shared with the YOT Board via a quarterly performance report.

Members asked how the analysis of health needs across the cohort and the development of the service pathway had improved outcomes across the cohort. The Service Manager detailed an example where a young person had entered the criminal justice system as a result of behaviour linked to their difficulties in expressing themselves and how the initial highlighting of these needs through a thorough screening process had enabled the delivery of speech and language support. The Service Manager advised that with the right questions being asked at the outset that this had ensured that the correct services and interventions that were needed to support the young person had been able to be delivered in a timely manner.

Members asked if there was an agreement in place with foster carers in the Borough that they would not involve the police with regard to certain minor incidents involving LAC. The Assistant Director – Children’s Social Care, who was in attendance at the meeting advised that discussions took place with foster carers and residential homes regarding the circumstances where it may not provide the best outcome for a child or young person if the police were involved in a relatively minor incident.  The Assistant Director – Children’s Social Care noted however than as incidents could happen outside of the residential setting that the involvement of the police could not always be avoided. Members were assured that work was carried out with the police in order to ensure that incidents regarding LAC were always dealt with in an appropriate and proportionate manner. The Service Manager noted the National Protocol and the 10 Point Plan that was in place to reduce offending behaviour by LAC.

Members welcomed the improvements that had been put into place across the YOT as a result of the outcome of the inspection and asked how the improvements in performance would be maintained. The Service Manager detailed the numerous methods of performance monitoring and management that were used including reporting to the YOT Board, the CYPS Performance Monitoring Scorecard and the regular performance meetings held with the Assistant Director - Early Help and Business Support and the Strategic Director – Children and Young People’s Services. The Service Manager noted however that the broader outcomes from YOT work, where the service had prevented offending or made a positive difference to a young person’s life were harder to measure and record.

The Assistant Director noted the 43 completed actions out of the 46 actions that were contained in the action plan and assured members that the YOT Board were rigorous in their role of ensuring that all actions were completed to the required high standard. The Cabinet Member noted previous activity conducted by the Improving Lives Select Commission that had involved members getting beneath the figures in order to hear first-hand how the YOT had delivered services and made a positive impact on young people’s lives.

Members sought further information on the early intervention and preventative work that was carried out by the YOT and asked what work was conducted with schools who may identify children who  were demonstrating potential behaviours that may put them at risk of entering the criminal justice system. The Cabinet Member noted the significant increase in partnership working and how by working with the Early Help team and South Yorkshire Police that the YOT was able to ensure an effective and coordinated delivery of preventative and early intervention activity.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, the Assistant Director - Early Help and Business Support and the Service Manager - Youth Offending Team and Evidence Based Hub for attending the meeting and answering member questions.

Resolved: -

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That a further report be brought to the March 2022 meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission to provide a progress report on the implementation of the YOT Inspection Action Plan.

3)    That a briefing for members of the Improving Lives Select Commission be arranged in order to provide an overview of the work of the YOT and to detail how it has positively impacted on the lives of the children and young people that it has worked with.