Minutes:
Members received a presentation from Steve Walker, Youth Justice Officer, which provided an update on the welfare of children detained in Wetherby Young Offenders Institute, and an overview of the findings from a recent inspection of North Yorkshire’s Youth Justice Service.
The presentation detailed the welfare of children currently in Wetherby YOI, including their access to exercise, education, activities and family visits. Steve Walker confirmed that the Service had received explicit assurance from the Institute that late admissions were no longer happening following improvements to the system, but noted there was still some concern about the level of professional access to the children, particularly those who were looked after children or those with safeguarding needs.
He went on to confirm that whilst North Yorkshire Youth Justice Service had been rated good (15th of the 45 Services inspected) there had some issues identified for improvement. In response an improvement plan had been submitted, practitioners had received refresher training, and guidance and processes had been reviewed.
In relation to ASSETPlus, it was noted that whilst it had some strengths, particularly in managing very complex and risky young people, portability between YOT areas and secure establishments etc, it also presented significant barriers to effective practice e.g.:
· The computerised system required high levels of inputting and maintenance which reduced capacity for direct work
· It resulted in completed assessments and plans which could exceed 200 A4 pages, in a dense, complex and repetitive format, which excluded service users from meaningful understanding or co-production, and obstructed effective collaboration with other services.
Members were therefore pleased to note the ongoing pilot of the ‘My Assessment Plan’ (MAP) system of assessment, commenced in 2019, which had enabled an advanced, family-centred and strengths-based assessment, designed for close alignment with the Signs of Safety model. It was confirmed the pilot had resulted in a condensed approach compared to ASSETPlus, with usually less than 20 pages of plain and direct language, readily understood by children and their families.
Steve Walker confirmed the findings from an internal evaluation of the MAP system had shown it to be both effective and critical to the goal of closer working with other Children’s Services teams. As a result, the service had been given approval to continue the pilot for a further two years, and a Youth Justice Board/HMIP working group had been set up to monitor and evaluate its effectiveness.
Attention was drawn to the positive feedback from a direct consultation exercise undertaken by the county’s independent consultation team ‘Young Voice’ which noted the positive impact of MAP on the relationships, trust and influence that the Service could now achieve, unleashing staff from their desks and allowing more time for working with children, families, schools etc.
In relation to the impact of Covid on service delivery, the presentation highlighted the ongoing work to maintain support to children and their families, and the creative new practices introduced to enable that work.
Finally, concern was expressed about backlogs i.e. reported offences yet to be investigated and charged by the Police, and charges awaiting court. It was noted that whilst there had been government funding for additional police officers resulting in an approximate 16% increase in recorded crime, there had been no additional resources for the rest of the justice system e.g. courts, YJS and Probation etc.
In response to questions from members, it was confirmed that:
· The ability of the Service to protect and look after children was being compromised as a result of being unable to carry out visits to Wetherby YOI , although the various teams within the institution were working hard to ensure their needs were met;
· There were five new re-settlement practitioners employed by Wetherby YOI, but it was not clear what their role entailed;
· Links were often maintained beyond the end of a court order, and other services were brought in to provide support e.g. Early Help, with joint visits and a phased withdrawal;
· To ensure consistency of support for higher need cases during holidays, a co-worker was allocated to the family ahead of time;
· The backlog in the court service pre-Covid, was due to reduced resourcing and inefficiencies in the system;
· Children within the Wetherby YOI were currently receiving approximately 30mins a day informal outdoor exercise and access to structured PE facilities once a week;
· In regard to the operation of youth services during Covid, a ‘Streets Ahead’ project had been run by the Early Help service looking at how to target provision of support to young people with a range of opportunities being offered;
Members noted an invitation to re-visit Wetherby YOI post Covid, and welcomed the opportunity to do so. It was also agreed that a letter be sent to MPs regarding the Committee’s concerns about the impact of Covid on delays in the magistrates courts.
County Councillor Derek Bastiman thanked officers for their update and it was
Resolved: That the update be noted