Agenda item

Context:

We received a report which advised the Children and Young People’s Select Committee of the outcome of the inspection of Youth Offending work in Monmouthshire & Torfaen conducted by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) between 22-24^th June 2015.

Key Issues:

Monmouthshire & Torfaen Youth Offending Service (YOS) was established in 2000 as a statutory function of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.  The primary purpose of the service is to prevent offending and re-offending by children and young people (aged 10-17 years).

Between 22-24^th June 2015 HMIP conducted a Short Quality Screening (SQS) of work in Monmouthshire & Torfaen.  The inspectorate examined 14 cases of children and young people who had recently offended and were supervised by Monmouthshire & Torfaen YOS.  The SQS inspection focuses upon the quality of work at the start of a sentence through to the point when initial plans should be in place post sentence.  This period is chosen because the quality of work completed at this stage is deemed to be critical to the likelihood of positive outcomes being achieved following completion of the sentence.  The YOS had received two weeks advanced notice of the inspection. 

In summary the inspectorate found “that the performance of the Monmouthshire and Torfaen YOS was consistent with our findings from our previous inspection in 2010. Staff were well supported in their work and they engaged positively with children and young people and partner organisations. There is scope for improving the quality of practice by ensuring that all assessments and plans are underpinned by an analysis of relevant case issues and integrate diversity matters when required. Achieving consistency between staff in this respect would help to improve the quality of the services offered by the YOS as a whole.”

The inspectorate identified a number of key strengths, including:

·         The quality of advice given to Courts

·         The engagement of children and young people and parents/carers in assessments

·         Priority was being given to addressing compliance and non-engagement issues

The areas for development identified by HMIP included:

·         The need for all assessments and plans to be informed by an analysis of relevant issues

·         Reviews need to reflect any significant changes in the circumstances of children and young people

·         Evidence of the impact on quality of management oversight of cases needed to be better recorded.

The YOS welcome the findings from the SQS inspection and have completed a post inspection improvement plan in response to the recommendations.  The inspection improvement plan includes a commitment to reviewing existing quality assurance and case recording policies and processes and training for frontline practitioners.

Member Scrutiny:

·         In terms of action plan, practice library was more quality work of experienced staff was shared, need to provide examples of good quality work.   Operational managers have planning meetings, to ensure that diversity issues are followed through. 

·         Management team have taken on board and welcomed recs from HMIP. 

·         We recognised that it was difficult for all aspects to be covered within a scrutiny briefing report, however, welcomed further discussion and detail at meetings.

Recommendations:

We resolved to agree the recommendation within the report:

That the Children and Young People’s Select Committee scrutinise the inspection report and highlight any concerns relating to performance in achieving outcomes for children and young people. 

Recommendation:

That the Children and Young People’s Select Committee scrutinise the inspection report and highlight any concerns relating to performance in achieving outcomes for children and young people.