TES OF MEETING of 15

Monday 11 November 02 – 2.30pm Main discussion topic: Sex Offenders Registration

All meetings at The Coram Family Headquarters 49 Mecklenburgh Square, LONDON WC1N 2QA

(Can be tricky to find – ring Tim Bateman 020 7840 6436 or Lis Davies 020 8345 5557 for directions)

Nearest tubes – Russell Square / Kings Cross / Euston

Monday 16^th December – Nacro / LAYJ Conference – Working in the Youth Justice System

The campaign appears to have gone a bit quiet in the Observer. The Children’s society has produced some excellent ‘wish you were here’ postcards designed to send to your MP to protest about section 130. They can be sent by e mail through the society’s website at www.the-childrens-society.org.uk. It takes all the pain out of doing it since it automatically sends it to your MP if you enter your name and post code. The LAYJ would encourage all practitioners to take advantage of the facility.

Islington is continuing to hold panel meetings before the court case where a PSR is requested and there is a serious risk of custody. It appears to be working and goes down well with the court. One meeting has actually been held in Feltham YOI.

The deadline for comments has now passed. Nacro and the NAYJ both responded on the youth justice issues and there are some similarities. In particular both suggest that there should be a proper review, extensive consultation before any further changes.

It is anticipated that two pieces of legislation will be published later this month and a green paper or other form of consultation, on some ideas around prevention and so on, later in the year.

Tom led a discussion on ISSPs. He coordinates the scheme for the three SE London Yots in the Camberwell cluster. The project was initially funded for one member of staff for each Yot and a fourth worker who provides some basic literacy and numeracy for young people across the 3 areas. More recently there has been additional money through the Safer Streets initiative to employ a further 4 staff and accordingly a greater emphasis on bail ISSP. Although the scheme does provide ISSPs for DTOs in individual cases where the Yot requests it, they avoid publicising it since they don’t want the courts to think that young people sent to custody will benefit from an ISSP as well as being locked up. There was a slow start in terms of referrals and as a result there was a lot of pressure from PA Consulting to get numbers up but that has now changed and there is a greater emphasis on quality.

There is no specific ISSP legislation which can lead to problems over curfews not being integrated into the order. However, there was concern over the Board’s proposal to have an ISSO with the higher level of contact extended to a minimum of six months. Tom thought that young people would not consider a programme of that length manageable.

In terms of surveillance, tagging has worked reasonably well but there is limited use for voice verification. Some problems reported with Premier with delays in fitting the equipment, turning up late at night at the young person’s house and some difficulties in communication around breach.

Despite some successes in diverting young people from custody, it is still a struggle at crown court for cases of robbery. Moreover there seems to be little difference, in some instances, between cases which get lengthy custodial cases and those where the ISSP is successful.

There are inevitably some difficulties over filling the timetable and it generally takes a couple of weeks to build up to 25 hours. But the scheme has been quite successful in engaging young people in education and training.

The scheme is regarded positively by the courts and young people often seem to like the attention which they receive and engage well with staff. There was a discussion about targeting and whether ISSPs had replaced specified activities rather than custody. It was pointed out that many areas no longer offer an enhanced supervision programme with additional requirements since the increase in contact associated with minimum standards. In terms of bail ISSP, the scheme is fortunate in that they also manage the BSS for the Yots and are therefore able to maintain a bail support service for young people who do not need an ISSP.

It was noted that the national standards state that enforcement of ISSPs is as directed in YJB Guidance. YJB Guidance on ISSPs states that enforcement should be according to national standards.

The latest figures from the Board indicate that custody is still rising with the population of the secure estate up to 3,129 at the end of July. Remands are starting to climb again after a period of decline while sentences have been increasing steadily. There are now 400 more young people in custody than there were two years ago. The rise is particularly sharp for girls.

The Board continues to be concerned at the variation in sentencing. The pattern ranges from 1 custodial sentence for every 2 community sentences, to 1 custody for every 30.

Last week, it was announced that the funding for the development of 4 new STCs had been withdrawn – including that at Milton Keynes where a contract has already been awarded to Securicor – the LAYJ obviously extends its sympathy to the company. This leaves the Board with some massive problems about what to do with the rising numbers of kids who are being locked up.

The Howard League has lodged a judicial review on the basis that the Childrern Act ought to apply to YOIs. The case has been adjourned for the Dept of Health to become a party to the proceedings. It is understood that the DoH line is that the Children Act does apply ‘subject to the requirements of custody’ - whatever that means.

Video links between YOIs are being piloted in Inner London and the north of England. Although it was originally promised that the technology would increase contact with young people, it is now clear that the YJB anticipate that it will function as an alternative to YOT staff visiting children in custody. Currently however as a result of a lack of encryption, the subject matter which can be discussed over the link is restricted to things such as what was on TV last night. It is expected that encryption will be developed in the near future.

The inquest into the death of Kevin Jacobs, a 16 year old in Feltham who committed suicide, found that neglect contributed to his death. Despite his clear vulnerability, the fact that he was looked after and had previously attempted suicide, Kevin was not placed in secure accommodation. Details available on the Inquest website at www.inquest.org.uk.

The next meeting in November will devote some time to what topics we should cover in the first six months of next year.

Workshop presenters for the December conference are now finalised (although exact titles may change)

Neal Hazel (Policy Research Bureau) – Young peoples experience of the youth justice system

Bookings are fairly steady and it is anticipated that the conference will be full – if you haven’t booked, get a move on. Anyone wanting further information, should contact Tim on 020 7840 6436.

Prevention

There are a number of confusing developments in the field of prevention.

Children’s Trusts (modelled on health) are to be piloted next year. They will incorporate all services for children within a single framework – presumably including YOTs.

The Home Office has announced that Local Authorities will be obliged to have a prevention strategy in place (by September 2003) for preventing offending by children. This will include as a key component Identification, Referral and Tracking of young people 5 – 13 thought to be at risk. This will linked to funding through the Children and Young Person’s Unit with some of the money going to YOTs.

In a parallel development, the YJB has published a preventative strategy for 8 – 13 year olds which involves the YOTs taking a lead role by coordinating Pre Crime Risk Panels. It is understood that the ADSS are not in favour of the YOTs taking a lead role in working with the younger age range.

On a slightly different note, the Board has recently discovered that not all the quarterly returns are strictly accurate. The Home Office requested information on the number of Child Safety Orders made in the last two years and gave a response based on THEMIS data. When the Home Office contacted the relevant YOTs for further information, however, no orders had in fact been made. This must raise some doubts over the quality of all the Board’s data.

Human Resources / Training Strategy

The Board has established a human resources reference group which Kevin attends. The group is to develop a strategy linking recruitment and retention to effective practice and training. Ten effective practice guidance notes are to be published in November with a further five to follow and they will form the basis of a variety of training routes for the third of YOT staff who are not from traditional accredited backgrounds.

There was a discussion about the extent to which this might undermine the idea of the YOT as a multi agency organisation in the longer term.

The Board training is currently being offered around the country and reports of it are ‘mixed’. The intention is that stage one of the screening will be conducted by the case worker as part of the ASSET assessment. If that indicates a need, will generate a referral to the mental health worker for stage 2 assessment which is much more in depth.

In the pilots, 50% of young people were referred to stage 2 – there are accordingly fairly serious workload implications.

The Government has published figures showing a 14% reduction in street crime in the initiative areas. According to the Independent however, not all criminologists are convinced that the figures can be relied upon – particularly given the short time scale and previous fluctuations in numbers.

The UNCRC has recently reported on the UK’s compliance with the UN Convention in the Rights of the Child. While most of the publicity has been around the failure of the UK to outlaw smacking of children, the report is also very critical of youth justice.

§ Better treatment of children in custody and independent advocacy services for detained children

Available on the Home Office website appears to mark a shift of emphasis with the appointment of Rod Morgan as chief Inspector. In particular, he criticises what he calls ‘programme fetishism’ and suggests that a holistic approach, calling on the traditional skills of probation staff is required.

Edited by Barry Goldson, Michael Lavalette and Jim McKechnie has articles on social policy responses to children and childhood. Published by Sage.

By Brian Block and John Hostettler looking at nine important cases for the development of law – including the Pinochet trial. Published by Waterside Press

Is an international, historical review with 2 chapters on the UK. Edited by Rosenheim, Zimring, Tanenhaus nad Dohrn. Published by Chicago University Press

The Joint Inspection Report on arrangements to safeguard children. Includes a section on safeguarding young people in YOIs and suggests that YOTs should be part of Area Child Protection Committees. It also criticises YOTs for working in isolation and concentrating on offending behaviour to the detriment of welfare. (Full report available on the Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk )

By Ann Hagell is one of a series of 4 publications on young people published recently by the Mental Health Foundation. It summarises the evidence and suggests that young peoples’ needs are not currently being met.

On 15^th October – Interesting in that the Home Office minister is, according to the programme, speaking on the theme of ‘Delivering effective alternatives to justice’. Nice to see a bit of honesty every now and again.

30^th October – there is a free bit in the evening and a paid bit in the afternoon.

Is being held this week in Cardiff and a revised version of ‘Serving Children Well’ will be launched including a youth justice insert.

The revised version is to be launched at the Youth Justice Board convention in November although it is expected that implementation will be delayed until April.

About half the changes proposed in the LAYJ response to consultation have been adopted.

The probation service is to pilot an equivalent to ISSPs in ten areas with 18 – 20 year olds. The level of funding however is significantly below that associated with ISSPs. Pilot areas have been advised to ask YOTs for advice. The initiative is, the LAYJ understands, currently referred to by the working title of project x.

Agenda items or apologies for the next meeting at Coram Family on 11^th November to Lis Davies on 020 8345 5557