Agenda item

Councillor Joe Calouri, Executive Member Children and Families was present for discussion of this item.

During discussion of the report the following main points were made –

·         It is important to ensure that early intervention measures are put in place to assist in preventing the cycle of criminal activity and the Council had approved an extra £0.5m in the budget for this

·         The relationship with the Police and young people is still a problem and the loss of community policing made this more difficult

·         The poor inspection report on the YOS had highlighted that the co-location of the Police with the service had been a problem and the lack of access to Police computer records is still an issue that needs to be addressed and the Council were raising through the appropriate channels

·          A new restorative justice worker has just been appointed and a Gangs Protocol established and work is taking place on alternative provision

·         There is a need to listen more to young people and understand their concerns

·         Reference was made to the morale of staff in the YOS team and it was stated that this is a challenge and there had been a significant turnover of staff and a new Head of Service is now in place and stronger management and changes to case management should improve the situation

·         The view was expressed that Members should take the opportunity to visit the Youth Offending service to meet and support the staff in the extremely difficult work that the carry out

·         The Gangs Protocol is an attempt to take a more holistic view in relation to protecting the Public and there is a need to communicate more effectively with parents about the risks to their children and of offending behaviour

·         In relation to schools there needed to be more recognition of the problems of gangs and criminality and that every schools should visit the Ben Kinsella exhibition to raise awareness

·         There were discussions taking place with the Youth Council who were keen to raise awareness of the issues of gang culture and to ensure young people are listened to about their concerns

·         In response to a question about whether the voluntary sector could play an increased role it was stated that it was felt that this could be the case in regard to universal youth services and the additional £0.5m monies approved by the Council would be used by voluntary sector providers and the challenge is for them to be more flexible and work in co-operation

·         A Member expressed concern that despite a number of initiatives it did not appear that progress is being made and there is no clear overriding strategy for action

·         Reference was made to the fact that the case management described in the report was lacking and that staff needed proper support and training to resolve this

·         A Member stated that the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee had looked at alternative provision and intervention and early help and had made recommendations in this regard. It was added that the Youth Offending service would be recommended for scrutiny in the next municipal year

·         The Executive Member stated that Camden had an effective Youth Offending service and that it would be useful to work with boroughs such as this to look at the types of interventions used

·         The view was expressed that now the Borough Commander is on the management board this would focus attention on the issues and there needs to be an effective partnership, however the complexity of the lives of some of the individuals involved in crime is significant and the YOS has to deal with this and made it more difficult to encourage them away from criminality

·         There is a need to be open and frank about the challenges to schools, parents and the wider Public

·         In response to a question it was stated that of the 3 murders of young people in the borough only one was known to the Youth Offending service

·         The Youth Offending service had exit strategies for young people who were known to them and transition arrangements with the Probation service for those young people turning 18

·         Reference was made to the fact that if a child is excluded from school there will be a full family referral which will ‘flag up’  concerns and enable early interventions to be put in place to hopefully impact on future offending

·         It was stated that whilst the number of young people coming into the YOS was slightly falling the complexity of the young people was increasing

·         In response to a question it was stated that training is taking place for staff particularly in relation to case management and team building exercises were taking place with staff and feedback from staff was that the new management had made improvements

·         Reference was made to the fact that memorial services should include other deaths of young people and not just commemorate those that are victims of knife crime and it was stated that work is taking place with one of the families whose son was the victim of a vehicle death

·         The Executive Member stated that he had recently met with the Youth Council and that they felt that some young people felt that they could trust their school Police officers there is concern about trust with the Police

·         The view was expressed that schools needed to be persuaded to be more open about highlighting certain things such as the dangers of gangs in organised assemblies and inviting former gang members to talk to young people

·         In response to a question about the role of the Community Safety Unit it was stated that whilst the CSU is not a frontline service it did provide support and share information and did analysis work. In addition it had assisted in the setting up of the Integrated Gangs team and looked to add value. The CSU also worked with the YOS with co-ordination with the Police and provided information to them and worked with the MAGPI and on Domestic Violence and ASB and did training and policy work

·         Concern was expressed that given the interwoven nature of youth offending and the drug trade there is a need to tackle this and the grooming of young people

·         The Executive Member indicated that he had been in discussions that given the cross border nature of crime Trident should be more involved but he had been informed that Trident had more important priorities across London

·         A Member stated that it is not always the case that young people who offend come from chaotic families and sometimes children of respectable families offended

·         A Member expressed the view that the theft of mobile phones, the drug trade, moped theft and youth violence were all connected and the Police should take more effective action

·         The Chair stated that if there were any further questions these could be taken up following the meeting with the Executive Member

The Chair thanked Councillor Calouri for attending