Agenda item

Standard agenda item, covering updates re:

·         Youth Justice Board

·         CSE

·         SARG

·         Troubled Families

·         Ofsted

Ms Tina McElligot, Operational Director, Family Services spoke to her slides which had been circulated.

Troubled Families

Barnet had attached more than its agreed number of families to the programme (as of June 2018, 3251 families had been attached, and 2220 was the target by 2020). It was not guaranteed that all would achieve ‘turnaround’ however. Barnet’s ‘turnaround’ figure was high, the third largest in London and the 5^th highest in the country. This had prompted a request for Barnet to share its model with other areas. A number of boroughs were struggling to make attachments so Barnet was considering undertaking work for other boroughs for which it would generate some income. The programme had a further 2 years to run and ‘turnaround’ stood at 45% of the target.

Youth Offending

Currently 73 young people were on statutory orders (92 at the time of the last SCPB meeting), 64% of these from BAME backgrounds and 95% being male. Males were overrepresented nationally.

The trend in youth offending in children had reduced – a number were being more successfully managed with fewer entering the criminal justice system. More data would be available at the next meeting.

68% of those on statutory orders were aged 15-17 and 45% required intensive supervision, with many home visits being undertaken and some of this cohort on tags.

There had been a reduction in the number of young people involved in gangs in Barnet.

The number of young people of Statutory School Age who were engaged in education, training or employment in Barnet was 76.9% - above the national average.

The number of first time entrants to crime had reduced in Barnet by 19% in 2017 – 218 per 100,000 population.  Reoffending numbers continued to reduce and Barnet was still outperforming all London boroughs.

The highest crime levels in young people were violence, drugs and motoring offences, including moped theft and driving without insurance.

Vulnerable Adolescents

This cohort comprised those known to the Youth Offending Team, and those known to go missing and at risk of criminal/sexual exploitation.

A younger age group were beginning to be targeted by professionals. 30% of the victims were white British and most were female. Xanax use increased their vulnerability.

Barnet had launched its Vulnerable Adolescents Strategy in April 2018 which continued the focus on disruption activities around sexual and criminal exploitation. Recently the team had focused on hotels as young people had been able to make bookings for ‘partying’ and had also entered with adults who were exploiting them. The team was carrying out a piece of work in this area including some education and mystery shopping to try to ensure that hotels understood their responsibilities.

The team was also working with a popular fast-food restaurant chain, asking for the opportunity to engage with young people in a safe space rather than moving the issues elsewhere.

Every missing young person was tracked and a record kept of the frequency and duration of episodes by the multi-agency partnership. Those who went missing for longer periods were known to be more likely to be involved in county lines. Those missing

day by day were vulnerable to drug use and sexual exploitation. Some perpetrators had been successfully disrupted and adults held to account by the police.

There had been a 32% reduction in knife-related offences in Barnet; reversing the trend of other boroughs. School and community-based prevention programmes were being delivered by Growing Against Violence and Art Against Knives and the Barnet team was then building on this work together with key partners. A true multi-agency approach was being used to tackle these complex problems.

Mr Coleman enquired about geographical trends for crime. Ms McElligot responded that there were certain hotspots, with poorer areas showing more crime. There were three functional gangs in the borough. The drug economy was complex as individuals were working across borders with neighbouring boroughs. Their means of access to vulnerable young people and a drugs supply was highly organised.