Agenda item

Ms McElligot spoke to her slides. Funding had been agreed for the Troubled Families Programme to continue, and Barnet had performed well with a 92% attachment target for 2020/21.

There had been some disruption to face-to-face contact in relation to youth offending during the pandemic, and also delays in court hearings. The Youth Offending Team (YOT) had been working hard throughout the pandemic and was still seeing children and young people face to face. The ‘digital divide’ had become more apparent during this time which could result in young people falling out of education as this a risk indicator for them committing further offences.

Data from the Youth Justice Board to 2019 revealed that Barnet was lower than the London and national averages for first time entrants into the criminal justice system.

31 young people had been involved in out of court disposals to December 2020 in Barnet. The work had been scrutinised by the Met police BCU Panel which includes representatives from MOPAC and the Youth Justice Board, and feedback had been that there was good evidence of multi-agency working and Barnet was put forward as an example of good practice.

A smaller number of individuals had reoffended after community orders had been given. This smaller group does have a more complex range of needs and tends to reoffend more frequently, so this is an area the team is working on.

There are a wider range of disposals for young black people, including custody, which is disproportionate to children from other ethnic backgrounds, and this is relative to the gravity index of their offending. A piece of work is being undertaken in NCL by the Directors of Children’s Services on the disparities in criminal justice outcomes of black and minority ethnic children. This is being led by the London Boroughs’ Youth Offending Service Leads and other members who are co-opted in.

Ms McElligot reported that another development is around reducing the criminalisation of looked-after children, by introducing a protocol for care providers, the police and multi-agency partnerships to try to reduce the criminalisation of young people in the care system, given the high proportion of adults in custody that have care experience in their background.

The London Borough of Camden is leading a piece of work with the West London Alliance to provide alternatives to secure accommodation for young people, with the first property to be in Barnet. This is focused in particular on young people from BAME backgrounds. Each unit will house up to five young people as an alternative to custody. A further update will follow for the Board later in 2021.

The next draft Youth Justice Plan is currently being shared with the members of the YOT Management Board and would be signed off later in the year. The final draft would be brought to the SCPB for sign off.

Mr Kwamya enquired whether Barnet’s resources for young people are also engaged, such as to tackle problems around cannabis use. Ms McElligot responded that the team has good links into substance misuse services. A number of young people are referred to these services but the take-up could be improved. She added that support to encourage take-up would be welcome. Mr Kwamya offered to feed this back.

Action: Mr Kwamya

Ms Bateman reported that the Adult Safeguarding Board and Children’s Partnership are looking to set up a Transitional Safeguarding Task and Finish Group. A  Professional Young People’s Forum on 23^rd March will be discussing transitional safeguarding and she hoped to receive feedback from young people on the issues they think might need to be addressed. Ms Bateman stated that it would be helpful to discuss this with Ms McElligot after the forum.

Action: Ms Bateman, Ms McElligot