Foreward
My first year as the ‘new’ Independent Chair of the Bracknell Forest Youth Justice Management Board has been a positive one exemplified by the ‘Good’ overall awarded by the Inspectorate following the inspection of the Bracknell Forest Youth Justice Team in November 2023. The inspection report was published in March 2024.
My sincere thanks go to all Youth Justice Team staff and partners who demonstrated some outstanding youth justice work with Bracknell Forest children to the Inspectorate. Particular thanks go to Head of Service, Steve Bailey, for his leadership through the inspection and I wish him well in his new role.
It was pleasing to see the inspection report recognised the ‘re-energised’ Bracknell Forest Youth Justice Management Board with improved attendance and seniority along with themed agenda items at our meetings led by statutory Youth Justice Team partners such as Education, Health, Probation and Police. This will certainly continue into 2024 to 2025 and beyond.
The Youth Justice Management Board wholly accepts and owns the recommendations of the inspection report which are at the core of the Bracknell Forest Youth Justice Plan for 2024 to 2027. It is encouraging that Thames Valley Police are already moving ahead on the key inspection recommendations to introduce Outcome 22 in Bracknell Forest and across their force area. I am confident that the implementation of Outcome 22 will build on the positive relationships that already exist with local police and the Youth Justice Team. Outcome 22 will allow multi-agency liaison and better targeting of resources at an earlier stage for children requiring pre-court interventions to prevent further offending.
The Bracknell Forest Youth Justice Plan for 2024 to 2027 continues our approach to keep offending by Bracknell Forest children at a low level and reduce it further if possible. The 2024 to 2027 plan still has a ‘Child First’ approach to local youth justice work at its heart. Two important aspects to this will be finding ways that the voice of Bracknell Forest children is heard by the Youth Justice Management Board and to develop local performance indicators alongside the new national indicators that were introduced by the Youth Justice Board in 2023 to 2024. Offending by Children Looked After (CLA) in Bracknell Forest (although comparatively few in number) is a key issue the Youth Justice Management Board will look to monitor/understand and act on in 2024 to 2027.
Bracknell Forest might be one of the smaller youth justice services nationally, but as the ‘Good’ Inspection rating proves, it provides a fine service to children within the local youth justice system. I want to ensure that the Youth Justice Team uses the inspection findings to improve further and I will use my ‘independence’ to provide both challenge and support to achieve this.
Ian Langley
Independent Chair of the Bracknell Forest Youth Justice Management Board