The priorities for the Youth Justice Team and the Youth Justice Management Board for 2024/27 are detailed below and comprise actions from:
- His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) 2023 Inspection Report
- The Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 (in progress and carried over actions)
- The Bracknell Forest Youth Justice Management Board Risk Register
- The Bracknell Forest Youth Justice Management Board Disproportionality Action Plan 2023
- Multi-agency Practice Evaluations (MAPEs) conducted in 2023/24
- A Self-Assessment against National Standard 4 in 2023/24
- Statutory requirement e.g., Youth Justice Board
- Other initiatives and opportunities that the Youth Justice Team have identified
| Number | Action | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Work with partners to ensure sufficient performance data is produced and is effectively analysed to provide a strong understanding of the needs and profile of children working with the Youth Justice Team. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 2 | Review resourcing across all services delivering youth justice interventions in Bracknell Forest to ensure there is sufficient resilience and capacity to continue delivering high-quality work. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), Youth Justice Management Board Risk Register |
| 3 | Monitor the attendance and engagement of all partners at the board and ensure they all actively advocate for children open to the Youth Justice Team in their own organisations. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), Youth Justice Management Board Risk Register |
| 4 | Satisfy itself that there is a comprehensive and integrated review of the Thames Valley Police and Youth Justice Team out-of-court disposal partnership agreement and guidance that effectively covers issues of disproportionality across all protected characteristics and firmly embeds an understanding of trauma, risk of harm, and safety and wellbeing. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), Youth Justice Management Board Risk Register |
| 5 | The Youth Justice Management Board does not yet fully understand the needs and challenges facing children working with the Youth Justice Team. Its lack of access to a comprehensive and granular suite of performance data means its knowledge of the needs of this cohort is underdeveloped. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 6 | Attendance at Youth Justice Management Board meetings has recently stabilised, but previously has not been of a sufficient frequency or consistency from key partners such as police, probation and education. This has affected the board's efficacy and only now is it starting to overcome these deficits. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), Youth Justice Management Board Risk Register |
| 7 | The lack of attendance by appropriate strategic probation representation means it is difficult for the board to understand the operational impact caused by the ongoing lack of a seconded resource. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), Youth Justice Management Board Risk Register |
| 8 | The Youth Justice Management Board has not always been prompt in holding partners to account for matters that could affect operational delivery. For example, the board should have been more proactive in identifying sufficiency of speech and language therapist (SALT) resourcing earlier. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 9 | The Youth Justice Management Board was overly passive and reactive in its approach to providing strategic oversight to the Youth Justice Team. Operational progress and quality were the result of the Youth Justice Operational Manager and Youth Justice Team taking the initiative rather than drive and motivation from the board. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 10 | There is no evidence that the voice of the child is effectively heard at Youth Justice Management Board meetings, and this is recognised by the chair as a priority for development. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 11 | The collaborative approach taken across the Thames Valley region has clear strengths but can hamper the development of bespoke strategies for Bracknell Forest children - for example, the failure of Thames Valley police to consult regional youth justice services satisfactorily on their out-of-court disposal policy or discuss potential changes to police secondee arrangements with the management board has negatively impacted upon the Youth Justice Team. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), Youth Justice Management Board Risk Register |
| 12 | Action on the disproportionality action plan has mainly been completed by the Youth Justice Team with actions outstanding from external partners - police, education, and the drug action team. The management board needs to ensure these actions are completed. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 13 | Measures to mitigate potential risks to the service need to be reviewed. For example, although there was consensus across a range of stakeholders and staff that the biggest risk to service delivery was succession planning, this was not referenced in the Youth Justice Management Board’s strategic risk log. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 14 | Caseloads were at the higher end of what we have seen during this inspection programme so far. Capacity was also sometimes impacted by part-time working arrangements, and a number of staff felt workload was difficult to manage. Additionally, we saw some evidence that specialist staff linked to the service had issues with workload capacity. A review of resourcing within the service and its partners would be prudent to ensure that there is sufficient resilience in staffing arrangements. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 15 | The partnership underestimates the impact of not having a specialist probation officer seconded to the team and the support they can offer to older or higher risk children. Alternative arrangements have been in place for seven years, and so the benefits of specialist secondment arrangements have been forgotten. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), Youth Justice Management Board Risk Register |
| 16 | While the partnership is data rich, not all of it has been analysed sufficiently for a granular understanding of the needs of children to be fully understood; for example, there has been insufficient analysis of any differences in characteristics between children in the prevention cohort and in the community resolution cohort. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 17 | Further analysis is required to establish why numbers of care-experienced children entering the youth justice system have increased in the last six months, and whether services are meeting the needs of children at risk of offending and those on the edge of care. Positively, such activity is now planned. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 18 | The partnership should ensure that there is sufficient capacity within specialist provision, such as speech and language, mental health or probation service support, and that arrangements are reviewed more effectively to ensure there is sufficient resource for the needs of the Youth Justice Team cohort of children. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 19 | Greater consideration of co-commissioning opportunities, potentially with other youth justice services may be prudent given the small size of the Youth Justice Team. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 20 | The Times Square office is sometimes used to see children because it is centrally located and accessible, but it is corporate and not a child-friendly venue. Consideration might be given to sourcing an alternative central venue for children if needed. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), Youth Justice Management Board Risk Register |
| 21 | The analysis of management information is underdeveloped and would benefit from additional capacity. This would assist in identifying trends or spikes affecting provision and ensure children’s diverse needs are met. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 22 | Important actions relating to the sharing by the police of key data on children who are 'NFA' (no further action) after investigation - highlighted in a comprehensive multi-agency audit in early 2023 - have not been followed up satisfactorily. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), Multi-agency Action Plan (MAPE) |
| 23 | The partnership’s understanding of victim data is underdeveloped, and the clear challenge faced in gaining victim consent needs addressing as a priority. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 24 | Working arrangements between police and the Youth Justice Team need to be more integrated. For example, there is no co-produced protocol between the Youth Justice Team and police. Thames Valley police guidance is out of date and is not child friendly; it needs to be revised urgently. This recommendation to Thames Valley police has been made in another recent inspection within the region and has not yet been progressed. It is essential that the guidance considers issues of disproportionality across all protected characteristics, and firmly embeds an understanding of trauma, risk of harm, and safety and wellbeing. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 25 | In the absence of the option of Outcome 22 as a substantive decision (where police defer a prosecution pending the child’s engagement with an intervention), there has been little consideration of whether too many children are potentially being given street-delivered community resolutions. This highlights the importance of developing a more integrated approach to policy development. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 26 | The ratio of children receiving community resolutions is not unduly high within the context of overall court disposal and out-of-court disposal ratios, and reflects the diversionary approach taken locally. However, these disposals constitute 80 per cent of the Youth Justice Team’s caseload and so there need to be better arrangements to assess the effectiveness of the local approach in practice. Analysis and understanding of the current use and effectiveness of community resolutions are limited. There needs to be a more cohesive understanding of where there are challenges, such as gaining victim consent for community resolutions. More granular data is needed to achieve this goal. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 27 | The joint decision-making process needs to be reviewed to ensure the voice of external partners is heard at the out-of-court disposal decision-making meeting; currently the process uses available feedback, but crucial partner agencies’ involvement is too passive. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 28 | Given that a significant number of out-of-court disposal decisions are made outside of the joint decision-making process, there needs to be a more robust means of ensuring that diversity needs are always considered if the decision is a single agency one. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 29 | There is minimal evidence of child or parent or carer feedback into the development of out-of-court disposal policy and provision. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 30 | The external scrutiny panel arrangements are currently not fit for purpose, and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner needs to conclude the review of arrangements as a matter of urgency. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 31 | The resettlement policy and guidance are untested. The Youth Justice Team would benefit from developing links with neighbouring YJSs or Feltham young offender institution to explore shadow and learning opportunities. This would support grounding practitioners understanding of this area in local evidence-based practice. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 32 | When the policy is next reviewed, there needs to be greater clarity about arrangements for managing the risk of harm to others and victim considerations. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 33 | The Youth Justice Team might wish to review training opportunities. Not all of the staff who responded to our survey and said they worked with children in custody noted that they had sufficient training in this area. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 34 | The policy needs to be more explicit on how the diversity needs of minority ethnic children and girls will be met in the event of a custodial sentence. | His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) |
| 35 | Review the Youth Justice Quality Assurance (QA) activity into the Early Help QA processes. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 36 | Data with regards to children released under-investigation and on police bail to be presented to the Youth Justice Management Board for governance and scrutiny, including any data held regarding disproportionality. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 37 | Further development of datasets relating to children receiving Community Resolutions, including presenting behaviours/offences and any data held regarding disproportionality. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 38 | Ensure that Multi-Agency Practice Evaluations (MAPEs) are completed when there are serious incidents and disseminate learning and delivery of any multi-agency action plans. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 39 | Co-design a key performance indicator with children in Youth Justice – what should we measure that matters most to children? | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 40 | Embed a 'so what?' question to the Youth Justice Board agenda with each partner considering and naming the differences made. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 41 | Continue to deliver the Turnaround programme. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 42 | Continue to deliver the ‘Who’s in Charge’ parenting programme. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 43 | Secondment of a probation officer into the Youth Justice Team. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 44 | Review reach and uptake of drug and alcohol services for children. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 45 | Explore the introduction of the 12-month Act Now programme in Bracknell Forest which will require a face-to-face visit with children arrested for a knife crime within 90 minutes. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 46 | Develop a policy and process for joint working between the Youth Justice Team and Children’s Social Care for children who are Child in Need, under Child Protection and Children Looked After so that responses to safety and wellbeing needs are well co-ordinated, effective and not duplicitous. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 47 | Add an area crime and deprivation check to placement search criteria for Children Looked After where there is a proposed new placement location. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 48 | Review the Community Resolutions process, including how cases pending allocation are managed. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 49 | Develop local case recording guidance. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 50 | Convene a ‘Meet & Eat’ session between Youth Justice Management Board members and children to hear from children directly about their experiences. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 51 | Undertake a ‘Child First’ development workshop as a Youth Justice Management Board to ensure continual embedding of the principles. | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 52 | Implementation of ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance.’ | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 53 | Respond to government development of ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love.’ | Youth Justice Plan 2023/24 |
| 54 | Develop an outcomes framework for both self-evaluation and reporting to the Youth Justice Management Board about holistic outcomes achieved for children through youth justice interventions. | Disproportionality Action Plan 2023 |
| 55 | Youth Justice Management Board to receive information about the number of children issued with Community Resolutions. | Disproportionality Action Plan 2023 |
| 56 | Youth Justice Team to provide information on ethnicity, special education needs and disabilities (SEND) status, exclusions and suspensions for all children referred to the Youth Justice Team (including statutory, out-of-court and prevention). | Disproportionality Action Plan 2023 |
| 57 | Identifying avoidance families: supervision to routinely explore whether families are being avoidance versus services failing to reach them and to compile a strategy to respond to both. | Multi-agency Practice Evaluation (MAPE) |
| 58 | Gaps in education provision and assessments: A plan is to be put in place at the point of permanent exclusion to include a higher frequency of tuition, avoiding over-reliance on parents to ensure attendance at tuition as well as other appropriate interventions. | Multi-agency Practice Evaluation (MAPE) |
| 59 | Further exploration in children’s social care assessments: present to Children’s Quality Assurance Working Group for further action. Review training provision for considering culture and generational influences within assessments. | Multi-agency Practice Evaluation (MAPE) |
| 60 | Explore a speech and language project in primary schools to complement work in secondary schools | Youth Justice Team innovation |
| 61 | Embed the new Prevention and Diversion Assessment Tool in the Youth Justice Team | Youth Justice Board |
| 62 | Undertake training on how to support female children offenders in light of the increase of girls in first-time entrants (FTE) | Youth Justice Team innovation |
| 63 | Undertake the Stay True to You (knife crime prevention) training | Youth Justice Team innovation |
| 64 | Undertake the AIM Assessment for Under 12’s | Youth Justice Team innovation |
| 65 | Undertake an investigation into the increase of Children Looked After in the youth justice cohort | Youth Justice Team innovation |