Youth Justice Plan 2007 to 2008

Please provide a summary of the financial and programme resources available for the coming year. Please complete Table A1, Table A2, Table A2a, Table A2b and Table A2c

The Youth Offending Service Management Board has maintained the level of funding for the YOS and has allowed for an increase for inflation. However there will be a shortfall of £49.1k on predicted costs to be met through managed vacancies.

The YOS has previously secured the following additional funding:

The YOS has also secured additional funding during 2006/07:

Where services straddle different stages, the budget allocation should reflect the extent resources are used in each stage of the process.

When completing this table ‘payments in kind’ should include charges for shared equipment, the use of accommodation and management costs etc.

The total of A2b should be equal to the role in table A2 called ‘health.’

The total of A2c should be equal to the role in A2 called ‘probation’.  Payments in kind *1 includes training, IT provision, accommodation, management of DTTO/CRO/CPOs and CPROs for 16/17 year olds.  Payments in Kind (staffing *2) includes secondment of a probation officer, PSO or other grades.

NB Probation in kind costs are being included because of the request by the National Probation Directorate to do so and because there is no national consistency in establishing in kind costs, other partners’ in kind contributions have not been included.

Leicestershire Youth Offending Service (YOS) is committed to providing a wide range of programmes which are diverse, match risk factors in ASSET/ONSET* and follow the principles of effective practice:

Offending Behaviour Programmes:  The YOS has one to one packs which are linked to criminogenic factors in ASSET which are delivered to young people. In addition it has group work programmes on offending behaviour for young people identified as Offenders (PPO) and other groups of young people.

Racially Motivated Offenders: The YOS has developed a one-to-one pack on racially motivated offenders, which has been devised from the Probation Service and other materials.

Anger Management Group:  Group work and one to one programmes are available to use with young people who have anger management issues.

Easily Led Group:  A group work programme designed to help young people develop good strategies for managing peer pressure.

Young Girls Group:  The Girls Awareness group work programme looks at offending, abusive and positive relationships.

Substance Misuse: The YOS has two Substance Misuse Workers, who undertake assessments and provide up to tier 3 treatment for young people referred via YOS case managers. A group work programme targeted to improve young people’s awareness of Alcohol and Cannabis fits alongside the treatment provision.

Mental Health:  The YOS has 1.5 Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPN) posts. The half time post is currently vacant and it is crucial that this post is filled if service delivery is not to suffer. The CPNs provide screening, assessment and treatment, and access to tier 4 treatment options for young people.

Primary Health Care:  A generic Health Care Worker has been appointed, with a view to facilitating better access to health care for young people and to assist case managers in integrating health issues into their work with young people. A group work programme also provides an intervention on Healthy Living, which looks at issues of nutrition, sexual health and relationships.

Prolific and other Priority Offenders: The YOS is currently developing additional interventions for this group. This group of offenders have priority access to ISSP, Group work, CAMHS and Substance Misuse interventions. Additional provision is being developed with the Youth Service, Connexions and Attendance Centres.

Parenting:  The YOS has a Parenting Co-ordinator and a Parenting Worker who specialises in Parenting Interventions.  Parenting work is delivered in partnership with the Centre for Fun and Families (who employ a Parenting Co-ordinator funded by Leicestershire County Council) and is part of a multi-agency parenting strategy. The YOS is also training a number of volunteers to deliver training to parents of Final Warning cases.

Employment Training and Education: The YOS has two Education Officers (EOs) and two Connexions Workers posts in the team. The EOs provide advice and guidance to staff working with those young people not in full time education. They also assess all YOS young people and deliver ETE interventions on an individual basis.  The Basic Skills team provides a range of one-to-one and group work Basic Skills programmes in conjunction with training providers.  The Basic Skills team has been successful in gaining additional ESF funding to provide additional training opportunities and qualifications to young people.  The YOS is an Ecotec Plus Champion site, giving the Basic Skills team and its partners access to excellent Plus learning materials for use with young people.  A Learning and Skills Council (LSC) grant has enabled the appointment of a part-time Education Manager to improve ETE performance.

Accommodation: The YOS has a part-time Accommodation Officer in the team who provides advice to staff, meets with housing services/providers and also attends Detention and Training Order (DTO) planning/review meetings.  The YOS is integrated into the Supporting People Agenda and greater links have been made with accommodation providers.

* ONSET is an assessment tool used by the prevention team to assess what risk of offending factors are linked to a young person.

The YOS continues to utilise and remains committed to the use of Information Technology (IT) as an enabler in the delivery of services. All staff have access to computers and the availability of broadband internet access has been extended to all users. Training continues to be offered to staff to improve their ability to utilise IT systems.

The YOS has partially implemented secure e-mail. Its full implementation was delayed due to the Information Manager’s post remaining vacant. Progress is now back on track and it is expected that secure email will be fully implemented early in 2007/8. The implementation of the CareWorks Raise web based data base has been delayed due to CareWorks having problems ensuring that the YJB reporting and management information components of the software work consistently. Implementation is now planned during the first quarter of next year. The move to a web based data base should enable improvements in speed of operation and user experience.

The development of remote working is seen as an important objective for the YOS due to the rural nature of the area. To that end the YOS has explored the use of Digital Pens and made an application for funding from the YJB for remote access solutions, but these were not successful. The YOS has also explored the use of Tablet computers, but so far they have not proved reliable enough. The implementation of the CareWorks Raise web data base does enable the YOS to take a further step forward towards remote working.