Youth Justice Plan 2007 to 2008

Leicestershire has a Black Minority Ethnic (BME) population which constitutes 5.1% of the population and 8.7% of the 10 – 17 year old population. The YOS staff group is 62% white and 37.5% from BME groups whilst volunteers are 76% white and 24% from BME groups. This indicates that the BME staff and volunteer groups exceed the proportion in the Leicestershire population significantly.

The YOS staff and volunteer group are mostly female (76%). There are males represented in all grades of staff except clerical. BME males constitute 60% of the male work force. Males constitute 29.7% of the staff who have regular contact with young people which means that the YOS still has significant numbers of men to provide role models to the mainly male young people that form its client group.

100% of managers and 40% of operational staff have a professional qualification recognised by the YOS. The YOS has also actively participated in the National Qualification Framework qualifications developed by the YJB with 38% of its operational  staff having completed or in the process of completing one of the qualifications

Recruitment and retention issues  

The YOS has managed staff vacancies throughout the year in order to achieve a £54,000 budget saving. Fortunately this has not had a significant impact on operational activities. The Information Manager and Restorative Justice Worker posts remained vacant for most of the year contributing significantly towards the saving. Savings via managed vacancies are expected to increase to £49,100 in 2007/8 representing 5.7% of total staff budget.  Attempts will be made to minimise the impact on service delivery but the amount of the required managed vacancy contribution might make this difficult.  There were some difficulties in recruiting staff with the right skills particularly in relation to the Information Manager post, but suitable skilled operational staff have been available to meet recruitment needs. The retention of staff has not been a major issue. The maintenance of staff from partnerships and funding restrictions do at times cause difficulties in maintaining a full mix of staff to meet operational needs.

	Managers Strategic	Managers Operational	Senior Practitioners (FT)	Senior Practitioners (PT)	Practitioners (FT)	Practitioners (PT)	Administrative	Sessional	Students/Trainees	Volunteers	Total
Permanent	1	7	8	0	24	4	19			243	306
Fixed Term					4	4					8
Secondee CYPS (Social Care)					10				2		12
Secondee CYPS (Education)					1						1
Secondee Probation					4						4
Secondee Police					2						2
Secondee Health					1	1					2
Secondee Connexions					2						2
Secondee Other						1					1
Outsourced						1					1
Temporary					4	2					6
Vacant						1					1
Total	1	7	8	0	52	14	19		2	243	346
Gender/Ethnicity
White Male		1			9	2				47	59
Black Male		1	1		1					4	7
Asian Male		1	1		4	2				3	11
Mixed Race Male										2	2
Chinese/Other Male										5	5
White Female	1	3	6		25	8	18		2	138	201
Black Female					5					15	20
Asian Female		1			6	1	1			15	24
Mixed Race Female					2					3	5
Chinese/Other Female										11	11
Total	1	7	8	0	52	13	19		2	243	345*

* The Gender/Ethnicity total does not match the Staff total due to a part time practitioner post vacancy

The YOS is committed to the development of effective practice knowledge and skills within its workforce. All staff receive regular supervision and Performance Development Reviews (PDRs), which focus on key areas of practice, service delivery, and skills development. The YOS via its partnership arrangement has secured staff access to training on Mental Health Tiers 1/2, Safeguarding, and Substance Misuse Tiers 1/2, Appropriate Adult, Teenage Pregnancy, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Dangerousness and MAPPA panel training. Additionally the YOS has access to Leicestershire County Council’s Management programme including HR, Health and Safety, and Equality Training.

The YOS has continued to support staff access to the YJB National Qualification Framework (NQF) Study Skills, Effective Practice Unit Award (EPUA), and Professional Certificate Effective Practice (PCEP) training, with a further 7 staff accessing the training in 2006/7. Two managers will be accessing the YJB modules of the Open University Managers’ training programme during 2007/8. The ending of YJB funding for the NQF is going to impact on the YOS ability to support EPUA and PCEP during the coming year particularly with the YOS funding constraints this year.

YOS Induction of new staff is focused on CareWorks, Safeguarding Children, Assessment Planning Intervention and Supervision (APIS) and PACE, as the required elements of induction. Staff then have the opportunity to follow up with a wider range of training.

All staff have completed training on risk and all relevant staff have received Dangerousness training.

Administration staff have the opportunity to develop their skills via the County Council training provision; this includes a wide range of skills training as well as NVQs.

Volunteer Training  is tailored to each group of volunteers; Panel members receive 40 hours of  YJB Panel training, PACE volunteers receive 1 day’s PACE training and all other volunteers receive 1 day’s training.   In addition they all receive 1 evening per month developmental training.

The YOS has monthly service meetings and Annual Staff Conferences which are used to enhance knowledge of developments and provide supportive training when needs are identified.

The YOS has access to a staff development budget of £15k which is used to support the YOS training needs and those priorities identified in individual PDRs. The focus for 2007/8 will be on: