Issue - items at meetings - Short Quality Screen of Youth Offending Service

Report of the Interim Director of Children’s Services (copy attached)

            RESOLVED - That the Committee note the contents of the Youth Offending Service Inspection Report and note the Action Plan identified as a consequence of this inspection.

48.1         The Committee considered a report of the Interim the Director of Children’s Services detailing the outcome of the Short Quality Screening of the Youth Offending Service Inspection which had started in November 2012 with Brighton and Hove being the first YOS to be inspected in the Country.

48.2         It was noted that Inspection of Youth Offending work under the new arrangements identified by the Ministry of Justice in 2012 and consisted of the following four elements

i.                    A full Joint Inspection Programme will be targeted at a number of Youth Offending Services (YOS) each year where performance gives particular cause for concern, together with some YOS where published performance is strong and worth sharing.

ii.                  A themed programme will undertake a focussed Inspection of specific aspects of work across a range of YOS.

iii.                HMI Probation will contribute to the forthcoming (May 2013) Ofsted led Inspection of child protection arrangements.

iv.                 There will be a short screening programme targeted at about 20% of YOS each year focussing on the start of sentences.

48.3    The Chair, Councillor Shanks welcomed the improvements which had been effected over the last twelve months, which indicated than the service was on track, and showed how it would be delivered operationally in future.

48.4    Councillor Powell welcomed this follow up report and asked whether it would be possible to receive further update reports in future showing how areas identified were being addressed, perhaps by reference to anonymised case studies. It was confirmed that this could be done and that this could be timely following completion of the exercise currently underway to redesign the risk management procedures.

48.5    RESOLVED - That the Committee note the contents of the Youth Offending Service Inspection Report and note the Action Plan identified as a consequence of this inspection.