Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Leanne Hempshall, Gary Stapleton and Bernadette Nesbit.

There were no items where the press and public should be excluded.

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

[A period not exceeding 20 minutes for statements from up

to 5 members of the public on matters within the

Committee’s remit, proposing action(s) which may be

considered or contribute towards the future development of

the Committee’s work programme].

There were no public statements made at the meeting.

The purpose of this report was to present the statutory Youth Justice Plan for 2022/23, covering the work of the Youth Offending Service (YOS) in Doncaster.  Following a discussion  the following  areas were highlighted;

Feedback and Engagement with Young People – Members heard about the positive feedback provided by Young People around the Youth Justice Plan.  In particular, Members were interested to hear about the success of home visits, which had continued following the pandemic and provided an opportunity for better engagement with both the young person and family in more comfortable surroundings and making them feel more supported through the process.

There was a brief outline of all the other services the young people involved in this process were also able to access as part of a means-led offer.

Challenges – It was recognised that there was still certain challenges such as Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) and Organised Crime, however, there were effective mechanisms in place.  It was noted that the impact of the cost of living was still an unknown entity.

Reference was made to Early Help services in place to support families, it was felt essential that these were made available at an early stage in order to make a difference. It was considered that as a partnership, children and young people needed to be supported as early as possible to prevent them from offending.

Partnership Working - Members welcomed the robustness and effectiveness of partnership arrangements in place to support young people and deter them from entering the youth justice system. Reference was made to Doncaster young people being able to benefit from what was offered as part of a Council led offer although it was recognised that more could always be done.

Clarification was provided that South Yorkshire Police did not have the capacity to accept referrals from organisations.  In comparison to other areas, it was recognised that Doncaster benefited from some highly effective resources.

Transfer of Doncaster Children’s Services Trust to the Council – Members were pleased to hear about the potential benefits and opportunities from the Trust transferring over to the Council and through aligning with a larger organisation.  It was noted that the biggest risk would be losing the opportunity to bid for funding as a smaller organisation (the Trust) compared to the Council, however, it was recognised that there would still be other funding streams.  It was also stated that by bringing the Trust back would remove contractual barriers.

Members heard that staff were looking forward to returning to the Council and that from a Senior Leadership point of view the Trust and the Council were working well together moving forward.

Supporting Young People into Education, Employment and Training Members were provided with assurances that there were strategies in place, to ensure that those leaving the youth justice system had opportunities to access employment, education and training.  Members heard about what was in place, which included;

·       Dedicated Pathways to Progression, which had been provided as part of the Sheffield City Regional  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.