Councillor Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications), MartineAquilina (Head of Service) and Sarah Wilson (Service Manager for Youth Justice) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:  

a)    Plymouth City Council was required to publish a Youth Justice Plan annually after consultation with partner agencies;

b)    The plan aligned with key local strategies including the Safer Plymouth Partnership, Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Plan, and the Children's Commissioning Strategy;

c)    The Youth Justice Service operated within the wider children, young people, and families service to ensure holistic support for early help and prevention; 

d)    The service aimed to support children on the cusp of entering the criminal justice system and those already involved to prevent reoffending;

e)    A committed and proactive management board oversaw the service, ensuring robust strategies and partnership approaches;

f)     The plan marked the first year of a new three-year plan to improve outcomes for children and the community. The aspiration was to be one of the best youth justice services in the country;

g)    Key achievements included strengthening early help and prevention, reducing first-time entrants, and maintaining low re-offending rates;

h)    Victim support services were enhanced to provide multidisciplinary support to victims;

i)     Efforts were made to improve transitions for young people moving from youth justice to adult probation services;

j)     The service successfully transitioned to a new case management system;

k)    The team remained committed to a 'child first' approach and worked to embed this philosophy across partner agencies;

l)     Daily intelligence briefings were held to monitor and act on cases involving missing children, homelessness, and custody;

In response to questions raised it was reported that: 

m)  The Youth Justice Board planned to prioritise disproportionality related to care-experienced young people and children with SEND needs. Targets were to be set during the board away day in September 2025; 

n)    SEND colleagues were integrated into the Youth Justice Board, which included a speech and language therapist who provided training to magistrates;

o)    The cohort of children in the Youth Justice Service remained small, with 16 on statutory orders and 51 receiving prevention work;

p)    Disproportionality in ethnicity was previously addressed, reducing from 14.9% to align more closely with the school population (approx. 9%);

q)    Speech and language support was enhanced toimprove understanding;

r)    A dedicated care-experienced police officer collaborated daily with the Youth Justice Service to monitor children in custody, missing children, and those entering the system;

s)     A daily intelligence briefing was held at 9:30am every morning involving education, health, substance misuse specialists, and police to coordinate actions for vulnerable children.The briefing model was adapted from Bradford Children’s Social Care and became a best practice example in Plymouth;

t)     The Youth Justice Service emphasised early intervention and prevention to reduce statutory interventions; 

u)    Offences were often linked to underlying harm and deprivation. A multi-disciplinary team worked holistically with families to address root causes;

v)    Mental health concerns were addressed through CAMHS workers embedded in the service. It was suggested that young people required more mentoring and coaching to focus on their emotional well-being and providing the ability to build trusted relationships where some young people hadn’t had one;  

w)   Persistent engagement with adolescents was key to building trust and reducing re-offending. 

x)    A Youth Violence Champion was appointed to work with the OPCC and Safer Communities to deliver targeted programmes in schools.The champion role was supported by partnerships with detached youth teams and neighborhood policing units. 

Action:

1.    A briefing report would be provided around disproportionality and would include further information including a deeper analysis. The report would also reflect on gender and girls and how the service was adapting to meet the needs of groups of young people. The action plan to address disproportionality would also be provided.