Issue - meetings

[To present the Wolverhampton Youth Justice Plan 2022-2023]

That Council be recommended to:

1.    Approve the adoption of the Youth Justice Plan 2022-2023.

That Cabinetnotes:

1.    The specific achievement of the Youth Offending Team during 2021-2022 including a reduction in first time entrants, a reduction in re-offending rates and a reduction in the number of young people receiving a custodial sentence.

Councillor Beverley Momenabadi presented Wolverhampton’s Youth Justice Plan 2022-2023 for recommendation to Full Council for approval. The plan set out the work of the Youth Offending Team (YOT) that was overseen by the partnership YOT Management Board. The primary focus of a YOT was to prevent and reduce the offending behaviour of young people aged up to 18.  The YOT plan focussed on three overarching national indicators on which performance was measured; the number of first-time entrants into the youth justice system, the number of young people who reoffend after their first offence and the number of young people who receive a custodial sentence as opposed to a community sentence. 

Councillor Momenabadi highlighted key achievements in the previous year and priorities for the YOT in the forthcoming year as contained in the plan. She also reported that there had been a number of serious incidents in the city lately. The youth offending data was telling us that although the incident rate was low, the complexity of the incidents that are happening in the city are much higher.  She went on to mention some of the interventions that the YOT was working on with different groups and in a multi-agency way, to make sure they respond to those incidents fast. Cabinet was also informed of work taking place, including with Police and Crime Commissioner's Office about some wider messaging to children and young people particularly around knife crime.

Resolved:

That Council be recommended to:

1.    Approve the adoption of the Youth Justice Plan 2022-2023.

That Cabinetnotes:

1.    The specific achievement of the Youth Offending Team during 2021-2022 including a reduction in first time entrants, a reduction in re-offending rates and a reduction in the number of young people receiving a custodial sentence.