Agenda item

[Report will be sent to follow]

The Board welcomed Cllr Obaida Ahmed, Chair of the Scrutiny Review, to the meeting. Cllr Ahmed introduced the draft scrutiny review in to youth violent crime and provided an overview of the main points in the report. The review had been cross-party and provided a platform for placing violence prevention at the heart of the Council’s commitment to ensure that everyone in Wolverhampton could live their lives in a safe and supportive environment. Cllr Ahmed thanked everyone who had contributed to the scrutiny review.

The report considered areas of good practice already taking place within the City such as Catch 22, Eyes to Success, the Summer Squad and Believe to Achieve and the good work being carried out by the Council’s own Youth Offending Service and Community Safety Team. Alongside this, the report provided evidence and examples of successful initiatives carried out by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit and made a number of recommendations regarding how these initiatives could be fed into the future West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit.

The report highlighted the importance of early intervention and the necessity of training for all those who had direct contact with young people in order that they might spot the signs of adverse childhood experiences and be able to take appropriate action.

Cllr Ahmed explained that the review had adopted a public health approach and had initially sought to understand and establish the facts regarding youth violent crime. One very important statistic was that only 8% of violence in the City was committed by young people.

Cllr Ahmed stated that no one is born violent but risk factors from birth can lead a young person to violence and it was the responsibility of everyone to try and bring in as many preventative measures as possible to mitigate the risk factors.  Cllr Ahmed stated that young people suffering from adverse childhood experiences (ACES) could be up to ten times more likely to be involved in violence by the time they were 18. The review highlighted the vital role of the community in supporting young people to overcome ACES and associated risk factors.

The group had visited the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU) and the experience from this had helped to form the core of the review.  The SVRU had been on a long journey but what shone through was the passion the team had and this was vital to its success and needed to be replicated in the new West Midlands VRU. The SVRU had also highlighted the importance of involving people with real, lived experiences of trauma who could offer empathy rather than just sympathy to those in need of help and support.

Cllr Ahmed praised the wonderful work that had been carried out over the summer holidays by the Summer Squad which had resulted in a 48% reduction in violence. This was a perfect example of what could be achieved, and it was important that schemes such as this continued.

The Board praised the work done and the report; and thanked Cllr Ahmed and everyone who had been involved in the scrutiny review.

The question was raised as to whether the groups had considered the issue of parental support. Cllr Ahmed stated that yes this had been considered and that it was important to rebuild relationships with all generations and that one area for consideration might be the use of intergenerational centres.

The Board considered that the loss of the youth service had impacted quite strongly on areas of the city and that something positive really needed to come out of the review and that the Council needed to identify the resources needed to support the recommendations in the report.

The Board agreed with Cllr Ahmed that the narrative from the press needed to change and that initiatives such as the Summer Squad needed to be continued in partnership with the Police to help drive down the fear of crime.

The Board also considered the issues associated with school exclusions and considered that more support was needed regarding this as young people were on a road to nowhere once excluded. Schools needed to ensure that exclusion was a last resort. The Board agreed that the referral units in the City were excellent and could really turn children around but when 7 and 8 year children were being excluded there was a need to be concerned.

The Chief Executive stated that many of the initiatives recommended by the review were already being embedded in the work of the Council and that it was vital to ensure that our influence was felt regarding the West Midlands VRU. Most of the work carried out to date had been to understand what would actually make a difference and what was actually meant by youth services today. The Council was committed to supporting young people and setting them on the right path. There was a report planned for Cabinet in January which followed on from the work of the Summer Squad and the Youth Engagement Strategy. The Council was keen to try new initiatives and was prepared to not always succeed in the quest for what worked.  This was the start of a more long-term implementation plan for young people in the City.  There were some big challenges ahead.

Resolved:     That the report be received and noted.