Agenda item

Please provide an outline of the roles and responsibilities that your post involves, and an overview of the services supplied by the Youth Offending Team.

From 1982 to 1999 I worked as a Probation Officer in Kent, then as a manager at Medway Youth Offending Service (YOS), until I joined the Kent YOS in 2004.  I took up my current post in October 2010.

I have an overview of the relationship between YOS and Education and how they relate to each other and work together.  We share the aim of keeping as many young people as possible in mainstream school for as long as possible.  There are some behavioural issues that need to be dealt with, but schools are generally fairly creative about how they approach these. There are forums such as the ‘Managed Move’ schemes in Ashford and Shepway which aim to promote and support inclusion.

There are five education workers, at least one in each YOS team, whose primary role is to liaise with schools to keep young people in school as long as possible, and if that fails, to liaise with alternative education providers. Providers of the alternative curriculum are very receptive and understanding of young people’s needs. They work with young people who often have very challenging circumstances, but they engage well and achieve reasonable outcomes.

There is increased use of reduced timetables, in which a young person attends school for maybe as few as five hours a week.  Some of this is out-of-hours work.  A young person might be put on reduced hours and a reduced curriculum for three weeks or so before being supported into re-integration.  Year 11 is a real challenge for many young people who are not academic and have no interest in exams.  Many pupils in their final year get out of the habit of attending school. For them, some schools will agree to a reduced timetable or education at home.  This decision would be made as part of the school’s pastoral support plan. 67 – 75% of young people of statutory school age do a full 25 hour week programme of education.

Problems often arise when a young person leaves school.  If they have problems with learning or engaging, these problems will emerge at that time, but the picture that we work with is a fragmented one.  YOS provision includes two integrated resettlement officers, who work with convicted young people who have served a custodial sentence (although, in Kent, there are very few young people in this category). These officers support young people upon their release with issues such as finding accommodation, accessing education and doing some basic skills training.  The ‘New Skills, New Lives’ Project, which has government funding, is used by the KCC to support 20 young people in a vulnerable learners scheme.  These initiatives have had successes, and employers have found that the literacy and numeracy levels of the young people involved have been higher than they expected.  Literacy and numeracy projects can be accessed on line, and these work well with young people who found it difficult to engage with these subjects at school.

Provision of suitable courses by Further Education colleges can be patchy, particularly in Ashford, Swale and Shepway, and much of the provision does not meet young people’s needs.  Courses are offered, but they are not underpinned by pastoral support, and many young people drop out because they do not feel supported.

There is an apprentice scheme which aims to match young people’s interests, needs and abilities to suitable employment options.  NOLAS funding is used to help provide training in construction, in partnership with JobCentre Plus.  This training is provided by construction workers, who have a good success rate at getting through to young people and who do not stand for any nonsense.  Recent changes to Health and Safety legislation allows 16 and 17 year olds to work on some types of construction site. YOS has a support role and takes a lead in some of this training.

The overall picture of training for young offenders who are past statutory school age is fragmented.  Colleges tend to try to get young people to fit round their courses, but when they engage well and build courses around young people’s interests, those young people are so much better engaged.  In North West Kent there is a fishing club which is popular with many young people.  This involves an education programme which is themed around fishing, and has proved successful and a good way to engage young people by building a learning element around their existing interest.

What happens when a student starts to offend? Is there any typical pattern or identified route into this?

You cannot generalise about patterns as every case is different, and there are many routes into, and reasons for, offending.  If a child has grown up with poverty and worklessness, behavioural problems can start in Primary School.  The transition from Primary to Secondary School offers an opportunity to iron out difficulties, but a child might start to truant at this stage.  If they are in school they may exhibit disruptive behaviour, so a school may choose to introduce a reduced timetable or try home schooling at this stage.  If parents have not worked for years they will have no knowledge of the work scene to pass on to their child, and often no aspirations or inspiration to offer.  Once a young person starts to miss school, they mix with others who have opted out and start on a downward spiral. If their parents do not value education and are not able to direct them, we need to address and aim to change the attitude of the whole family. We need to find something a young person wants to do; something which does not include a classroom.  If you can engage them in something which interests them, often they will shine.

As an offender, are they sent away from their family?  How and when do they come back, and how is it for them when they do come back?  How can we help with this experience?

The number of young people being taken into custody now is 33% lower than it was five years ago, as the Police now try to deal with as many as possible informally and avoid custody.  We work with the Police and others as part of a measured, multi-agency approach. There are always a few custody cases, and until five years ago they could have been sent anywhere in the UK, eg Bristol or Tyneside, so families would have had difficulty in visiting.  Now, 90 - 95% of those who receive a short sentence (ie up to 2 years) go to Cookham Wood near Rochester.  They are much nearer home, so can maintain family links, and are nearer the education services they are likely to access upon their release, so are able to establish better links and achieve more continuity.  Staying within the county also helps the resettlement service to establish links with them before they are released.

Do many young offenders have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?

Yes, and we work with NHS colleagues and the CAMHS service to address their needs.  There is more understanding of the condition now.  It is known that 70% of adult males in custody have been concussed at least once in their lives.  We use speech and language programmes and other assessment tools to address this.  Many might not have been able to follow classes at school, and so dropped out or became disruptive, as they had trouble understanding the language.

Why are there fewer young offenders in custody now?

Because their behaviour was previously more criminalised than it is now. Many Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) were given out and they started to lose their effectiveness, so Kent saw limited value in using ASBOs and now looks more at addressing the attitudes and behaviour of a young person and their whole family.  If young people are criminalised early, they establish criminal habits, which then worsen as they age.  They start into a custody career, which then escalates.  We apply a social rather then a criminal model and aim to help a family rather than criminalise them.  There has been a real reduction in youth crime as a result, but there is also a change in the way we define it.

Is community service more effective than locking someone up?

Restorative justice, in which an offender has to engage with their victim, allows closure. We are hoping for a Green Paper which will develop this idea. There is much use of restorative justice in Northern Ireland.  Rehabilitation is now favoured rather than punishment.

Are there preventative measures which aim to avoid offending?

There is a Youth Justice Board Grant of £600,000 a year, which funds a Youth Worker Panel to support young people who are at risk of offending.  Most referrals to this Panel are received via schools.  They work directly with young people, using individual programmes, and are effective in reducing offending.  The number of young people offending for the first time has been reduced by 33%, due to joint working initiatives involving the Police and the YOS.

Can you tell us a bit about school refusers?

Young people refuse to attend school mainly due to fear.  A parent’s negative attitude to school will colour their child’s view of school, and will start them on a downward spiral.   Parenting work has been very effective in challenging this.  The numbers of young people who actually refuse to go to school are quite low, although they may have issues with engaging and staying once they are there.

There are two centres which work with refusers on the ISS programme; these are Sittingbourne Youth Centre at New House and The Quarterdeck at Ramsgate.  Members of the Select Committee are very welcome to visit either of them.

The ‘Challenger’ and ‘Schools Force’ initiatives visit schools to speak to young people, but what happens if a young person then drops out or is excluded?  What signposting or information are they offered?

I have come across an army training initiative set up by a Brigadier and run by serving soldiers, which uses army training methods on young people.  Youngsters camp for one week at a time, dressed in army uniform and following army discipline techniques.  There are no fences to keep them in but they are encouraged to stay.  They are viewed and assessed by a psychologist.  This offers a three- to six-month programme which seeks to replace or reduce costly youth custody.  It costs £98 per day to put one young person through this sort of programme.  At the end of the course each young person gets a certificate, and many of them are inspired to go on and join the army.  However, initiatives such as this seem to be difficult to signpost or connect to, which is very frustrating.

Yes, much 16+ provision has only short-term funding which is unpredictable from year to year.  This area needs some continuity.  There has been some progress with Higher and Further Education colleges.  Experience has been varied but there is a protocol in place now about what a young person should expect to receive in terms of pastoral support.  All Higher and Further Education colleges have a YOS link person to help a young person settle into college and also to complete an application form for college. There is more work to do with colleges on their provision and flexibility.

How can the Select Committee help the YOS with its work?

You could get colleges to sign up to the needs of vulnerable learners.

Colleges get paid on results – wouldn’t this create a barrier? The Wolf report could help with this.

Apprenticeships are another area where the Committee could help.  The KCC needs to put its money where its mouth is!  I have one apprentice in my team, whose allowance of £105 per week is funded via KCC.  KCC could encourage other public sector bodies to take on this sort of scheme.  A good example of any scheme run in Kent or by KCC could be promoted to other councils, to raise the profile of what Kent does.