Issue - meetings

RESOLVED:

1. That Cabinet approves the 2024/25 Youth Justice Plan for consideration by Full Council at its meeting on 9 July 2024.

Reasons for Decisions:

An annual youth justice plan is a statutory requirement for local authorities. This plan has been prepared following national guidance from the Youth Justice Board.

Annual youth justice plans are an opportunity to review performance and developments over the last twelve months and plan for the next year. This allows services to be able to respond to any changes that have taken place in the previous year, including new legislation, demographic changes, delivery of key performance indicators, and developments in service delivery. The planning and production of a youth justice plan is beneficial to partnership working and service delivery to ensure the best outcomes for children.

The overarching vision for Surrey County Council’s Children, Families and Lifelong Learning directorate is ‘to support families and enable children and young people to be and feel safe, healthy and make good choices about their wellbeing’. We aim to ensure that Surrey's children and families have access to a range of services that tackle inequalities, support independence and enhance lives. This ethos is the foundation for the youth justice plan, which also supports the Council’s ‘No One Left Behind’ commitment to Surrey residents, the wider ‘The Surrey Way’ objectives, and the Council’s strategy for children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture Select Committee)

The Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning introduced the 2024/25 Youth Justice Plan for Cabinet’s approval and asked Cabinet to recommend to Council for approval. It was explained that Local authorities had a statutory duty to submit an annual youth justice plan relating to their provision of youth justice services. The Deputy Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning drew out some highlights from the plan explaining that in the last 4 years there had been a reduction in children becoming first time entrants into the criminal justice system across Surrey. This was partly due to successful pre-court interventions by deferred prosecution. Re- offending rates remained lower than statistical neighbours and national averages and timeliness of matters being dealt with through the criminal justice system, from offence to outcome, had been improving in relation to children for three consecutive years. The National Youth Justice Board Oversight Framework advised the council that the service had been moved into the top tier of the new performance grading system. The Leader commended the work of the Youth Justice service and the excellent work undertaken.

RESOLVED:

1. That Cabinet approves the 2024/25 Youth Justice Plan for consideration by Full Council at its meeting on 9 July 2024.

Reasons for Decisions:

An annual youth justice plan is a statutory requirement for local authorities. This plan has been prepared following national guidance from the Youth Justice Board.

Annual youth justice plans are an opportunity to review performance and developments over the last twelve months and plan for the next year. This allows services to be able to respond to any changes that have taken place in the previous year, including new legislation, demographic changes, delivery of key performance indicators, and developments in service delivery. The planning and production of a youth justice plan is beneficial to partnership working and service delivery to ensure the best outcomes for children.

The overarching vision for Surrey County Council’s Children, Families and Lifelong Learning directorate is ‘to support families and enable children and young people to be and feel safe, healthy and make good choices about their wellbeing’. We aim to ensure that Surrey's children and families have access to a range of services that tackle inequalities, support independence and enhance lives. This ethos is the foundation for the youth justice plan, which also supports the Council’s ‘No One Left Behind’ commitment to Surrey residents, the wider ‘The Surrey Way’ objectives, and the Council’s strategy for children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture Select Committee)