The report is available on the HM Inspectorate of Probation website.
Reading’s Youth Justice Service (Reading YJS) partnership is disappointed by an inadequate rating following an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) but accepts the findings and is moving at pace to implement improvements.
HMIP is the independent inspector of youth justice and probation services in England and Wales. HMIP reports on the effectiveness of probation and youth justice service work with adults and children.
Inspectors visited Reading in September this year and published their report this week (December x). They inspected and rated Reading YJS across three broad areas: the arrangements for organisational delivery of the service, the quality of work done with children sentenced by the courts and the quality of out-of-court disposal work.
Despite the low rating, inspectors concluded their report by saying that if their recommendations are accepted and addressed, they had no doubt that the delivery of youth justice services will develop positively.
Of the 12 areas covered, seven were rated ‘inadequate’ and five as ‘requires improvement’, so the overall rating was ‘inadequate’.
The Reading YJS is made up of a partnership between the local authority, police, probation and health services.
Inspectors acknowledged that significant progress had been made in Reading in the last 12 months. This included the appointments of the independent management board chair and service manager, who have been proactive in making positive changes. These include developing a ‘child-first’ vision and a re-energising of the youth justice partnership.
Inspectors said they saw some aspects of effective practice beginning to emerge; healthcare provision is having a positive impact, there is evidence that the voice of the child is being heard more effectively and support for the parents of exploited children is impressive, but said too little attention had been given to youth justice work since the last inspection in May 2016 and there had been an underestimation of the impact this had had.
Criticism was levelled at the levels of access to and engagement with education for children and young people within the youth justice system, as well as access to substance misuse interventions or support.
In addition, inspectors found that the response and approach to addressing concerns outside the home for young people caught up in crime were not always effective and the needs of victims not sufficiently met.
Michael O’Connor, chair of the Reading Youth Justice Service Management Board, said: “We are all clearly disappointed with the inspection findings, but we have taken a strategic and pragmatic approach to address all the recommendations made in the report.
“We began implementing changes almost immediately, following feedback from inspectors while they were on site. We have drawn up a comprehensive improvement action plan and are also building on progress made within the last 12 months, which was too soon for the impact to be seen by inspectors while they were here.
“While the grading is a blow to staff across all agencies in the partnership, we will use it to drive us forward positively and demonstrate that what we are doing is improving outcomes for young people who find themselves caught up in the criminal justice system.”
Notes to Editors
The Reading YJS website information is hosted on Brighter Futures for Children’s website, which is one of the partners.