Response to youth justice interim report

I had the privilege of meeting with Charlie Taylor last week who visited Cheshire West, Halton and Warrington Youth Offending Service, an organisation described as high performing by HMI Probation recently. This service, like others, has been praised for working efficiently and collaboratively with somewhat limited use of resources. The National Association for Youth Justice (NAYJ) has today published a detailed response to Charlie Taylor’s youth justice review: interim report of emerging findings.

The NAYJ welcome the review especially the focus on addressing key “failures” in the system. Specifically, the NAYJ is in support of a commitment to significantly overhaul and in turn improve how children deprived of their liberty are treated. The proposal to abolish young offender institutions and then to replace them with “secure schools” was welcomed in the response. This type of provision offers the most promise regarding the achieving of significant progress in relation to children and young people, especially with regard to educational attainment but also in relation to health and wellbeing measures.