YJB reveals focus on outcomes in latest business plan

The YJB Corporate and Business Plan 2011/12 – 2014/15 features a total of 35 action points, driven by factors including saving £120m by 2015, reducing custody levels and preventing offending. The plan outlines priorities including:

• Working with the Metropolitan Police to support multi-agency safeguarding hubs (Mash) in London
• Supporting proposals by the MoJ and Home Office to use out-of-court measures to deal with antisocial behaviour
• Looking to launch payment-by-results for youth offending teams
• Introducing a revised risk assessment model for young offenders
• Developing compliance panels to reduce instances of young offenders breaching community punishments
• Expanding knife crime prevention programmes and a specific framework for working with girls
• Launching four more "resettlement consortia" so young offenders receive better support on leaving custody
• Widening the use of restorative justice
• Reviewing the YJB’s approach to monitoring serious incidents in the community
• Supporting the expansion of point of arrest diversion schemes to provide help for young offenders with mental health or substance misuse problems
• Introducing conflict resolution training to secure training centres to reduce the use of controversial restraint techniques

The proposals consist largely of strategies to meet changes outlined in the government’s sentencing green paper, as well as updated details on ongoing work and commitments.

Frances Done, chair of the YJB, and John Drew, chief executive, said all agencies involved in youth justice face a "tough financial challenge" over the 2011-15 spending review period and the way the YJB operates will change.

"Practitioners need the flexibility to innovate to make best use of their resources," they stated. "In response our oversight of the youth justice system will be lighter touch, with a greater focus on outcomes.

"We will encourage peer support and allow more room for professional judgment, and we will put in place new ways to research, identify and spread effective practice across the youth justice system.

"We will also take advantage of opportunities to engage more widely with the voluntary sector, encouraging innovative ways of providing local support for young people."

The YJB is set to be absorbed into the MoJ as a new Youth Justice Division in April next year.