Sir Charles Pollard will tell the Annual Youth Justice Convention that the pace of reform in the secure sector has not matched the achievements made in the community to deal with young offenders. While recognising the significant improvements made in the past few years, he will acknowledge that there is still a long way to go to bring the standards seen in the best establishments to the rest of the secure estate. He will tell the conference that the Board is working to develop a new vision for the juvenile secure estate to address its concerns.
The way that young offenders are supervised in the community has changed radically since Youth Offending Teams were set up in 2000. Social workers, probation officers, health and education specialists and police officers now work together to ensure young offenders are steered away from a life of crime. This has resulted in a 22.5% drop in reoffending against the predicted rate for young people on community punishments.
Sir Charles Pollard will tell the conference that there needs to be:
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a greater emphasis on safeguarding arrangements to protect children from suicide, self-harm, bullying, and harm from staff and other adults;
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a dedicated and separate workforce trained specifically to deal with children in prison;
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an increased interchange of staff between the custodial sector and Yots;
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an enhanced ability to plan for a whole sentence, particularly resettlement.
Sir Charles Pollard, former Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police and acting Youth Justice Board Chairman, will tell the conference:
‘We have made significant improvements. These include the establishment of a national placement scheme, improvements in education and training, and greater time out of cells and in purposeful activity in Young Offender Institutions. However, there is still a long way to go to bring the standard of provision across the whole estate up to that provided in the best establishments.'
Notes to editors:
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Sir Charles Pollard, former Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police and acting Chair of the Youth Justice Board, will be speaking at the Annual Youth Justice Convention at the QEII at 10.40am on Tuesday, 11 November.
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The Youth Justice Board was set up under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to monitor the performance and operation of the entire youth justice system. Its aim is to prevent offending by children and young people. It delivers this by preventing crime and the fear of crime; identifying and dealing with young offenders; reducing reoffending. Its statutory duties include commissioning and purchasing places in the juvenile secure estate (Young Offender Institutions, Secure Training Centres and Local Authority Secure Children's Homes) for young people up to the age of 17 sentenced or remanded to custody.
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Youth Offending Teams (Yots) are one-stop shops for all young offenders. They bring together officers from social services, probation, education, health and the police and have been running since April 2000.