Board member changes

By Frances Done, chair

Ministers at the Department of Children, Schools and Families and the Ministry of Justice have, with my advice, been considering the position of the five of our Board Members whose terms of office are due to expire in September 2008.

Rosemary Hartill's appointment will come to an end on 30 September. Advertising for her replacement will focus on attracting applicants with experience of children's services.

Rosemary has made a tremendously valued contribution to our work, especially in relation to the development of restorative justice, improvement of the secure estate, our communications and relationships with stakeholders in the North East.

Howard Williamson completes the maximum term allowed at the end of September, having been a Board Member since 2001. Howard has kept us very well connected with the real experience of young people and youth work practice, as well as ensuring we have developed a successful relationship with the Welsh Assembly Government and youth justice agencies throughout Wales.

Howard's replacement will also be advertised for, inviting applicants with particular experience of Wales.

It has been a pleasure for the whole organisation to work with both Rosemary and Howard, and we will be wishing them both well for the future later this year.

Ministers have confirmed that Alan Billings, Graham Robb and David Simpson will be reappointed as board members until the end of September 2010.

Consultation on Wales devolved youth justice indicators position paper

A paper setting out the consultation process we undertook to develop the devolved youth justice indicators for YOTs in Wales was sent to stakeholders last week for final feedback.

Click to download and read the paper.

If you have any final comments on its content, please send to margaret.rooney@yjb.gov.uk by 30 June.

Keppel Unit workshops

The Keppel Unit, a new secure unit at Wetherby YOI providing an enhanced regime for 15 to 17-year-old young men who struggle to engage with standard regimes within YOIs, will open on 6 October 2008.

Young men can be referred there from other institutions or direct from court. To explain the referral process and the benefits of the 48-bed unit, there will be a two-hour workshop for YOT caseworkers and secure estate staff in the four identified catchment areas.

• North East - 3 September (Durham)
• Yorkshire and the Humber - 4 September (Leeds)
• West Midlands - 10 September (Birmingham)
• North West - 11 and 12 September (Bolton)

More details will be sent out to individual YOTs and establishments in two weeks’ time. If you have a query about the workshop, or the Keppel Unit in general, contact Jenny Chambers.

Clarification on use of electronic monitoring on release from DTOs

Following issue 50 of this bulletin on 18 March, there have been several queries raised in relation to the legality of tagging young people released from custody to the community at the halfway point of their DTO sentence, particularly in relation to those young people considered to present a high risk on release.

To clarify, the reason why a young person cannot be routinely tagged on release from custody at the halfway point of their DTO is not a legal issue. Rather it relates to the contracts with electronic monitoring providers.

Following further discussions with the Ministry of Justice, it has now been agreed that in addition to electronically monitored curfews being available for young people being released on ISSP and those gaining early release from the custodial element of the DTO before the halfway point, this will now also be available to those who are classified as MAPPA Level 3.

Click forfull details.

To request an electronically monitored curfew for MAPPA 3 STC and secure children's home cases, please contact helen.mclachlan-smith@yjb.gov.uk.

General queries relating to electronically monitored curfews should be directed to susan.walker@yjb.gov.uk.

Update on the Prolific and Other Priority Offender (PPO) Strategy

We have produced guidance on the Deter part of the PPO Strategy, including how to select the Deter cohort. This follows the publication of the Counting Rules 2008/09 earlier this year, which included a change in the criteria for the cohort.

Click to read more and download Prolific and Other Priority Offender Strategy: An update on Prevent and Deter for youth offending teams.

Feedback on first quarter of the Juvenile Cohort Study

The Juvenile Cohort Study is now in full swing. It is a longitudinal cohort study running until 2010 and includes the participation of 30 YOTs and 10,000 young people who are tracked over a two-year period.

Click to read about what’s been achieved in its first three months.

‘Effective Practice in Youth Justice’ course to start in October

The course ‘Effective Practice in Youth Justice’ (K208), which leads to the award of the Professional Certificate in Effective Practice (Youth Justice), delivered by the Open University, will be available starting from 25 October this year.  

Some central funding will be available to all YOTs in 2008/09 to contribute to your purchase of training places. Further information on the value of this funding, as well as how to claim it and register on the course, will be circulated soon.  

This message is intended to give you early notification of the course and to enable you to begin considering who you may wish to purchase places for and to collect expressions of interest from staff.

Latest issue of Lockdown magazine published

The third edition of LockDown magazine has been published and distributed throughout the secure estate for children and young people. LockDown is produced by young people at Medway STC and is written by and for children and young people sentenced or remanded to custody.

LockDown is published every quarter and it is hoped that articles and stories for future editions will come from across the entire secure estate.

Click for more information, to download the current and past issues, or to find out how to order a copy.

The next issue of YJBulletin - YOTs will be published in a fortnight on Tuesday 8 July.