YOT inspections will continue to be carried out by HM Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) on a five year cycle. The annual performance assessments will include inspection information, where there is a recent report available. As far as possible, YOT inspections will be timetabled so that they correspond with the joint area review.
The HMIP inspectors’ findings are fed into the joint area reviews but it should be noted that the self-assessments YOTs complete for them is not made available to the joint area review inspectors.
HMIP published their third annual report for the Youth Offending Team inspection programme on 28 September 2006. This marks the mid-way point in the five year cycle of inspections. The report found that there is a variety of strengths across YOTs as well as areas requiring improvement, with few general patterns. However, HMIP concluded that the majority of YOTs need to improve their assessment and management of the risk of harm to others presented by children and young people under their supervision. Aggregation of the inspection findings by gender and ethnicity emphasised the general vulnerability of girls and young women in the criminal justice system, and demonstrated an overall need for greater understanding of, and engagement with, adolescents from black and minority ethnic groups who offend.
For more information on YOT inspections, and to download the Annual Report, please see the HMIP website [opens in new window].