Young people within the Criminal Justice System – Learning Initiative: ESF Convergence project 2009-2013

1.  This work comes under the ‘First Footholds’ heading of Reach the Heights. ‘First Footholds’ aims to engage with Wales’ most disadvantaged young people to help them tackle the barriers that get in the way of them learning and moving on. This includes support for young people and training for those helping them, along with new opportunities for learning in work and other environments.

2.  The Welsh Assembly Government’s ‘’Young people within the Criminal Justice System – Learning Initiative’’ will focus on support for young people aged 11-17 years attached to the consortia of Youth Offending Teams.

3.  It will also look to encompass the key transition point of those aged17-19 years within the criminal justice system and will seek to engage with National Offender Management Service Cymru and the Welsh Assembly Government’s Department of Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills policy areas responsible for education of offenders post 18 years.

4.  The amount is (approx)£1.25 million and will involve a ‘split’ of approximately 70% of the funding for those young people within the community and 30% for those within the secure estate. This equates to the significant variance of individuals attached to a YOT and the numbers within a custodial setting.

5.  Research evidence indicates that more young women are coming into this system (YJB 2009). It is also the case that BME groups represent disproportionate numbers in the system (October 2007). Alongside this 25% of young people within the system have identified Special Educational Needs YJB (2006).

6.  It is the case that up to 50% of young people sentenced from Wales serves their sentence within England and are some distance from their home and community. The ‘’Dancing Through the Gaps’’ (2006) project identified the type of support that can help the transition; this is also a model for the secure estate within Wales.

7.  Detailed specifications are being finalised which will then go through the Welsh Assembly Government procurement process. Organisations will then bid for the work. Below are the core areas of focus for the activity:

·  Young women – community and secure estate

·  Young people with SEN - community and secure estate

·  Young Welsh BME people - community and secure estate

·  Outreach and ‘in reach’ support to the secure estate in Wales and England up to the age of 20 years (eligible up to one day before this birthday).

8.  The project will look to support interventions that aim to promote young people to maintain, improve and re-engage with education provision, training and or employment. Education and training should be linked directly to the young person’s Individual Learning Plan and have clear objectives that reflect possible future employment routes.

9.  Accreditation of education and training should again reflect individual’s future employment aspirations and therefore, hold robust validity with potential employers i.e. Open College Network and National Vocational Qualifications.

The project will look to:

·  Provide targeted support for young women within a custodial setting using specialist ‘outreach’ activity

·  Pilot work in partnership with Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) to identify young women in contact with the criminal justice system and provide packages of support (community)

·  Support access to Occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and art therapy activity support for the more vulnerable young people working on their emotional intelligence as part of preparation for release and accessing education, training in their community (secure and community)

·  Develop training for staff attached to YOTs in the areas of SEN

·  Help to assess individual learning needs/styles, including first language choice i.e. Welsh, and target support into education and training (secure and community)

·  Pilot work in partnership with YOTs to identify Welsh BME young people in contact with the criminal justice system and provide packages of support (community) involving local cultural organisations.

Suggested Youth Offending Team cluster groups

Gwynedd & Ynys Mon
Conwy & Denbighshire / Ceredigion
Pembrokeshire
Carmarthenshire / Swansea
Neath Port Talbot
Bridgend / Rhondda Cynon Taff
Merthyr / Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly
Torfaen

Suggested secure estate accommodation

Ashfield YOI

Parc YOI

Hillside SCH

Stoke Heath YOI

Eastwood Park HMP (female)

Styal HMP (female).

Consultation has taken place with the Youth Justice Board, the National Offender Management Service Cymru and policy leads across Department for Children Lifelong Learning and Skills within the Welsh Assembly Government including those responsible for education of those young people, post 18 within the criminal justice system.

A bibliography is attached with the relevant research and analysis data on the core areas included within paragraph 7.

Bibliography

Girls and offending – patterns, perceptions and interventions YJB 2009

Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2006

Barriers to engagement in education, training and employment YJB 2006

National Service Framework – Improving Services to Women Offenders 2008

A report by Baroness Jean Corston of a review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the Criminal Justice System (2007)

Welsh Assembly Government - Dancing Through the Gaps (2006)

Children and Young People in Custody 2006 – 2008 YJB

Welsh Assembly Government Analysis of support for young people with special educational needs (SEN) in the youth justice system (2009***) not published at this point

Annual Workload data 2007/08 YJB (2009)

The Cost of Exclusion Prince’s Trust (2007)

Meeting the learning needs of children and young people who offend Estyn (2008)

Youth Justice and schools in Wales (2006)

The Bercow Review – A review of Services for Children and young people (0 – 19) with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (2008)