The number of persistent young offenders in the first nine months of 2006-07 was 1,177, according to the latest quarterly figures published today by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration. This cumulative total is 72 more than at the same point last year, although the number qualifying in the most recent quarter was less than in the same period in 2005-06 and 2004-05.

The cumulative increase is accounted for by the performance in Scotland's four largest council areas - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife and North Lanarkshire, which collectively saw a year on year increase of 82 in PYOs over the first nine months of 2006-07.

The biggest reductions in numbers over the same period have been achieved in Stirling and Dundee.

In response to today's figures a number of authorities, including Fife, North Lanarkshire and Dundee, have indicated that they are keen to work with others to learn from best practice in tackling persistent youth offending.

A team of frontline professionals is currently working with all 32 local authorities to assess and support their plans to implement the Youth Justice Improvement Programme, which was launched by Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson in October.

Ministers also announced today that the Social Work Inspection Agency will conduct an inspection of youth justice services, focusing on the effectiveness of interventions with serious and persistent offenders, aged 14-18.

Ms Jamieson said:

"The vast majority of young people in Scotland are a credit to us. They are benefiting from the safer, stronger communities we are building, through our focus on tackling all forms of antisocial behaviour and our success in cutting crime.

"Increased resources for youth justice services across Scotland is helping to divert more young people away from offending, providing intensive support for families who need it most, and ensuring those who continue to offend take some responsibility for their actions.

"However, it is quite clear - particularly to those who have suffered as a result of their unruly behaviour - that a minority of young people cause disproportionate harm to their communities.

"Fourteen local authorities have now achieved reductions in persistent youth offender numbers in the first nine months of 2006-07 compared to the same period last year, but the figures are up in 17 areas.

"I want to pay tribute to those areas like Dundee and Stirling who are demonstrating that significant improvements in this difficult area can be made.

"Despite signs of improvement, particularly since October, progress in many areas needs to be accelerated and sustained. There are still too many young people whose behaviour is not being sufficiently challenged, nor ultimately changed.

"The draft plans we have received from across the country, for the most part, show a willingness among local agencies to work more closely together to identify young people most at risk of repeat offending and to take the firm action needed to tackle it.

"The improvement team is providing support and advice to ensure agencies are collectively addressing and improving all indicators on youth crime, concentrating initially on those areas like Glasgow, Edinburgh and North Lanarkshire, with most still to do.

"But this team is here to support local agencies - not to do it for them. That requires leadership and commitment from local authorities and their partners in the police and SCRA.

"In every part of Scotland I expect - and more importantly our hard-pressed communities expect - to see agencies using the measures and resources now available to them.

"I am pleased to hear that some agencies and authorities have also committed themselves to working with others to learn from what works. I expect to see that commitment from all of them.

"Crime overall is falling. Robberies are at a 30 year low. But within that overall picture of success we also need to see the offending of this small group of young people falling too."

Young people qualified as PYOs as-at the end of Q3 (05-06) 06-07:

SCOTLAND (1,105) 1,177

Aberdeen City (44) 51

Aberdeenshire (6) 12

Angus (33) 31

Argyll & Bute (15) 12

Clackmannanshire (20) 18

Dumfries & Galloway (34) 37

Dundee (72) 58

East Ayrshire (41) 35

East Dunbartonshire (8) 3

East Lothian (4) 10

East Renfrewshire (3) 4

Edinburgh, City of, (77) 87

Eilean Siar (11) 7

Falkirk (35) 33

Fife (65) 78

Glasgow City (203) 248

Highland (35) 30

Inverclyde (11) 16

Midlothian (21) 24

Moray (21) 34

North Ayrshire 46 (46)

North Lanarkshire (73) 87

Orkney Islands (4) 0

Perth & Kinross (24) 18

Renfrewshire (16) 15

Scottish Borders (13) 19

Shetland Islands (3) 4

South Ayrshire (22) 27

South Lanarkshire (58) 56

Stirling (33) 17

West Dunbartonshire (32) 37

West Lothian (22) 23

The number of children qualifying as new PYOs in the third quarter of 2006-07 was 182 - 36 fewer than in each of the first two quarters of the year.

The Executive has increased funding to youth justice services from £3.5 million in 2000-01 to £63 million in 2006-07. This funds a range of local programmes including restorative justice and intensive support schemes, as well as diversionary activities supported through the Local Action Fund.

A further £2 million is being provided over two years to support projects that bring together health, housing and social work professionals to target support for troubled families and break the cycle of antisocial behaviour.

The Antisocial Behaviour Act 2004 introduced a range of measures, including dispersal orders, ASBOs-for under-16s, Intensive Support & Monitoring and Parenting Orders, to help local authorities and police tackle lower-level disorder and offending in communities. This has been supported with £130 million funding over four years, to help local authorities and police tackle antisocial behaviour and promote community safety.

In 2002 the Executive set agencies working in youth justice a set of national standards to be met by 2006. A target was also established to reduce the number of PYOs by 10 per cent by March 2006, and a further 10 per cent by March 2008, from a baseline figure of 1,201 established in 2003-04. The figure for 2005-06, published last summer, was 1,388.

A PYO is defined as a child or young person with five offending episodes within a six-month period, where an offending episode is equal to referral to the Children''s Reporter under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, section 52(2)(i).

Last October the Justice Minister launched the Youth Justice Improvement Programme to help deliver more consistent, co-ordinated and effective youth justice services across the country. The Programme outlines detailed actions to be taken at a local and national level, with timescales, to deliver: improved practice; improved evaluation and performance; more effective management; greater information to victims, communities and offenders; and appropriate capacity and skills.

The Youth Justice Improvement Team, bringing together experienced police and other professionals, is now working with all local authorities and partner agencies to ensure all are adopting good practice and in a position to deliver consistent, sustained improvement in performance.

Every local authority has now produced a draft action plan to demonstrate how they propose to take forward their programmes of activity, focusing on the criteria identified as key to sustained improvement: demonstrable early intervention; applying effective interventions; delivering parenting responses; sharing information and establishing governance channels; and specific actions targeted at serious and persistent offenders in order to deliver sustained improvements.

The SWIA inspection is expected to begin shortly and due to be completed by December 2007. It will examine the effectiveness of services provided by education, health, police, the voluntary sector and Scottish Prison Service.

In this edition we focus on new services including Craigielea’s early intervention and diversionary group, RETRACK, and Sacro’s Community Based Reparation Service in Aberdeen. The newsletter also features an article on the Youth Justice Improvement Programme set up by the Scottish Executive in 2006. As always the newsletter includes information on useful publications and future events including the Youth Justice Conference 2007.

The Aberdeen Youth Justice Strategy Group Annual Report 2005-06 is now available. This year's report follows a new design template set out by the Scottish Executive.

The report includes statistics on youth offending in Aberdeen City and outlines the challenges faced by the group in meeting the National Standards for 2008. It also contains case studies of young people involved in Sacro's Youth Justice Service and Barnardo's New Directions Project. These case studies illustrate that the work being done with young offenders in Aberdeen continues to have a positive impact on their lives and in helping to reduce their offending behaviour.

For more information or to request a copy of the report contact Karen Lumsden, Information and Communications Officer on 01224 560552.

Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson unveiled the Youth Justice Improvement Programme in Paisley where she met staff and young people involved in an award-winning project working with offenders and supporting parents.

Drawing heavily on the Youth Justice Improvement Group (YJIG) report, also published today, the Programme outlines detailed actions to be taken at a local and national level, with timescales, to deliver:

improved practice
improved evaluation and performance
more effective management
greater information to victims, communities and offenders
appropriate capacity and skills
A team of professional advisers has been preparing over the summer and is ready to start working directly with agencies to encourage best practice across the country and improve local performance and outcomes.

Ms Jamieson said:

"The vast majority of Scots, regardless of age, want and expect to see offending behaviour challenged and changed. They want fewer crimes committed against themselves, their families or the wider community.

Overall crime is falling, including violent crime - good news for us all, not least our young people who often bear the brunt of such offending.

Since we published our first Youth Crime Action Plan in 2002, considerable work has been done across the country and much has been achieved, including the implementation of National Standards.

We have significantly increased investment in youth justice - now at 63 million a year - and the Antisocial Behaviour Act has provided agencies with a range of new tools and helped concentrate and focus local action.

But local success in tackling the disproportionate harm caused by a minority of persistent youth offenders is not being replicated everywhere.

"As the Improvement Group states, there is no single solution to reducing offending, but a range of family, community and individual approaches.

Greater, joined-up efforts are needed to target these young people, to bring relief to hard-pressed communities and improve outcomes for all.

In acknowledging the Group''s proposals to achieve this, I've outlined additional steps to ensure we tackle all the issues effectively.

Building on the achievements of recent years, this Programme points the way ahead for local agencies, working more closely together and with the Executive, to drive down youth offending across the country.

Where local areas are on track, we will support them to continue good work. Where others are off the pace we will ensure they learn from good practice.

A Youth Justice Improvement Team, drawn from leading professionals with frontline experience, will provide support and advice to ensure agencies are collectively addressing and improving all indicators on youth crime. They have a national remit but I expect them to concentrate initially on helping areas with most still to do.

As a Minister I'm not prepared to write off any young person. But neither will I allow anyone's unchecked behaviour to write off their community."

The YJIG included a wide range of interests, including representatives from local authorities, police and the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA).

The YJIG report outlines in some detail the root causes of offending and antisocial behaviour and suggests that to improve the quality of provision and the experience of those affected by youth crime and antisocial behaviour, there are six broad areas where action is needed and where it will now be taken:

to tackle problems caused by a small number of troubled and troublesome families, providing support at an early stage
to stop persistent offending
to ensure young people involved in offending cannot refuse to engage in programmes to change their behaviour
to reduce specific risks to communities, other young people, and themselves, posed by a very small number of high risk offenders
to ensure the workforce has the capacity and skills to deal with this challenging agenda
to build community confidence that effective action is being taken
Councillor Eric Jackson, Social Work & Health Improvement spokesperson for COSLA and YJIG member, said:

"The report published today is as a result of the hard work of all the professionals, organisations and agencies that help support the youth justice system in Scotland.

It is aspirational, but represents a commitment to attaining successful outcomes for our young people. We can only do that through working together and taking joint responsibility for this crucial service."

Assistant Chief Constable Maureen Brown, who leads on youth issues for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS), said:

"The Scottish Police Service is committed to providing a high quality of service for all communities, increasing confidence in policing and working with partner agencies.

Scottish police forces will continue to work with partners to create a responsive service, which strikes a balance between addressing the needs of communities and the need to engage with young people to understand their concerns."

Fellow YJIG member Margaret Cox, the Principal Reporter, added:

"The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration fully supports the Executive's commitment to deliver further improvements in youth justice across Scotland.

We will continue to work with our partners in the Hearings System to deliver better outcomes for young people, their families and the communities in which they live."

Among the various strands of work included in the YJIG report are proposals to strengthen the monitoring and supervision of high risk young offenders.

This was undertaken by an expert group, set up following the HMIC/SWIA report into the killing of Karen Dewar by 18 year old Colyn Evans, in Fife, in January 2005.

Members of the Improvement Team will now take forward this work, including the development of a system to approve approaches and programmes for use with sexual or violent young offenders and models of practice for the management of these high risk offenders.

The full report can be accessed at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/10/09094901/0

In July this year Hazel More was appointed as the new Youth Justice Reporter for the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA), working in Aberdeen city.

Hazel graduated from Robert Gordon’s University in 1996 with a BA (hons) in Law and Management. She then worked for Grampian Police until 2004 when she left to join the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration as a Children’s Reporter for the North of Scotland. Hazel feels that her previous experience provides her with the knowledge and skills to make a difference in this new post. The position will allow her to become more involved in trying to make positive changes in the lives of young people and in addressing their offending behaviour.

The new post is now the point of contact for offence based referrals for young people in Aberdeen City. In total, there are five Youth Justice Reporters in Scotland, with two Reporters based in Edinburgh and the other two in Dundee.

The Youth Justice Reporter will receive referrals directly from Grampian Police regarding young offenders not already known to a social work team. As with the Children’s Reporter, the Youth Justice Reporter acts as a gatekeeper to the Children’s Hearing System and makes decisions as to whether the young person involved in offending behaviour should be brought to a Children’s Hearing. The young person can also be referred by diversion to agencies such as Sacro’s Youth Justice Team, Barnardo’s New Directions, the Youth Justice Fieldwork Team, and Children and Families Social Work (if issues regarding care or welfare need to be addressed).

The role of the Youth Justice Reporter also includes working alongside other agencies to reduce offending behaviour by attending and contributing to groups such as, the Young Offenders Review Group, the Operational Services Team and Case Conferences for children who face Antisocial Behaviour Orders or Acceptable Behaviour Contracts. This inter-agency approach is unique to the post of Youth Justice Reporter as it is recognised that offence issues often overlap with other welfare issues experienced by young offenders.

The Youth Justice Reporter will also work closely with the new Early Intervention Social Workers in order to ensure that reports, such as the Initial Enquiry Assessment Report, are received by the Youth Justice Reporter within the required twenty-day period. This ensures that offending behaviour by young people is dealt with as early and effectively as possible.

For more information contact Hazel More on 01224 565156

This Autumn sees the appointment of three new Youth Justice Early Intervention Posts. They have been created in order to improve the timescales for submitting reports to the Youth Justice Reporter. This is in line with Objective 3 of the National Standards 2002-2006, which requires the Youth Justice Fieldwork Team to submit the assessment of the young person’s offending behaviour and the action plan within twenty working days of the Reporter’s request. An additional remit of the post is to prepare an Asset Assessment and Core Plan for every young person going to a Children’s Hearing on offence grounds. This is in line with objective two of the National Standards which states that every young person referred to a Hearing on offence grounds will have a comprehensive assessment and action plan delivered on time to the Hearing.

The objectives of the new Early Intervention posts are:
•To provide an early intervention service to young offenders and their families.
•To work with low level offenders in an attempt to divert them from further offending behaviour.
•To provide programmed work (based on the care plan) to help young offenders address their offending behaviour.
•To support young people to make positive choices in their lives.
•To offer advice and guidance to childcare colleagues.
•To identify gaps in services and develop new initiatives to meet these.

Each post will be based in either the North, South or Central, and will be line managed by the Senior Social Worker of the host team. The post holders will take referrals directly from the Youth Justice Reporter. These cases will have been identified and discussed at the Youth Offending Review Group (YORG) prior to the Youth Justice Reporter receiving the referral. Cases will be tracked and monitored through the YORG and discussed regularly. Depending on capacity and demand, the posts will manage cases for an average of three months. The Youth Justice Team will also give consideration to transferring childcare cases to the Early Intervention Workers if the young person’s offending behaviour has ceased and he/she has demonstrated a period of refrainment from offending. It is anticipated that these cases will require monitoring only and should be closed within three months of transferring to the Early Intervention Workers. If, after three months, the young person persists in offending, the case will be discussed at the YORG and the case will be transferred to the Youth Justice Team or Children and Family Teams.

For more information contact Shona Manson on 01224 788219

There have been a number of changes in the Youth Justice Strategy Group over the summer. First of all, we would like to welcome Rhona Jarvis to the Group who has taken over as Chair from Alistair Dawson. Rhona has been the acting Head of Planning and Policy Services to Children & Young People since the 18th of April 2006. Her substantive post is that of Headteacher at Hazlewood School and she has been on secondment as Policy Officer for Inclusion and Diversity since January 2005. Within her remit she was lead officer in the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2005 which involved multi-agency working. She has worked in the area of additional support needs over the past 18 years. Her overseas experience spans 14 years which were spent in Texas, Egypt, UAE and Indonesisa, with her family of four. Rhona’s interest in additional support needs stemmed from the birth of her third child who has a learning disability and now lives independently. In 1996 Rhona completed a Masters in Education the end product of which was a Directory of Support for Families of Children with Special Needs. She also chairs ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) support groups in Aberdeen and the North East. In addition Rhona worked with the HMLE as an Associate Assessor in 2006 and is an Independent Adjudicator for Dispute Resolution at the Scottish Executive.

We would also like to welcome Karen Lumsden to the Group who took up the post of Information and Communications Officer in March 2006 to cover for Ruth Duddy who is on maternity leave. Karen comes to the Group with a background in Sociology and Social Research. She is currently studying for her PhD in Sociology at Aberdeen University on the topic of deviant car use among youths in Aberdeen.

Our Youth Justice Strategy Co-ordinator, Kay Geddes, has recently waved good bye to the Aberdeen Youth Justice Strategy Group for the next two years as she takes up a secondment with the Scottish Executive as one of a team of Professional Advisors to the Youth Justice and Children’s Hearing Division of the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED). In partnership with the Youth Justice Team, they will be taking forward the implementation of the Youth Justice Reform Programme over the next two years. Their work programme will be dictated by the outcome of the Youth Justice Improvement Group, and other areas of identified concern. This will involve improving the integration of services, the quality of provision and streamlining processes and bureaucracy. We wish Kay the best of luck in her new post and look forward to welcoming her replacement.

The National Standards Conference 2006 was held on the 12th of July at Aberdeen’s Exhibition and Conference Centre. The Conference was aimed at those working within youth justice, criminal justice and the wider children services sector. The aim of the event was to present an overview of the Children’s Hearing System, explain the use of ASSET in assessing risk, provide an overview of the continuum of youth justice services in the City, and set out the key challenges we face in meeting the revised national standards to be announced in July by Cathy Jamieson MSP, Minister for Justice.

The main objectives of the training included ensuring that panel members, reporters and partners are better informed about young people who offend persistently, the assessment of them and of what is effective in addressing their behaviour and needs. This involved equiping those in the Children’s Hearing System to deal with the challenges presented by uncooperative young people who continue to offend and informing panel members, reporters and partners about what resources are available locally in relation to persistent offending (both in terms of assessment tools and programmes). In addition, the training highlighted the importance of supporting panel members to reach decisions and stating reasons for these that meet legal and best practice requirements. The training also addressed the role of partner agencies in providing accurate information that allows panel members to make decisions.

The Conference included key speakers from the following local agencies: Aberdeen Youth Justice Strategy Group; Children’s Panel; Children’s Reporter; Social Work Youth Justice; Sacro and Grampian Police Youth Justice Management Unit.

For further information about the Conference, including a Conference pack, contact Karen Lumsden on 01224 560551 or email klumsden@aberdeen.sacro.org.uk.

After months of planning and hard work the Aberdeen Youth Justice Strategy Group Website was launched in May 2006. The Website is designed to provide information on Youth Justice issues in an accessible way that is easy to understand. It will keep you up to date with important news and events and tell you everything you need to know about Youth Justice in Aberdeen.

The website outlines the key components of the Scottish Youth Justice System, as well as the Local and National Youth Justice developments that have shaped the services we have today. You will also find information on the Youth Justice Strategy Group itself, including our aims and objectives, a list of our members and details of the structures that exist to help effectively develop and implement Youth Justice strategies. As well as this, the Website has a section that details the different aspects of Youth Justice processes, including information for victims, witnesses, communities and young people who have been charged with an offence.

One of the main features of the website is the Service Directory, which gives details of the main services related to Youth Justice in Aberdeen, and how to contact them. The website also includes an information centre, where you can access various documents related to Youth Justice such as annual reports and newsletters.

For further information about the website contact Karen Lumsden on 01224 560552.