Issue - meetings

The Panel considered and noted the report of the Head of Young People's Services providing an overview of the work of the service and plans to improve outcomes moving forward.

Councillor Paffey – Cabinet Member for Children and Learning, Robert Henderson -Executive Director Wellbeing (Children & Learning), Tim Nelson – Head of Young People’s Services, Anna Harbridge - Service Lead for the Youth Justice Service,   Sarah Ball - Service Lead for the Young People’s Service, Chief Inspector Marcus Kennedy – Hampshire Constabulary, Nicola Iverson - Deputy Head Teacher Woodlands Community College were in attendance and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting.

The Panel explored a number of issues outlined within the report including:

·  The local and national context of tackling youth crime;

·  The developing children’s social care response to serious youth crime;

·  The links between youth crime and exploitation and steps being taken to effectively address the issues;

·  The number of homeless 16 and 17 year olds and steps being taken to reduce this;

·  The support offered and enacted to prevent the admission of children into the care system;

·  The new TAS Initiative (Team Around the School Initiative);

·  The Panel explored what had been achieved since the amalgamation of 3 separate services: and 

·  The importance of vulnerable children’s access to education.

RESOLVED:

(1)  That a performance dataset would be circulated to the Panel outlining how the Young People’s Service is performing against set targets; and

(2)  That the Member induction programme for the 2023/24 intake of elected councillors includes a visit to the Hub, potentially as the setting for the mandatory corporate parenting training session.