Report by Executive Director of Children’s Services

The Executive Director of Children’s Services submitted a report setting out for approval the Reading Youth Justice Plan 2025-26, which was attached to the report at Appendix 1.

The report explained that the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 placed a duty on the Local Authority to produce an annual Youth Justice Plan and that production of a plan was also a condition of the Youth Justice Board Grant.  The production and sign-off of the Plan was overseen by the multi-agency Youth Justice Partnership through the independently-chaired Youth Justice Management Board. The 2025/26 Youth Justice plan had been signed off by the Youth Justice Management board and submitted to the Youth Justice board for England and Wales by the required deadline of 30June 2025, and an update report on the Plan had also been submitted to the Adult Social Care, Children’s Services and Education Committee on 2July 2025 (minute 10 refers).

The report noted that the Youth Justice Plan, as attached at Appendix 1, included a review of performance for 2024/25 and it summarised some of the notable performance updates.  The priorities agreed by the Youth Justice Management Board for 2025/26 were:

·         Reducing First Time Entrants

·         Reducing Reoffending

·         Reducing the use of custody

·         Reducing ethnic disproportionality

·         Reducing Serious Youth Violence

·         Embedding Child First and Identity Development Practice as the practice model across the partnership

·         Improving outcomes for victims of youth crime

Seeking to improve educational outcomes for children in the YJS cohort would also continue to cut across all seven priorities.  It had been agreed to merge these targets with the HMIP inspection action plan, to form a single delivery plan for continuous improvement.

The following motion was moved by Councillor Griffith and seconded by Councillor Asare and CARRIED:

Resolved –

            That the 2025/26 Youth Justice plan be approved.