Leading work to stop youth crime

Government watchdogs have deemed its Youth Offending Team (YOT) as having an excellent management system.

HM Inspectorate of Probation visited the department in January and it has just released its report.

It reads: "Newham YOT's governance and leadership were of an extremely high standard, with a strong sense of strategic vision."

It also found the team's work in the courts, with children and young people in the community, with children and young people subject to detention and training orders and with victims and restorative justice to be among the best.

In the inspectorate's scoring summary, which is rated 1 to 4, with 4 being excellent, 3 good, 2 adequate and 1 inadequate, Newham scored:

• Management 4
• Work in the courts 3
• Work with children and young people in the community 3
• Work with children and young people subject to detention and training orders 3
• Victims and restorative justice 3

This score has only been matched so far by Doncaster, as the inspectors make their way through 155 councils. So far 78 have been checked and 72 results published.

The YOT's 100-strong workforce is made up of Newham Council, which includes teachers, drugs workers and social workers, Police, Probation Service and the Mental Health Trust.

Executive adviser on crime and anti-social behaviour Councillor Ian Corbett said: "This is fantastic news for us.

"It is well-deserved praise for a team that works in an area that is far more challenging than most."

Newham has a high youth crime level, resulting in a workload for the YOT that is 52 per cent above the London average.

Head of the youth offending service Peter Nicholson, who received a gong for his services to youth and community justice in London, said: "I'm really pleased that our hard work has been recognised, but there are still improvements to be made and we will continue to strive to improve the quality of life in our community."

The inspectorate's praise is the latest accolade for the YOT.

Figures released by the Youth Justice Board last month show that it is the only one in London to achieve the Home Office's overall achievement target of 80 per cent. The London average is 66 per cent.

And a YOT project called Y-Pac, which works with offenders and victims of crime, aged between 14 and 17 years old, to change their outlook on life, won The Howard League for Penal Reform Community Programme Awards 2006, last month.