To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2023.

Decision

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 21 June 2023.

Report and presentation of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services)

The Youth Justice Plan outlines in detail the vision, priorities, performance, and impact being achieved.

The Committee considered the report and presentation of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services whichoutlined the vision, priorities, performance, and impact being achieved in preventing and diverting children and young people from the criminal justice system.

Key points and themes in the report and presentation included:

• Vision and strategy;

• Governance and leadership arrangements;

• Youth Justice service model;

• Progress against priorities from 2022/23;

• Impact and feedback;

• Priorities for 2023/24; and

• Innovation and developments.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To welcome the progress made and the joined-up working that was taking place;
• How robust was the diagnosis of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD);
• Where schemes used mentors, how were they recruited and trained and did they reflect the culture and heritage of the children they were supporting;
• Requesting further detail of the early intervention work; and
• The over-representation of mixed heritage and black boys in the Criminal Justice system and what were officers doing to try to understand their lived experience.

In response to the question about FASD, the Assistant Director (Early Intervention and Prevention) reported that work was taking place to improve awareness of this from the Early Years.  She advised that there was a higher prevalence of additional needs among children in the Youth Justice system and she outlined some of the support available, including speech and language therapy and psychotherapy, as well as the role of Personal Education Plans.  She stated that it was important to ensure that children had the right diagnosis and to look behind the behaviour and acknowledged that this was an area for further work.  In response to Members’ questions, she outlined some of the work taking place in different parts of the city to prevent and divert children and young people from the criminal justice system including community pilots, work in schools and Youth Zones and work by Greater Manchester Police (GMP).  She informed Members about the key elements of the early intervention work, which included bringing partners together to identify issues early, co-ordination and leadership, restorative practices and mentoring and looking at the wider offer for the family.  In response to a Member’s comments, she recognised that the role of communities and families was crucial and outlined some of the work taking place.  In response to a Member’s question, she confirmed that there were plans to use remand fostering in future.  In response to a question about supporting young people into employment, she stated that the service worked with Careers Connect and the Virtual School and a range of partners on this.  In response to a further question, she said that she could provide the Member with the requested data on the demographic profile of staff.

The Head of Youth Justice reported that Youth Justice mentors were volunteers from the community, that children were matched with volunteers from their own communities, that they tried to ensure that mentors were culturally appropriate and that they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

Report of the Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods

The Strategy outlines in detail the vision, priorities, performance measures for the city.

The Committee considered the report and presentation of the Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods whichoutlined the vision, priorities and performance measures for the city set out in the Serious Violence Strategy.

Key points and themes in the report and presentation included:

• The national and local context;
• Governance and connectivity;
• Serious violence in Manchester;
• The Serious Violence Strategy, including the consultation and learning from reviews;
• Priority areas of activity;
• Implementation plan;
• The Serious Youth Violence Framework, a multi-agency method and holistic approach; and
• Measures of success.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• The use of “joint enterprise” against Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic young people;
• The treatment of young people who were arrested;
• The link between school exclusion and youth violence; and
• The context of these problems, including the city’s large criminal economy, the demand for drugs from students and young professionals coming to the city, the need for large number of vulnerable young people to be exploited to support this, the challenges facing young people growing up in Manchester and the attraction to those young people of seeming to be able to make easy money.

Superintendent Chris Downey from GMP advised that joint enterprise was only rarely used and that he would endeavour to find the figures requested by the Member on its use by GMP and provide them to him. He acknowledged a Member’s comments that being arrested could be a very traumatic experience for a young person, although, he advised, that in some situations, it was necessary.  He stated that the use of handcuffs was now limited, rather than routine, that there were Mental Health professionals in custody suites who assessed everyone who was brought in and that young people would also have an “appropriate adult” to support them, either a family member or friend or someone from the commissioned Appropriate Adult service.

The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services highlighted that the Committee would be receiving a report on School Inclusion at its next meeting.  He reported that work was taking place with GMP and colleagues from across Greater Manchester to make improvements in relation to young people held in custody, including reducing the number of young people placed in custody suites and reducing the length of time they were held there.

In response to a Member’s question about work with faith groups, the Community Safety Lead stated that it was recognised that voluntary and community groups, including faith groups, had a wealth of expertise and skills and that they contributed to this work, and she provided an example of this work.  She acknowledged the Member’s comments about the wider context of serious youth violence and reported that the Joint Needs Assessment of serious and organised crime sought to understand these issues, looking at statistics and connections, and that work was taking place to respond to these different elements, for example, through the GMP Challenger Team and through the Complex Safeguarding Hub.  She also recognised the importance of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

Report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services

This report summarises the partnership arrangements in place in Manchester to respond to children at risk of exploitation, including practice model, governance and assurance activity.  In addition, key performance and assurance data articulate the progress and impact of the CSH in Manchester.

The Committee considered the report and presentation of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services whichsummarised the partnership arrangements in place in Manchester to respond to children at risk of exploitation, including practice model, governance and assurance activity. In addition, key performance and assurance data articulated the progress and impact of the CSH in Manchester.

Key points and themes in the report and presentation included:

• An overview of the CSH and its purpose;
• The referrals to the CSH;
• Governance arrangements;
• Complex Safeguarding Team offer;
• Impact;
• Missing from Home and Care; and
• Priorities for the future.

In response to Members’ questions about children missing from home and care, the Assistant Director (North and Complex Safeguarding) reported that the data was monitored in a monthly and annual report and that there had been an increase after the pandemic, with children being out in their communities more, noting that there was also always a rise in figures during the summer as children stayed out when the evenings were lighter.  She reported that there were no missing children in Manchester who had not returned, stating that missing children were tracked and that there was a process, including strategy meetings, to ensure that they knew where children were.

In response to a Member’s question about social media, Detective Inspector Chris Chadderton from GMP stated that there were a lot of referrals in relation to this.  He reported that his service had Digital Media Investigators and that social media was monitored, within the legislation, to recover evidence and identify perpetrators seeking to abuse children.  The Chair expressed concern that artificial intelligence could be used to abuse children.

The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services reported that, when children had been missing for a period of time, there was an internal mechanism to escalate this and that, when there were frequent episodes of an individual child going missing, the reasons for this were looked into.  He reported that online grooming and exploitation was a key priority area for the Safeguarding Partnership, looking at how to raise awareness of the dangers and put safeguards in place.

A Member stated that the previous Committee visit to the offices at Greenheys Police Station had been useful and suggested arranging a further visit.

Decision

To endorse the proposed priorities for 2023/34.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

The monthly report includes the recommendations monitor, relevant key decisions, the Committee’s work programme and any items for information.

A report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit was submitted. The overview report contained key decisions within the Committee’s remit, responses to previous recommendations and the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee was asked to approve.

The Chair informed Members that the date of the October meeting was likely to be moved.

Decision

To note the report and agree the work programme.