Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no Reserve Members in attendance at the meeting.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from all Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were none.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2023 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2023 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To receive any public questions received.

Questions will be asked in the order in which they were received.  There will be a time limit of 15 minutes for the asking and answering of public questions.

[The deadline for receipt of public questions is 3.00 pm, 2 November 2023.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk  

No person may submit more than one question].

RESOLVED:  To note that there were none.

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were none.

(if any).

RESOLVED:  To note that there were none.

The Committee received the Annual Youth Justice Plan, in advance of it being presented to Cabinet on 16 November 2023.  Cabinet be requested to recommend the Plan to Council for approval and note the submission of the report to the Youth Justice Board.  Cabinet might also make suggestions to feed into next year’s plan.

The Youth Justice Plan outlined the arrangements and planned priorities for the Harrow Youth Justice Partnership to deliver Youth Justice Services in Harrow.

The Committee requested that Portfolio Holders be invited to future meetings to respond to queries on the Administration’s priorities.

In the discussion that ensued, Members raised questions and the following issues:

§     What police resources were available from the Borough Command Unit, and whether they were sufficient for Harrow?

§     What was the percentage rate of re-offending?

§     Whether the Harrow Youth Justice Service worked with the families of young people involved in crime, and whether resources were available to them, such as parenting classes;

§     Why had the Wealdstone Action Group ceased operating and providing support in stopping knife crime?

§     Why were knife crime and county line issues not referenced in the report?

§     Whether over-crowding and unsuitable housing in Wealdstone could be addressed to reduce crime among the youth;

§     Whilst the report had listed outputs, there seemed to be a gap in providing data on what was working well;

§     What role could Harrow Councillors play in the Harrow Youth Justice Service?

§     Whether Harrow Council met the remand costs;

§     Citing page 45 of the report, how many cases were there per year?

§     What trigger points resulted in the Harrow Youth Justice Service being involved in a young offender’s life?

§     What was the percentage of minority groups in care of the programme and how had that percentage changed over the years?

In response to the questions, the officer advised as follows:

§     The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) had provided Harrow with two officers with experience in youth justice.  However, one had been seconded to Brent, and the replacement officer would be joining Harrow within the next few weeks;

§     The re-offending rate among 16-18 year olds was around 22.2%.  The data presented to the Committee showed that Harrow had a lower rate than statistical neighbours and the London and National averages.

§     Harrow Youth Service worked with families of young offenders, and conducted home-visits to determine reasons behind offences and administer questionnaires.  The return rate of the questionnaires was 100% from the young persons and 78% from their parents. However, the intervention with parents was voluntary and some did not wish to participate;

§     Wealdstone Action Group had been a community action project involving residents, businesses and statutory partners.  With regards to addressing street drinking, it had been successful, as the Holy Trinity Church had noticed a reduction in the disposal of empty beer cans from 100 to 20 per day within six months.  Currently, the Youth Justice Service engaged a teacher to work with the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.