Safeguarding and behaviour management: Staff and young people, community and custody

Phil SuttonHead of Business Change and Benefits Realisation, YJB.

Wiring Up Youth Justice: What’s it all about? Wiring Up Youth Justice (WUYJ) is an information and communications

technology programme. It is being led by YJB on behalf of Youth Justice Practitioners.

The programme will improve how information is used and shared across the youth justice system (YJS).

Access to information will become quicker, more reliable and more secure. Information will be shared easily between organisations in the YJS and ultimately, with the whole criminal justice and children’s services community.

It is part of our response to the Office of Criminal Justice Reform’s challenge to improve and join up the criminal justice system by 2008.

Extensive research has been conducted to build on the strengths of current practice and plug the gaps where they exist.

Leading youth justice practitioners have been brought in to give shape to the programme and to support and direct IT expertise.

What are the Eye and connectivity projects? And what are the benefits?

Youth Offending Teams Secure Estate

YJB Placements

Team

eAsset

(Sentence Management

System)

Sent via connectivity/

SeM

Sent via Connectivity/

SeM

PCR

PSR

PAF

ROSH

ASSET

● Quicker transfer to Secure Estate means

planning & assessment can start before Young

Person arrives

● More informed staff at reception give a better

start for the Young Person

● Asset document is auto-populated directly into

eAsset which reduces keying errors

● eAsset facilitates the setting of effective

sentence plans that are risk led and directly

linked to YOT Asset scores

• Less time spent faxing

• Quicker electronic transfer of information by SeM

• More time to complete documentation at Court

● Better informed in making

placement decisions

As we plan to rollout connectivity to YOTs, the Secure Establishments in the same region will be implementing the eAsset system in parallel

Electronic Transfer of “Yellow Envelope”

Documents (connectivity)

Sentenced cases only

The key to success at go-live will be the quality of the core Asset document

18% of Assets arriving from YOTs into the secure estate were satisfactory and could therefore be used as a basis for sentence planning

37% of core Assets indicating risk of serious harm were accompanied by the correct additional assessment

47% of these Risk of Serious Harm assessments were satisfactory

Current National Picture* How will we support you?

A quality asset transferred via SeM will ensure accurate and relevant information is transferred quickly to the secure estate for more informed sentence planning

Asset Sampling locally

Build a quality picture for the region

Regional Support Plan

Build a plan tailored to the issue locally

Asset Quality Training

Training Practitioners if required

Asset Sampling locally

Build a quality picture for the region

*based on a sample from 3 YOIs

What are the benefits?

Reducing Risk. Moving relevant and high quality information quickly and securely will contribute to a reduction in risk to others and reduction in risk of suicide and self harm for young person going into custody

Better data, better policy. With better data, making policy advice and management decisions should be more accurate and effective.

Less paperwork, more time with young people. Sharing information electronically reduces the need for practitioners to re-input data. With less time form filling, more time can be spent with young people.

Better informed decisions, swifter and fairer justice. With all information concerning a young person easily available to practitioners, better informed and quicker decisions can be made in sentence planning and management.

Financially more efficient processes. Better processes are estimated to save the YJS over £10m per annum once the whole programme has been implemented.

Wiring Up Youth Justice will enable practitioners to have accurate & relevant information; when they need it, accessible wherever they are working

Eye Progress across England and Wales

Eye is now live in 4 English Regions and Wales Remaining 5 Regions will be live by March 2008 Change process includes a focus on improving quality of assessment for custody cases Future Challenges will be finding an appropriate time to move regions from secure email

to Connectivity

Where? When YOTs Go Live

North-East 8 May 07

Yorkshire & Humberside 16 July 07

North-West 10 September 07

South-West 24 September 07

Wales 22 October 07

Eastern 3 December 07

South-East 14 January 08

London 11 February 08

East Midlands March 08

West Midlands March 08

eAsset is an electronic sentence management system for the secure estate

What is eAsset?

eAsset is an electronic sentence management system that will :

Bring together all the separate sentence planning processes into one system

Hold information on young people and facilitate the setting of effective sentence plans that are risk led

Link objectives and targets to Asset scores and encourage the use of Asset to inform sentence planning

Make assessments and plans accessible Be logical, not over complex and straightforward to use

Simplified system – less duplication Clarity of recording and holding information Clarity of functions and structures of sentence planning

and ability to develop risk led practice Increased confidence in sentence planning meetings Greater effectiveness in developing sentence plans

Sentence plans and processes that make sense to them Engages them in the sentence planning process Is individually tailored to their needs and risks Develops plans that include interventions both in secure

and in the community Emphasises continuation of intervention on release

Implications for Practitioners

Implications for Young Person

The implementation story so far for eAsset

YOI eAsset pilots & rollout eAsset was piloted at Wetherby and Lancaster

Farms YOIs from Nov 2005 and is now Live at these two YOI’s plus

Castington, Hindley, New Hall, Thorn Cross All 38 secure sites will be live by Spring 09

Benefits reported Better planning of interventions Better risk-led management of young person Less time spent form filling More time spent with Young person

“eAsset has meant that for the first time all information on a young person is stored in

one place, which allows caseworkers to have more holistic view of the persons time in custody. Without eAsset coordination was very difficult. If a young person was having

difficulty in one area, other departments would not necessary know about it”

System Administrator, Lancaster Farms YOI

“As the young person comes up for release, YOT practitioners need to understand the

interventions put in place in custody, and plan the young persons resettlement back into the community. With eAsset, the asset has stayed up to date and more detailed information can be sent to YOTs as they plan resettlement – the whole process is a lot more smoother ”

System Administrator, Lancaster Farms YOI

eAsset: improving end-to-end Sentence Management