Girls in Monmouthshire twice as likely to be supported by Youth Offending Service

Girls in two Gwent counties are more than twice as likely to be supported by the Youth Offending Service than they are across Wales or England. 

Many of the girls being supported by the youth offending service, which covers both Monmouthshire and Torfaen, have committed offences of violence or aggression, an inspection report has found. 

The Inspectorate of Probation assessed the service, which works with children aged 10 to 17 to address criminal behaviour and to prevent youngsters from getting involved in crime, and found that overall it rated “good”. Many of those supported have been victims of exploitation and substance misuse among other adverse childhood experiences. 

But the report said the service hasn’t been able to explain why girls make up 28 per cent of its caseload when the figure for England and Wales is 13 per cent. 

Chesney Chick, the service’s manager, told members of a Monmouthshire County Council scrutiny committee, where he presented the report, that he couldn’t explain why so many young girls are involved with the service. 

He said one of the inspectorate’s recommendations was around improving its analysis of figures, so staff could spot potential trends, and that would include addressing the number of girls requiring support. 

He also cautioned that the percentage figure could be misleading due to the small overall numbers involved, with the service having a “first time entrant rate” of 121, slightly above the Welsh average of 118. 

Mr Chick said: “We are not talking about 30 or 40 female children, we are talking about a small number committing a lot of offences. 

“What we are finding, and nationally, is girls entering the system at a higher tariff, they are not, as we normally see, committing one offence and then another and then it escalates but coming in at a higher level of offending and committing somewhat more serious offences. 

“That tells me we need to do that more preventative work such as targeting educational establishments to see have got any themes so we can then get involved there and do that preventative work, whether that is the police officer based with us, our support workers or the youth services.” 

He said the service aims to “subtly” educate children about the work it does and how they can find themselves caught up in the judicial system. 

The report stated that 61 per cent of the service’s staff are female, which Mr Chick acknowledged should mean it has the staff to address the issue of girls offending. 

Asked by committee chair, Councillor Sue Riley, whether “issues of misogyny” identified in Gwent Police over the weekend could be having an impact on the number of female offenders Mr Chick said: “I would have to go and give that some thought”. 

He said a police officer that works with the youth offending team is “very good” and said there is detailed analysis and scrutiny of how police process children, including such as how long they are detained by police, and an inspector is questioned by the service’s panel if any shortcomings are found. 

The inspection report also found that looked after children, those who are in the care of local authorities, are over-represented among its caseload. They account for 12 per cent of those referred, despite making up just 1.2 per cent of the population aged 10 to 17 in Monmouthshire and 2.3 per cent in Torfaen. 

The inspector said though there are initiatives to address those in care being over-represented it hasn’t developed a specific action plan to identify the “key strategic and operational tasks and actions needed”. 

The service has considered whether groups are over-represented and it found that black and mixed-race children are not over-represented in the overall number of children sentenced or cautioned.  

The inspection found the service must improve its governance, as some members of its management board from partner agencies such as councils and the health board “lack seniority to make decisions”, and there is a “disconnect” between the board and frontline staff.  

The service is now writing an action plan to address the issues identified during the inspection.