Youth justice service praised

HALTON’S youth justice service (YJS) has been praised in a national report.

The YJS was inspected as part of the HMIP Youth Public Protection Thematic Inspection in May 2017.

The inspector said he ‘saw evidence of wellmanaged cases, with staff having a good understanding of their young people. Staff were knowledgeable about public protection and were wellinformed, trained and supported by managers.’

Areas of strength high- lighted included: ‘a dedicated workforce who knew young people well and were committed to improving their life chances’, thorough assessments and planning processed, staff access to support via high risk meetings, access to expertise such as for areas including speech and mental health as well as substance misuse and harmful sexual behaviour, multi-agency co-ordination and a broad range of interventions.

The national HMIP Youth Public Protection Thematic Inspection contained references to Cheshire West And Chester, Halton and Warrington.

Cllr Tom McInerney (children, young people and families) said the service was not resting on its laurels.

He said: “We have already devised an Action Plan to make our service even better.

“This will include staff training in regard to social media interventions and consideration of how to implement a trauma based approach.”