Inspecting to provide assurance and promote improvement Children and Young People who commit sexual offences’ Thematic Inspection Julie Fox HMI Probation Publication: 7 February 2013

Inspecting to provide assurance and promote improvement Background Thematic inspections as part of overall programme Led by HMI Probation with full involvement from CQC, HMIC and Ofsted Sample Areas Seven youth offending teams visited following a pilot Nature of Inspection Examined individual cases Group discussion with representatives from all the involved agencies Spoke to young people and parents/carers about their experiences

Inspecting to provide assurance and promote improvement There are effective national, regional and local strategic arrangements to ensure a coordinated multi-agency approach to the assessment and delivery of services There is an agreed inter agency framework for referral and assessment of C&YP who commit sexual offences which results in an agreed multi agency plan to manager LoR, RoH and vulnerability Effective use is made of a range of multi-agency interventions which are appropriate to the specific needs of young people who commit sexual offences, their families/carers and victims Multi agency interventions have had a positive impact on reducing re-offending, addressing safeguarding needs and protecting the public and victims

Inspecting to provide assurance and promote improvement To examine the quality of the assessment, planning, interventions and outcomes for children and young people who sexually abuse Focus on the quality of the work undertaken with these children and young people – how the different agencies worked together and what had been achieved

Inspecting to provide assurance and promote improvement Issues with the time between disclosure and conviction Missed opportunities for early intervention Reluctance to share information Issues with specialist assessments and multi-disciplinary meetings Underlying reasons for offending not fully analysed Lack of robust quality assurance of assessments Children and young people and parents/carers involved Diversity assessed but not always addressed

Inspecting to provide assurance and promote improvement Positive holistic interventions rare Work not delivered as identified in various plans Interventions lacked coordination Denial proved a major barrier to provision Good examples of health, education & family support work Variations in management oversight and supervision Good engagement and compliance Child-focused approach and commitment Progress on offending factors Little routine evaluation Variations in services to victims

Inspecting to provide assurance and promote improvement Increase in monitoring and evaluation Improve comprehensive, co-ordinated multi-agency work Improve information-sharing Close gap between policy and operational practice Increase early intervention opportunities