Flintshire council leader: Health board fails youth offenders

Flintshire County Council’s chief executive has said health bosses don’t ‘place a lot of emphasis’ on a key driver of youth offending.

Neal Cockerton told Flintshire County Council’s Governance and Audit Committee that the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s failure to provide speech and language therapy services in Flintshire showed a lack of appetite to deal with an issue that could prevent many young people drifting into crime.

His comments came as His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation praised Flintshire’s Youth Justice Service for filling the gaps where other agencies, including health officials and the Probation Service, had failed to step up.

HMIP carried out a review of the Youth Justice Service  (YJS) in Flintshire and rated the service overall as ‘good’. The inspection found that staff went ‘above and beyond to make sure that children’s needs are met’.

Martin Jones CBE, HM Chief Inspector of Probation, said: “The YJS delivers exceptional work with victims, ensuring they feel safe and supported. We found high levels of motivation, passion, and advocacy on behalf of victims.”

But the report found the YJS faced a number of challenges outside of its control. One of which was the lack of speech and language therapy services available to the YJS in Flintshire.

Speech and language therapy is not a service health boards are legally required to provide for the YJS. But a 2023 report by the Welsh Government’s Equality and Social Justice Committee found 60% of young offenders have speech, language or communication difficulties compared to just 10% of the general population.

That report showed that no North Wales authorities had a speech and language therapist assigned to work with Youth Offending Teams, while provision in Mid and South wales was patchy.

Providing speech and language support is seen as a key intervention to prevent young people drifting into crime.

“We are in conversation and trying to escalate things with the Youth Justice Board, we have written to the CEO of Betsi Cadwaladr and we’ve also had some engagement with the Welsh Government but unfortunately at the moment we’ve been unable to progress that action,” said James Warr, Senior Manager for Youth Justice in Flintshire.

Mr Cockerton said the authority was robustly challenging Betsi Cadwaladr to provide speech and language services.

“The fact of the matter is that speech and language is a predeterminant and an indicator,” he said.  “If you don’t get that right those individuals can often migrate into crime.

“While our health colleagues may not place a lot of emphasis on it I do, as James and the team do, as there are tangible benefits to getting that right early on.”

YJS staff were also praised for stepping up for young offenders where other agencies have left gaps in statutory service provision. Examples included advocating for the educational needs of children the YJS is working and implementing the transition from youth justice to adult probation where required.

That transition work should be carried out by a probation officer seconded to the YJS – a statutory obligation for the Probation Service. However Flintshire has not had an officer seconded to the YJS for a number of years.

There is a shortage of probation officers across England and Wales, with many authorities facing a similar lack of support.

“The inspectors recognised that our staff were working hard to fill the gaps of a number of other agencies and were trying their hardest to meet the needs of children and young people,” said Mr Warr.

“They commented on our good governance and oversight and they were clear that the service we provide to victims was, in their words, exceptional.

“Obviously there are challenges. We are without a statutory, seconded probation officer from the Probation Service. Due to the challenges they have in terms of retention and vacancies they’ve been unable to provide that for a number of years.

“We are still continuing to transition children and young people from youth justice services over to adult probation services. The Youth Justice Board,  Ministry of Justice, Association of Youth Offending Team (YOT) managers and YOT Managers Cymru are working to resolve the matter as best we can.”

By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter