Award of Crime and Disorder Reduction Grant for ‘Safe Team’
February 8th, 2021
Decision
To approve the award of a Crime and Disorder Reduction grant to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Youth Offending Service as a contribution to the running costs of the ‘Safe Team’ in the financial year 2021/22.
Decision Summary
The ‘Safe Team’ which is part of the county’s Youth Offending Service was set up in 2019 with funding from the Home Office’s Early Intervention Youth Fund. It provides a team of ‘trusted’ professionals to engage with young people with complex needs. The workers support the young people to remove themselves from risky environments and lifestyles and therefore reduce the likelihood of them getting involved in crime, either as a victim or offender.
The Acting Commissioner has received regular briefs on the work of the team and in December 2020 brought the Police and Crime Panel a detailed report. The team has shown it has achieved positive early outcomes for the young people involved along with feedback from the young people. The work was mentioned in a recent HMI Probation report following an inspection of youth offending services in Peterborough.
The local authority has committed additional funding for 2021/22. At the Youth Justice Management Board on January 28, chaired by the Assistant Chief Constable, the Acting Commissioner’s offer to contribute a non-recurrent £250k towards the remaining funding required to run the service until March 2022 was accepted. This funding will enable a longer-term approach to be agreed based on longitudinal data. It will be awarded as a Crime and Disorder Reduction grant and uses funding which had previously been committed to the progression of prevention workstreams which were delayed by the pandemic.
On behalf of the Acting Commissioner the OPCC will draw up a grant agreement and agree monitoring arrangements in partnership with the local authority as the co-funder.
