Growth and development.pdf

South AyrshireThe Council is at an early stage in preparing new arrangements for care leavers. A multi-agencythroughcare team plans and oversees services and works with STEP, a project that helpsvulnerable young people into training or employment. A local budget is being prepared accordingto central guidance. Care leavers are to be consulted.4. Performance: Criminal JusticeKey ActivitiesNumber of social enquiry reports submitted to the courts 589 645 81.7 2during the yearNumber of community service orders made during the year 138 138 17.5 2The proportion of social enquiry reports reported to courtwithin target time2000-2001 QuartileProportion of social enquiry reports submitted to the courts 95.8 3by due dateThe time taken to complete community service orders1999-20002000-2001Average length of community service (hours) for orders 143 3completed during the yearAverage hours completed per week 5.8 12000-2001per 10,000QuartileThe number of social enquiry reports submitted to courts increased between 1999 and 2001and the rate is relatively high. The proportions of reports allocated to staff within two days andsubmitted to courts by the due date are relatively low. A relatively high rate of communityservice orders were made during 2000-2001. The average length of hours for orders completedwas lower than in many other authorities but orders are completed relatively quickly, with anaverage of 5.8 hours completed per week.The Council delivers criminal justice social work services in partnership with North and EastAyrshire. The priority is to have a consistent range of community based accredited services,and it has developed an all-Ayrshire reparation and mediation scheme in conjunction withSACRO. Despite the different management information systems being developed, thepartnership aims to develop a quality assurance system and benchmarking across the grouping.A structured assessment tool is employed, from which information is fed into a database, whichinforms management decision-making. No less than 40% of criminal justice clients have mentalhealth problems, and drug and alcohol misuse is a feature in 80% of women offender casesand 65% of men.The Council has developed a youth crime strategy which is integrated with the children’s servicesand the community safety plans. It includes an initiative to tackle vandalism. The Council isconsidering external evaluation of the strategy.External evaluation of services to women offenders was positive and showed an impressivereduction in the breach rate from over 50% to 4%. Resources allowing, the Council intends tohave services to other client groups evaluated.237