COMMONS AMENDMENT (Hansard, 22 July 1998)

§ Lord Williams of Mostyn

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 15. I shall speak to Amendments Nos. 15, 16, 18, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28 and 29. The Government wish to ensure that the duties contained in Clauses 35 to 37 for providing youth justice services and youth offending teams and the formulation of an annual youth justice plan secure the input of both police authorities and chief officers of police.

Amendments Nos. 15, 16, 25 and 26 therefore provide that, alongside police authorities, probation committees and health authorities, chief officers of police are placed under a duty under Clause 35(2) to co-operate with local authorities in securing the availability of the youth justice services set out in Clause 35(3), and are entitled under Clause 37(2) to be consulted by local authorities on youth justice plans.

Amendments Nos. 18, 22 and 24 provide that the duty under Clause 36(3) to co-operate with local authorities in establishing youth offending teams should be put on chief officers of police rather than police authorities. This recognises the operational nature of decisions about the deployment of police officers.

Taking into account those changes, Amendment No. 28 includes chief officers of police, together with local authorities, police authorities, probation committees and health authorities within the relevant authorities from which the YJB will be able to obtain information for the purposes of monitoring and advisory functions under Clause 38(5) and, if necessary, a report on the discharge of the new duties under Clause 38(8). Amendment No. 29 defines chief officer of police. These amendments underline the role which both police authorities and chief officers of police will need to play if the new structure is to be delivered.

991 I turn to Amendments Nos. 17, 19, 20, 21 and 23. Clause 37 requires local authorities to draw up an annual youth justice plan setting out how youth justice services and youth offending teams are to be provided and funded. Under the Bill as currently drafted, each agency will pay directly for its own staff seconded to the youth offending teams and for the services and other resources it makes available. The youth justice plan will therefore amount to a combined inter-agency budget.

The Government believe that there is value in allowing local authorities and the other agencies greater flexibility in the way in which youth offending teams and youth justice services can be funded. This means enabling the local agencies to contribute to a pooled budget or common fund. This will assist effective inter-agency working and help strengthen the joint ownership of the youth offending team arrangements, which will be important to their successful operation.

Amendments Nos. 17 and 23 to Clauses 35 and 36 will therefore allow local authorities with social services and education responsibilities-together with the police, probation committees and health authorities-to make payments towards expenditure incurred in the provision of youth justice services and by, or for the purposes connected with, youth offending teams, by contributing to a fund, established and maintained by the local authority, out of which the payments may be made.

Amendments Nos. 19, 20 and 21 to Clause 36 will allow scope for the fund to be held by one or more local authorities. There will not be a requirement that a common fund is established or that, where one is, apart from the local authority, all the relevant local agencies must participate. That will be a matter for them to determine.

Amendments Nos. 27, 30 and 116 are technical. Amendment No. 27 amends subsection (6)(a) of Clause 38 to make clear that an order under that subsection amending the functions of the youth justice board may add a new function or remove an existing one, as well as altering an existing function of the board. By virtue of subsection (3) of Clause 101, such an order will be subject to affirmative resolution. Amendment No. 30 amends subsection (2) of Clause 42.

Amendment No. 116 amends paragraph 11 of Schedule 2 to clarify the authority of the Secretary of State to fund the YJB. Amendment No. 148 amends the Superannuation Act 1972. It is consequential.

Amendments Nos. 149, 150 to 154, 176 and 177 are consequential changes to existing legislation.