Innovation in local government is about improving the lives of the people in our
communities. Browse through our case studies to see the many innovative programmes councils are involved
in.
The publication of the Punishing Abuse report in the West Midlands sparked Coventry Youth Justice Service to think about how to take a whole family approach to supporting young people involved in the criminal justice system, in recognition of the fact that families and wider networks are a key factor in reducing reoffending and meeting young people’s underlying needs.
West Berkshire has been using a focus on engagement in positive activities, education, training and employment to prevent reoffending and improve outcomes for children working with the Youth Offending Team.
Cheshire Youth Justice Service have focussed on addressing young people’s unmet health needs to tackle reoffending. The creation of the Cheshire-wide youth justice partnership in 2017 highlighted inequalities in justice-involved children’s health provision, which they have worked to address, and are now taking an innovative social prescribing approach to meet the wider health needs of their youth justice cohort.
Four youth offending services across Avon and Somerset are taking a different approach to supporting young people displaying high risk and high vulnerability. They are working in partnership with their Forensic Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and using a psychologically-informed approach that takes a longitudinal view of a child’s life experiences to understand their current needs.
Swindon combined a case formulation approach with a focus on identity and its link to offending, to promote interventions with young people which moved away from ‘managing risk’ to supporting them to develop a pro-social identity which naturally shifted them away from risk and offending behaviour.
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council has ringfenced apprenticeship and work experience opportunities through the council’s ‘inclusive offer’, a scheme which creates opportunities for young people who need extra support to benefit from work.
Since 2018, Coventry City Council has commissioned an integrated lifestyle service for adults offering support for smoking, weight management, physical inactivity and non-dependent alcohol misuse.
Sheffield's vision is for a smoke-free city by 2030, where people live longer and healthier lives and children grow up in environments where smoking is unusual.
Within Leeds, there are some areas which have high levels of alcohol-related harm and alcohol-related anti-social behaviour (ASB). This data led to Leeds’ licensing and public health teams working together to develop an alcohol licensing data matrix.