The Islington Council's Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the Youth Justice Plan, review the latest performance data, and consider school results. The committee noted the Youth Justice Plan, which aims to protect children from harm and reduce youth crime, and also reviewed the progress and challenges in key performance indicators, including school suspensions and persistent absenteeism. They also agreed to changes to the work programme, including moving the Bright Start update to November 2025 and scheduling witness evidence gathering for January 2026.

Youth Justice Plan 2025-26

The committee reviewed Islington's Youth Justice Plan 2025 2026, which outlines the priorities and strategies for addressing youth crime in the borough. Councillor Michelline Safi-Ngongo, Executive Member for Children, Young People & Families, introduced the plan, highlighting its alignment with the Youth Safety Strategy and its focus on safeguarding children.

Key aspects of the plan include:

• Early intervention and prevention: Addressing the root causes of youth crime and diverting children from the criminal justice system.
• Education, training, and employment: Increasing opportunities for young people to improve their outcomes and reduce re-offending.
• Children's voice: Ensuring that young people's views are heard and incorporated into service delivery.
• Partnership working: Collaborating with various agencies, including the police, health services, and community organisations.
• Addressing disproportionality: Supporting Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic children and families to decrease their involvement in the criminal justice system.
• Supporting victims: Reducing offending and re-offending to prevent victims and support those affected by crime.

Councillor Paul Convery, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Pensions Committee, praised the plan's shift in focus from stopping crime to keeping young people safe, arguing that lower crime rates would be a natural consequence of this approach. He cautioned against over-interpreting young people's fear of crime, stating:

...don't over interpret when young people say they are concerned about crime because that's the sort of thing they very definitely do say...

Councillor Convery also highlighted the progress made in Islington over the past decade in addressing youth crime, attributing it to the council's leadership and understanding of the issue.

The committee requested additional data in future reports, including:

• Tracking the number of young people who successfully complete substance misuse treatment.
• Data on children transitioning to secondary support and the number of young people supported through that transition.
• Information on how many children remain in education.
• Data on the Your Choice programme and the number of young people who successfully complete it.

Councillor Ilkay Cinko-Oner, Deputy Leader of the Independent and Green Group, raised concerns about the omission of white working-class boys in some data charts. Councillor Safi-Ngongo responded that she was receiving calls from parents concerned that their young white working-class sons were being radicalised by the far right. She suggested that future reports should include additional information on this issue and how schools, police, and social services can work together to safeguard these young people.

Quarter Four Performance Report

The committee reviewed the Quarter Four Performance Report, which provides an overview of key performance indicators related to children and young people in Islington.

Key areas of discussion included:

• Children and Family Resilience: The number of children who are the subject of a child protection plan decreased, as did the percentage of children who became subject to a child protection plan for a second or subsequent time.
• School Suspensions: The committee expressed concern about the high rates of suspensions in Islington schools, particularly for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and those from Mixed - White & Black Caribbean backgrounds.
• Persistent Absenteeism: The committee noted that persistent absenteeism rates in Islington primary and secondary schools remained above inner London averages.
• Elective Home Education: The number of electively home educated pupils increased.

Councillor Convery raised concerns about the disproportionate number of suspensions occurring at the three City of London Academies, attributing it to the excessively rigid application of behaviour and uniform policies. He cited the example of students being suspended for wearing shoes with small coloured tags.

Ben Dunn, Assistant Director, School Improvement, acknowledged the issue and stated that the local authority is working to build strong relationships with trusts to address these concerns. He also noted that Ofsted's new inclusion criteria may help to drive change in this area.

Councillor Zammit requested a breakdown of the reasons why children are being suspended or excluded, as well as the neighbourhoods where the children attending the schools with the highest suspension rates live, so that the council can consider additional support services for those communities.

Provisional School Results

The committee discussed the provisional school results for the borough. While the average results were generally positive, Councillor Convery expressed concern about the range of outcomes across different schools, with some struggling to achieve decent results.

He stated:

...averages really do camouflage extremes sometimes and it's clear there are a number of schools which are struggling to get decent results and there's a number of schools which are performing absolutely tutti fruity everything's fine...

Councillor Convery also highlighted the link between attendance, suspensions, and achievement, noting that schools with high attendance and low suspensions tend to have better outcomes.

Councillor Ilkay Cinko-Oner asked what the council was doing to support schools to support children with SEND, particularly those who are waiting for assessments or diagnoses.

Work Programme

The committee agreed to the following changes to the work programme:

• Moving the Bright Start update to November 2025.
• Provisionally scheduling witness evidence gathering for the scrutiny review for January 2026.