A preventative youth offending team has made praised for its "impressive improvements" following an inspection but has been told more must be down to reduce re-offending. 

Cabinet member for children, Labour councillor Elaine Norman visited the Redbridge Youth Offending  and Targeted Prevention Team (YOTPS) this morning to congratulate them personally on the report from HM Inspectorate of Probation.

The inspection at the Station Road centre in Barkingside was carried out by HM Assistant Chief Inspector Julie Fox between February 2 and 4. 

She said: "We were pleased to find that Redbridge YOT had maintained, and indeed improved on, the high standard of work we found during our previous inspection in 2011.

"This was particularly impressive given the diverse and complex offending needs of the children and young people with whom they work." 

However, the re-offending rate for Redbridge is 43.6 per cent which is far higher than the national average of 36.1 per cent. 

In all but two cases, Ms Fox was satisfied that the case manager understood why the child or young person had offended and what needed to be done to help them stop offending. 

The key strengths of the service were highlighted as follows:

"Work during the custodial phase of sentences was consistently of a very high standard and the YOT ensured that parents, carers and others professionals attended planning meetings in custody.  

"Assessment of diversity factors was strong and the YOT had introduced an innovative project to address barriers to engagement.  

"Case managers were clearly committed to achieving positive outcomes for the children and young people they worked with." 

As a "matter of urgency", the council is advised to contact the Youth Justice Board about the level of cases of children in care from other local authorities being place in Redbridge and their own youth offending teams not fulfilling their responsibilities. 

Cllr Norman, added: "I’m very proud of the result of this inspection which serves to tell us what a thorough and important job our Youth Offending Team are doing in helping steer young people away from crime.

"This work doesn’t just help keep the borough safer but it also leads to brighter, positive futures for people who may have otherwise found themselves involved in a life of illegal activity."