Diversion from the criminal justice system

Claire joined Dyfed-Powys Police in 1993, and has served in a variety of uniform roles across the force area. Her career to date has included a national role supporting the implementation of Neighbourhood Policing across the UK, time as the Joint Emergency Services Lead for Wales, supporting resilience across the four Welsh forces, Welsh Fire and Rescue Services and the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust, and a secondment to the local authority, developing the joint community strategy.   

Claire has led on a number of change programmes within Dyfed-Powys Police, and has also worked in Avon and Somerset Constabulary on secondment. Claire has been awarded the Stonewall Workplace Champion award for her work supporting diversity across Wales. She is an accredited strategic firearms and gold public order commander.

Claire is the Welsh Chief Officer lead for both Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and School Community Police Officers (SCPOs). She was appointed temporary Assistant Chief Constable in 2017, and promoted to Deputy Chief Constable in August 2019. Claire was subsequently appointed as Temporary Chief Constable in March 2021, and is the NPCC national portfolio lead for Neighbourhood Policing.

Claudia Sturt was appointed Chief Executive of the Youth Justice Board in May 2021.  Claudia has worked in prisons and offender management for over 23 years.

Her previous roles include:

• 2016-2021: Director, Security, Order and Counter Terrorism at the National Offender Management Service, now HM Prison and Probation Service
• 2009-2016: Deputy Director, Custody responsible for South Central Region and Public Sector Immigration Removal Centres, National Offender Management Service
• 2002-2009: Governor, Winchester, Erlestoke, Dartmoor and Belmarsh prisons

“Being a part of this diversion strategic group, means I can bring the YJB perspective on diversion and how it can help children who come to the attention of the criminal justice system.”

Festus was elected as Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire in May 2021. 

He has lived in Bedfordshire for ten years. Before being elected as Bedfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, he completed 400hrs of service as a Special Constable with Bedfordshire Police, including frontline response duties as an officer.

Festus is a director on the board of a YMCA where he and colleagues oversaw the delivery of housing, and other support services, to vulnerable young people. This included a £20m housing construction project providing supported accommodation to nearly 200 young people.

​​He also served as link-governor for the Offender Learning and Skills Services team, delivering training and education in prisons.

​​He is a former Parish Councillor and – following rising anti-social behaviour, especially at night – he got the unanimous buy-in of his colleagues for the Council to fully fund a Youth Club, staffed by a professional Youth Worker.

“Supporting and protecting our young people are key priorities of mine as Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire, which is why I am delighted to be part of the Strategic Diversion Group (SDG), led by the Youth Endowment Fund.

“Preventing our young people from coming in contact with the criminal justice system is vital, and so is the need to ensure the right pathways are made available to them in the event of them being arrested or charged with a crime.  The work of the SDG, will help deliver these objectives for our future generation.”

Grace has spent the majority of her career working in probation services as a practitioner, manager, and senior leader in a variety of settings. She has led the design and implementation of a range of cross-sector, multi-agency projects and programmes including Integrated Offender Management schemes, a specialist young adult diversion service, and a community resettlement project providing housing and holistic support. She also held the thematic leads for trauma-informed practice, young adults, and service user involvement.

In 2019, Grace left the probation service to lead the establishment of Leicestershire’s VRN.  She continues to lead the Network overseeing the co-design and delivery of multiple projects across community, education, early help, health, and criminal justice settings.

Jacqui has significant leadership and management experience in Youth Justice in the Greater Manchester area, having worked in Youth Justice for over 20 years; most recently as ‘Head of Youth Justice, Serious Violence Reduction & Targeted Youth Support Services’ for Stockport Council, a role she has held since 2005. The post involves close collaboration across the 10 GM authorities, including leading on the ‘Children in Police Custody’ workstream for GM. She holds a national position as the Chair of the The Association of Youth Offending Team Managers (AYM), where she also holds portfolios for Policing and ASB as well as being the AYM rep on the ‘Youth Justice Sector Improvement Board’ (YJSIP).

“AYM are pleased to be working alongside YEF and welcome the research findings within the ‘Children, Violence & Vulnerability report 2022’ and support the wider principles of the Diversion Project. As a member of the YEF ‘Strategic Diversion Group’ the AYM Chair aims to represent the youth justice sector at this forum.“

Justin joined Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation as Chief Inspector in June 2019 and will serve in this role until May 2024. Justin’s previous role, from 2016 to the beginning of 2019, was as Director General, Justice Analysis and Offender Policy at the Ministry of Justice. Justin started his career as a social researcher in the Home Office and has worked on a wide range of criminal justice issues including as a Senior Policy Adviser on home affairs in the No10 Policy Unit and as Head of the Violent Crime Unit in the Home Office where he led the Ending Gang and Youth Violence Programme and the government’s strategy on ending violence against women and girls.

“As the Director for Children and Education Services in Manchester and actively working on the ADCS national portfolio for Youth Justice, the research is clear, children once involved in the criminal justice system tend to experience less positive outcomes than their counterparts.   I am therefore keen to share key insights about how the system can work better with children who find themselves arrested but not charged.   

Being part of this diversionary strategic advisory group means I’ll contribute to this work being undertaken by the Youth Endowment Fund bringing national perspective in this area.

I am confident this work provides a very real potential to improve the experience of children across England and Wales who are on the edge and/or involved of the criminal justice pathway.“

Children’s Commissioner, Rachel de Souza promotes and protects the rights of children, especially the most vulnerable, and stands up for their views and interests.

“As Children’s Commissioner I take on a crucial role, sitting at the heart of Government, delivering for children, and championing their voices and needs. As an educationalist, working directly with children in schools throughout my career, I have seen first-hand how passionate and compassionate children are. This is an ambitious generation who want to succeed in life, but who also want to play their part in improving the world around them. They need us, as adults, to listen to them and ensure they get the right help to fulfil their true potential.”

In April 2021, Serena became the first female Chief Constable to lead Merseyside Police.

As Chief Constable her force strategy includes tackling serious & organised crime, inclusion, community engagement, wellbeing, preventative policing and protecting vulnerable people.

She has been the national lead for drones and Response Policing and she has recently been appointed as Chair of the newly formed National Prevention Coordination Committee.

“I’m very much looking forward to being part of this diversion strategic group and bringing a Policing perspective to the conversation.”