Quality Assessment

Introduction

This report provides an overview of the workload of the YJA during 2024/25 and how it has changed over time. A breakdown of the gender, age, religion, looked after status, area of residence and offence type profile of referrals to and individuals in contact with the YJS and of individuals in custody is provided.

Population and workload (i.e. admissions to and changes of status within the JJC) overviews of the custodial services are also included.

The primary data source for this report is the YJA’s case management system, used for the day to day management of cases supervised by the Agency, both within a custodial and community setting. Information is based on data extracted after 1 July each year, for example data covering 2024/25 i.e. 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 will be extracted after 1 July 2025.

Relevance

The degree to which the statistical product meets user needs in both coverage and content.

This report provides a measure of the workload of the YJA i.e. the number of referrals to the YJS and the number of movements (admissions to and changes of status) within the JJC that were recorded on YJA’s case management system.

YJS referrals along with the individuals in contact with YJS, individuals in custody, admissions to JJC and movements within JJC are presented by gender, age, religion, looked after status, area of residence and offence type as applicable.

Some comparisons with figures for the previous four financial years are also included.

Accuracy and reliability

The proximity between an estimate and the unknown true value.

While every care has been taken in collating and entering the data, they are subject to the limitations inherent in any recording system and to variation in recording practice. While YJA staff have a vested interest in maintaining the accuracy of the data within their management information systems, a number of accuracy, quality assurance/validation procedures have been conducted upon the dataset compiled for this publication, to ensure the data extracted are accurate, complete and fit for the statistical purposes for which they are to be used.

Coverage – An individual’s response to the section 75 monitoring form is not compulsory and as a result we do not have full coverage. With this in mind and due to concerns over the quality of reporting, religion for YJS figures has not been included as it has a higher proportion of missing values. This is under continuing annual review.

Timeliness and punctuality

Timeliness refers to the time gap between publication and the reference period. Punctuality refers to the gap between planned and actual publication dates.

The report relates to data from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2025, and is published on 18 September 2025. The gap between the reference date and the publication date is due to the time it took to resolve various data quality issues. The publication date for the current report is one day earlier than last year’s report.

Accessibility and clarity

Accessibility is the ease with which users are able to access the data, also reflecting the format in which the data are available and the availability of supporting information. Clarity refers to the quality and sufficiency of metadata, illustrations and accompanying advice.

The report is available on the DoJ website and contains contact details for further information.

Explanatory information including sources, discontinuities and missing data have been included.

Coherence and comparability

Coherence is the degree to which data that are derived from different sources or methods, but refer to the same topic, are similar. Comparability is the degree to which data can be compared over time and domain.

There are no alternative sources of information on the workload of the Northern Ireland YJA.

Assessment of user needs and perceptions

The process for finding out about users and uses, and their views on the statistical products.

The report currently contains contact details in case users wish to provide feedback, comments or queries on the publication.

Key stakeholders, notably YJA senior management, regularly communicate their requirements to NISRA. An annual customer satisfaction survey is also undertaken to review the publication by gathering feedback on the statistics produced, how well they meet user needs and whether there are any suggested improvements. The most recent survey conducted in February 2025 indicated that 83.0% of users were satisfied with the report.

Users of the statistics when accessing the publications on the DoJ website are also invited to complete a short survey relating to the publication or to provide feedback or comments.

Trade-offs between output and quality components

The data used within this publication is from a database used for case management and therefore YJA has a vested interest in maintaining the accuracy of data. A number of accuracy, quality assurance/validation procedures are also conducted upon the dataset, both automated and manual, at individual case level and the data is corrected to ensure when it is extracted it is as accurate, complete and fit for statistical use as possible.

An individual’s response to the section 75 monitoring form is not compulsory and as a result we do not have full coverage. With this in mind and due to concerns over the quality of reporting, religion for YJS figures has not been included as it has a higher proportion of missing values (44.0% missing for individuals, 36.7% missing for referrals). This is under continuing annual review. Below is the coverage for variables used in this report where full data is not available:

Youth Justice Services

PSNI Referral Schemes
Variable % CRN and Vaping Schemes % Sexting Schemes % All Schemes
Gender 99.7 99.7 99.7
YJA Referrals
Variable % Individuals % Referrals
Gender 99.3 98.9

Custodial Services

Variable % Individuals % Admissions % Movements
Gender 98.9 97.8 97.0
Religion 85.3 78.3 80.0
Area 100.0 100.0 100.0

Performance, cost and respondent burden

The effectiveness, efficiency and economy of the statistical output.

The annual operational cost (staff time) of producing the report is approximately 40 days.

There is no respondent burden, since the data are held on an administrative system, and data on new cases are automatically collected as part of their admission process.

Confidentiality, transparency and security

The procedures and policy used to ensure sound confidentiality, security and transparent practices.

Suppression would be applied where the number of cases in a cell containing personal information is disclosive; this is described in table footnotes. If appropriate, cells are merged.

Statistical data is held on a network that is only accessible to the statisticians who need access. Printouts containing individual records or small cell sizes are locked away, and shredded as soon as possible.