North Northamptonshire Council met to discuss the Northamptonshire Youth Justice Plan, and to agree changes to the political balance on council committees. The council approved the recommendations set out in the Northamptonshire Youth Justice Plan 2024/25, and also approved changes to political balance on its committees.

Political Balance on Council Committees

Following the resignation of Councillor Scott Brown from the Conservative Group and the election of Councillor Lee Duffy to the Lloyds and Corby Village Ward for Reform UK, the council approved changes to the political balance on its committees, as detailed in the report on Political Balance on Council Committees.

The Local Government and Housing Act 1989 requires councils to allocate seats to political groups on committees and sub-committees in a way that reflects the overall political balance of the council. The Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990 also apply.

As of 30 October 2025, the political composition of the council was:

• Reform UK: 40 councillors (58.82%)
• Conservative: 13 councillors (19.12%)
• Green: 8 councillors (11.76%)
• Labour: 4 councillors (5.88%)
• Communities Alliance: 2 councillors (2.94%)
• Unaligned: 1 councillor (1.47%)

The report on Political Balance on Council Committees noted that the political balance provisions only apply directly to committees and sub-committees, and do not apply to bodies where appointments are made by the Leader of the Council, such as the Executive, bodies established by the Executive, the Health and Wellbeing Board, and joint bodies established by the Executive.

The Appendix A - Proportionality Allocations document set out the breakdown of the allocation of seats to the political groups. The council has 104 seats available on ordinary committees, which are:

• Scrutiny Management Board (6 seats)
• Children, Young Persons and Education Scrutiny (9 seats)
• Corporate Scrutiny Committee (9 seats)
• Health Scrutiny Committee (9 seats)
• Place and Environment Scrutiny Committee (9 seats)
• Audit and Governance Committee (10 seats)
• Democracy and Standards Committee (13 seats)
• Employment Committee (13 seats)
• Licensing and Appeals Committee (13 seats)
• Planning Committee (13 seats)

Following the application of political proportionality, the allocation of seats was:

• Reform UK: 61 seats
• Conservative: 20 seats
• Green: 12 seats
• Labour: 6 seats
• Communities Alliance: 3 seats
• Unaligned: 2 seats

The changes resulted in the Reform UK Group gaining one seat on the Children, Young Persons and Education Scrutiny Committee, and the Conservative Group losing one seat on the Democracy and Standards Committee. The two seats previously allocated to the vacant council seat were reallocated to the unaligned seat.

Northamptonshire Youth Justice Plan 2024/25

The council approved the contents of the Northamptonshire Youth Justice Plan 2024-25 and noted the Youth Offending Service's priorities for 2025/26.

The Youth Justice Service is a statutory multi-agency service responsible for preventing offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18 in Northamptonshire. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires local authorities to formulate and implement an annual youth justice plan in consultation with partner agencies.

The Appendix A - Northamptonshire Youth Offending Service Youth Justice Plan 2024-25 sets out the strategic priorities, governance, leadership, partnership arrangements, updates on the previous year, risks and issues, plan for the forthcoming year, service budgets, staffing structure, national priorities, and local demographics.

The plan identifies the following priorities for 2025-2026:

• Strengthen support for victims, with a special focus on young victims, and the continuous improvement of restorative justice delivery.
• Actively tackle disproportionality, particularly for Black and Mixed children and young people, and care-experienced children and young people, ensuring equity and belonging.
• Prevent serious youth violence through place-based, community-informed strategies and a commitment to contextual safeguarding¹.
• Address poor educational engagement, where over 40% of Northamptonshire Youth Justice Service (NYJS) engagement involved children who were missing education for more than half the allotted time.
• Expand the Voice4Change youth forum, develop new mentoring schemes, and identity-based interventions to support personal development and inclusion.