Doing More with Less

The clear message from the coalition government is that deep spending cuts will mean the public sector will have to become yet more efficient. Now we have Ed Miliband, the brand new supposed left-leaning leader of the Labour Party saying "the public sector will have to do more with less". So, if the writing on the wall is that clear - I wonder what it will mean for the probation service? Now, if only I was in charge.....

I'd see if we could cope without so many managers, especially those at Head Office with strange titles like 'business development manager', and do we really need 'public relations managers' or 'research managers', or 'offender management managers'?  Could Head Office be a tad smaller? You get the gist.

We could turn the clock back and recruit volunteers again. Rather stupidly management decided a few years ago that they didn't fit into a modern professional service. So we not only lost a useful recruiting avenue for future entrants to the service, we also robbed many clients of the extra personal contact and mentoring that used to be provided by experienced and well motivated people.

Look afresh at the whole 'programme' industry that grew up during the fervour surrounding the 'What Works' debate a few years ago. I was always sceptical that a prescriptive 'one size fits all' approach was the correct avenue to go down exclusively, thus effectively stifling any innovative developments. Without doubt programmes are beneficial for many participants, but they consume a huge chunk of resources and there are not always enough appropriate participants available. I would mention in passing that one eminent academic reminded me that the whole point about the process was that it was a debate and consequently there should be a question mark after 'What Works'. It sort of puts everything into perspective for me.

Carry out an urgent review of bureaucratic processes and in particular OASys. The time has come to admit the blindingly obvious that it was a massive mistake, ill thought out, foisted upon us by our prison service partners and is now a mill stone hanging around every officer's neck. A staggering 41% of an officers time is spent in front of the computer, much of it on unproductive involvement in OASys. Management know this because the concept of 'OASys-lite' was introduced as a way of getting some improvement in productivity with low risk cases. If this issue could be addressed urgently, not only could there be a massive increase in productivity generally, but just imagine what it would do for staff morale. 

Get managers of all grades to have some regular client contact and write the odd PSR. I think that would not only help with productivity, it would boost morale but most importantly of all it would serve to reinforce in a very 'hands-on' way exactly why officers lose the will to live when completing a full OASys.   

If only I was in charge.....