The collective disappointment and joint anger is palpable following yesterday's third reading of the Offender Rehabilitation Bill and the abject failure of our politicians to grasp the seriousness of the situation. It would seem that the concerted efforts directed at the Liberal Democrats met with only marginal success and I hear Harry Fletcher reports that 30 Labour politicians didn't vote at all.
I'll make no bones about it. I'm extremely disappointed at what passes for considered Parliamentary decision-making in this country and to be perfectly frank the contributions from some members was risible. In this regard I cannot but pass comment on that made by Lorley Burt MP on behalf of the Liberal Democrats who I think summed up by saying "we've waited long enough and we'd better just get on with it." Given her small majority in Solihull, hopefully her political career will be somewhat shorter than it might have been.
Once again we have to look to our many loyal friends in the House of Lords to try and make sense of this bloody dogs breakfast of a Bill and hope they can yet make sure rain pours on Chris Graylings parade. At this point I'm always reminded of why we should be more than a little thankful that the Upper House never did get fully 'reformed' because, lets be honest, that's where some serious debate takes place and party whips don't rule the roost.
So, what happens now? Judging by comments coming in, the theme remains the same, one of obduracy. A resolute determination to withdraw goodwill and render absolutely no assistance in order to help make this omnishambles work. Stick to contracted hours, procedures no matter how half-baked they may be and basically look around for other possible career opportunities. The view seems to be well summed-up by these recent comments:-
Used to work for free without worry because I believe strongly in a mixed economy, a public service ethos, and that was my choice. I have never seen people work so hard as in the Probation Service. Not one single minute more than my contracted hours. Jim I hope we will still have this place to share and record the inevitable examples of waste and farce as time goes on. You may decide otherwise of course! Thanks for all your time and effort to date in this.
I agree with Anon 05:21 as I too have never seen people work so hard and give so much unpaid time above their contracted hours as probation staff. I have stopped the extra hours on my day job and actually I feel liberated and at least in control of my own personal TR crisis. My advice to all colleagues is TAKE CONTROL by doing what you are paid for and delivering this, work within your hours, take your lunch breaks, log your work travelling time (eg to meetings/prisons) and ensure this is within your working hours. If you need to think of this as resistance, do so. I think of it as waking up to the reality of our situation and keeping my head down whilst this whole thing fails.
The blog will definitely continue, but on the issue of a lack of job descriptions for either CRC's and NPS, there's an important message for Napo as outlined in these contributions:-
Is it just me who, on 1st April, plans to sit back, only do what's in my job description and enjoy Grayling's plan implode as we all know it will. A year of high profile SFOs and they'll start putting it all back together again. You never know, probation mkII may be even better.
The thing is what are our job descriptions? Conveniently none of us have them so Grayling has us by the balls so to speak.
Cuts both ways though. If the managers do not know what we can or cannot do, it makes it easier to challenge any requests! Your first response should be to ask for evidence that we CAN do what they are requesting; any failure to provide this evidence should then be met with a response that they clarify with you Union.
Should delay things for a while and I'm pretty sure they will get sick of having to check and double check everything before you get sick of asking for evidence that you are allowed, given the business risks, to do it!
Who knows, they might even have to sit down with our Unions and decide every single aspect of our new roles in the absence of clarification from NOMS.
This may take some time :)
I do feel that, should we take such a stance, that our position would be strengthened if NAPO/Unison gave out 'advice' that it is the relevant officers responsibility to NOT do anything outside of their remit. That way we are not technically refusing to do anything, we are just asking for evidence that we can do it!
Passive resistance; we've all seen it done :)
If anyone from the Union(s) is reading this, please strongly consider this proposal, it might be our last roll of the dice. As I say to my clients: don't just regret the things you have done; regret the things that you have not done.
I've already started asking the questions - am receiving emails from the parole board requesting my availability for lifer hearings post April 1st when I will be in the CRC, and I want clear direction from management as to what my responsibilities are. And I will keep on asking and asking......
I hadn't even thought about some of this. I had to give dates for oral hearings post April. I work in London where sifting hasn't been done yet. So I have no idea where I'll be then
ReplyDeleteIt now seems as if there is a dispute about who is controlling the Probation Institute Twitter account.
ReplyDeleteNapo has posted "News Item
Probation Institute launches new Twitter account
While planning for the creation of the Probation Institute is advancing it is clear that an unofficial site has been created which does not represent the views of the stakeholder groups.
Napo members who utilise social media can find the official account for the Institute at: @ProbInstitute - http://www.napo.org.uk/about/news/news.cfm/newsid/328"
Also it seems there is a meeting of said Institute today, who was invited and who issued the invites?
- I do hope retired probation workers are consulted - via Napo or their former employees(Mine have never sent me so much as a Christmas card!)
Andrew Hatton
I'm wondering what protections are built into this TR model to prevent manipulation of risk assessments?
ReplyDeleteThe NPS will need enough high risk cases to justify its existance and staffing levels. The CRC's require enough medium and low risk cases to make enough profit to continue trading (thats an awful word to use when dealing with people- but its what it is).
It does strike me however that the ratio of high risk cases to medium and low risk cases will need to remain consistant and relevent to the 70/30 split between NPS and CRC.
Whilst I have faith in individuals doing the hard work, I'm not so comfortable with those sitting above.
Whilst the 'potential' for manipulation of risk exists, I think the MoJ have a duty to have safeguards in place to prevent it and detect it if it indeed does occur.
Wash your mouth out!!! I'll have you know that our new 'partner' agencies have the highest morals and your assertions to the contrary are without foundation.
DeleteI bet you one Cream Egg that you would struggle to name a time when any of the agencies which are part of the various CRC's have been........untruthful ;)
interestingly, am hearing rumours of field team where 85% of staff have been sifted into NPS because manager up tariffed all cases
Deletereference anon 13;39 this is an extract from NOMS commissioning intentions 2014 (public documents)
ReplyDelete"The probation caseload at the end of March 2013 was 222,306. This represents a fall of five per cent compared to the same point in 2012. This fall continues the downward trend seen in recent years and is a reduction of nine per cent since a peak of 243,434 in 2008.
At the end of March 2013, the total caseload of offenders serving court orders was 112,090, which was ten per cent lower than the previous year.
Of these:
The number of offenders being supervised under Community Orders was 74,768, ten per cent lower than the previous year
The number of offenders being supervised under SSOs at the end of March 2013 was 37,865, a nine per cent fall against the previous year
The number of offenders starting court orders also decreased over this period. Community Order starts fell by fifteen per cent between the quarter ending March 2012 and the quarter ending March 2013. SSO starts fell by seven per cent over this period."
The pool to fish in is, thankfully from a public safety point of view, getting smaller!
From a business point of view BAD NEWS............
Thanks for that info. I guess if Graylings plans actually work, we can see a steady growth of the NPS services and a steady decline in the need for services provided by CRC's?
DeleteCould it all eat its way around to where it was in the first place?
Yes and then some drug use is de-criminalised and the whole business model is blown out of the water; this is why SERCO's share price is falling in America. Classic contradiction in the capitalist mode of production.
DeleteOff topic but its good to remind ourselves of how successful the private sector can be in the CJS.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art/37215/Prisons+for+profit+make+inmates%E2%80%99+lives+even+worse
Prisons for profit make inmates’ lives even worse.
DeleteAfter two prisons have had “disturbances” already this year, Sadie Robinson looks at how privatisation is driving prisoners’ conditions down even further.
Privatisation is creating “dangerous chaos” in prisons and Tory justice secretary Chris Grayling is “dehumanising” prisoners. That’s according to Rob Preece from the Howard League for Penal Reform.
Prison doesn’t “rehabilitate” people. It puts vulnerable inmates at the mercy of routine brutalisation by prison officers.
The new year began with two prison “disturbances”. One at state-run Nottingham Prison, and the other at Oakwood prison near Wolverhampton, run by G4S.
The authorities are cagey about how common such disturbances are.
The Ministry of Justice was quick to reassure Socialist Worker that the number of this kind of “incident” was “very, very low” –despite admitting that it doesn’t keep figures for them.
What is clear is that cuts are making prisoners’ lives harder—and explosions of anger more likely.
Danger
The chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, stressed the danger of cost-cutting in his 2012/13 report.
The National Offender Management Service, which includes prisons and probation, made £246 million in cuts that financial year. This followed £228 million cuts in 2011-12.
The cuts meant prison closures, privatisation and “workforce restructuring”. Hardwick wrote, “No one should fool themselves that these financial and organisational pressures do not create risks”.
The Howard League found that almost 20,000 prisoners were kept in overcrowded cells on any given day last year.
Many have little to do. The prison population in England and Wales has doubled in 20 years but funding hasn’t grown to match this.
“This creates competition to get on courses,” Rob Preece told Socialist Worker. “It shouldn’t surprise anybody that tensions will rise. In this situation, something that seems small can trigger a bigger response.”
Grayling has changed prisoners’ “privileges” scheme so that new prisoners start on the basic level instead of standard.
This restricts what they can do. “It has a dehumanising effect,” said Rob. “Things like buying a pencil have become a bureaucratic nightmare.”
The growth of privately-run prisons is a big threat. Report after report has raised concerns about cuts, lack of training and inexperienced staff in private prisons.
And as private firms bid to run prisons cheaply, the pressure to cut costs in state-run prisons intensifies.
Juliet Lyon is director of the Prison Reform Trust. She said that prisoners at Oakwood faced “problems with access to the most basic necessities”.
“This is a prison that opened without enough bread or toilet roll for its prisoners,” said Rob. “How can you expect it to deliver things like proper education?
“G4S told us these were teething problems. But there comes a point where teething problems become dangerous chaos.”
As Rob points out, there’s no incentive for private prisons looking for profits to cut the numbers.
eeeh what a great visionary Grayling is....
ReplyDeleteEU opens up £450bn public sector procurement
ReplyDeleteBy Gill PlimmerThe EU has ratified rules on public sector procurement which will open up the £450bn a year market to smaller contractors. The regulations will allow governments to outsource services such as healthcare, social care and education more quickly.The UK, Europe’s biggest outsourcing market, has been pushing Brussels to make the changes, which will make it possible to blacklist suppliers that have consistently failed to deliver.The rules will also streamline the procurement process to enable smaller contractors to compete for government contracts across the continent. The EU, says public procurement account for about 18 per cent of the bloc’s gross domestic product.The new outsourcing rules are to be introduced by all member states within two years. But the UK plans to adopt the changes ahead of schedule as it pushes ahead with plans to outsource more services and at the same time tries to allay fears that taxpayers’ money is being wasted.Under a new “light-touch” regime, government contracts in health and social care, education and prison services worth under €750,000 or £626,000 will be exempted from EU laws because they are deemed not to be of cross-border interest. However, contracts in these sectors worth more than €750,000 will be required to advertise in the EU contracts journal, so that private sector competitors across the continent will be made aware of opportunities.Francis Maude, Cabinet Office minister, said the reforms included several wins for the UK government. “This is big boost for all small and medium sized enterprises and all bidders to make it cheaper and quicker with less red tape,” he said.The onus on bidders to supply documentation such as insurance early on in the process will be reduced. Public sector authorities will also be encouraged to divide contracts into smaller lots to allow a wider range of companies to compete. According to the Cabinet Office, the average contract size in the UK is twice that of similar deals in France and Germany, working against smaller competitors.The moves come as concerns over public outsourcing were highlighted again last week when G4S came under fire for its poor management of HMP Oakwood, the UK’s biggest prison. G4S is also being investigated, along with rival Serco, for allegedly overcharging the Ministry of Justice for electronic tagging.
The new rules allow the government to blacklist companies that have provided substandard services, when this led to formal sanctions such as termination or damages claims.There will also be a clear rehabilitation process for barred contractors. If they can demonstrate that they have paid compensation, co-operated actively with the authorities and taken steps to prevent any further wrongdoing, they will once more be allowed to bid for contracts.Mr Maude said these changes were long overdue. “This was clearly ridiculous: no other organisation is obliged to give business to a company that has significantly failed to deliver,” he said.Jane Jenkins, partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the law firm, said the greater flexibility offered by the directive would “offer a framework for the government to commercialise its procedures and give them access to a broader supply chain”.There are a number of other significant changes. Social enterprises and mutuals – such as MyCSP, a pension management company spun off from the Department for Work and Pensions last year – will also be exempted from the EU rules so that staff can bid for contracts without private sector competition for an initial three-year period. More than 80 public sector mutuals have already been created, introducing more competition to the market, the Cabinet Office said.Although the new directive covers public procurement across the EU, it will have the greatest impact on the NHS, where billions of pounds of contracts, covering everything from care for the aged to mental health services, are currently out to tender.The NHS Confederation, which represents NHS managers and the private sector, welcomed the new “light touch” regime.Elisabetta Zanon, who heads the NHS Confederation’s European Office, said the new directive had “a similar overall structure to the existing rules and still requires public contracts to be competed for and awarded transparently and without discrimination”. But she said the reforms would provide more flexibility and “enable better commercial outcomes”.Dr Louise Irvine, spokesperson for the National Health Action party, said: “This will speed up the process, which is already gaining pace, of privatising NHS services.”Under the new regime, the NHS would “still spend increasing amounts on transaction costs, which international comparisons show can account for 20-30 per cent of healthcare budgets in a marketised system”. She added: “Whether the contracts are big or small the issue is that they will still be put out to tender, fragmenting healthcare and taking money away from frontline care, which is our main fear, and which we are already seeing with the pressures on accident and emergency, hospitals and community care.”
DeleteNo problems being part of the EU for Grayling today then!!
DeleteAnd why not? That "light touch" regulation worked really well in the banking system.
DeleteLast week was not a good week, what with TR:ust letters & mutterings about the OR Bill & colleagues' anxieties climbing through the roof. Add to that the caseload issues of benefit sanctions, failed DWP xmas payments (about 38,000 were delayed or missed), no resources for mental health clients and punitive housing policies. I've been around the job for a few years now and I'm getting tired of it all.
ReplyDeleteOn Friday evening I did some sums, worked out that the lump sum might clear the decks & leave something for the next generations to make better use of, and made my plans for Saturday.
Late Sat afternoon I was unexpectedly interrupted by a whirl of energy and shouting: "Don't be sad, Pop-Pops, lets go fishing." I put the remaining meds back in the cabinet, finished the glass of malt I was half-way through, put the kettle on and (after I'd made sure I'd flushed enough water through my system to ameliorate as much damage as possible) we went fishing with canes, string and cabinet hooks. It was bloody cold and wild, but it was the best day's fishing I've ever had.
A lucky escape? Serendipity? Fate? Who knows, who cares. Kidneys and liver seem to be okay. The OR Bill has passed through the Commons - so fucking what? Bankers are going to award themselves £Billions in bonuses for tossing each other off and stealing from everyone yet again - great!!
But what you won't stop now is the fact that I'm still here (thanks to my 2 year old grand-daughter) - and I'm so damn angry I'm going to kick Grayling's arse so hard he'll be wearing it on his face until his birthday comes and goes. Its Epiphany-time... LET'S PLAY BALL, CHRIS!!!
Annon 19:55
DeleteGlad you had a good days fishing!
All the Grayllings, bankers and the well off will never know the riches to be found in fishing on a cold day with your kids.
Whatever it is that makes us different from them, and I'd arguee its conscience, care and consideration for all in our society, whatever it is..we're the ones that are rich, we can find value in life and not just in pound notes.
When times get tough and uncertain look at the kids and see if its to cold to go fishing....never to cold for fishing!!
Never let the bastards grind you down.
Anon 19:55
DeleteThanks for sharing that - it helps put everything into perspective. Stay strong, stay angry but look after yourself.
Best wishes,
Jim
http://www.nuneaton-news.co.uk/MPs-probation-service-vote/story-20446235-detail/story.html
ReplyDeletePROBATION chiefs have slammed local MPs for backing a bill which could see the service that covers Nuneaton and Bedworth privatised.
DeleteIn fact, Dave Adams chair of the Warwickshire branch of NAPO, said he is 'dismayed' in the way that the county's MPs, including Nuneaton, and Bedworth and North Warwickshire's voices in Parliament have voted.
Mr Adams claims that the privatisation of the service could put public safety at risk because offenders will not be monitored as effectively.
He said: "I'm dismayed that MPs for Warwickshire are voting in favour of a Bill that will privatise a highly performing local Probation Trust . I have met with Warwickshire MPs and have advised them of the risks that the government is taking with public safety . The Ministry of Justice's own risk register identifies that there is an 80 per cent likelihood that public protection will be severely compromised.
"In addition, Warwickshire Probation Trust's risk register also identifies a significant risk to operational failure if the government's plans are allowed to be implemented."
He went on: "People who have committed robbery, domestic violence and other violent offences will be supervised by a fragmented private sector whose main interest will be about making profit for shareholders and about not protecting the public.
"This untested, untried reform has to be stopped. This isn't about reducing re-offending this is an ideological attack on the public sector to allow privateers into the justice system."
Mr Adams concluded: "I call upon Warwickshire MPs to make a public statement so that the people of Warwickshire know why they are failing to support a highly performing local Probation Trust."
Nuneaton's MP Marcus Jones explained that he did not make his decision lightly.
"This was a tough decision, but on balance the right one to make,"Mr Jones said.
"Each year, around 600,000 crimes are committed by those who have already broken the law, costing £4 billion a year on prisons and probation yet failing to break the cycle of offending which is a travesty for the victims of crime and a bad deal for the taxpayer.
"I voted for proposals, unopposed at Third Reading by the Labour Party, which will see every offender sentenced to less than 12 months in prison receive statutory supervision and rehabilitation in the community when they are released.
"A new public sector organisation, The National Probation Service, will be responsible for supervising and rehabilitating 31,000 high risk offenders each year. I am aware that the Warwickshire Probation Service are putting forward a bid to become part of a mutual organisation delivering services for lower risk offenders."
Anon 19:55
ReplyDeleteThat's a powerful post, join the resistance.
Completely agree with post Anonymous15 January 2014 19:55. Very powerful and beautifully illustrated.
ReplyDeleteANARCHIST PO
Anon at 19.55 keep venting, stay strong and keep fishing x
ReplyDeleteToday I had to give my availability to be a prosecution witness for dates up to June in the trial of a high profile and disturbing high risk case. I work in the rural part of our Trust area, I haven't been assigned yet but I'm being sifted on the same basis as my city colleagues. I'm fully expecting to go to the CRC. I want to work to my job description if that is indeed the case but I simply can't let this victim down.
ReplyDeleteWithout knowing details I do not think one has much choice about being a prosecution witness, it is not perhaps entirely a 'job description' matter - I would think (but maybe wrong) - after all anyone can be subpoena'd to attend court to give evidence -
Deletehttp://www.inbrief.co.uk/court-proceedings/subpoenaing-a-witness.htm
Andrew Hatton
Andrew Hatton
A days fishing is never a day wasted , so said Billy Connelly - I can't stand it myself but you might say the same about cross stich!!
ReplyDeleteProbation staff will forever hold the moral high ground in TR and wherever we are placed remember that and remember all our colleagues doing continuosly difficult work under difficult circumstances - we will all need a large chunk of humanity to get us through
Thanks to all for supportive comments. Low Mood is a strange place to live at times - it sounds like a picturesque Cotswold village, but it has its dark secrets. But not as dark as the PR arts used to express the Party line as expressed by the Nuneaton MP above. They've got this under 6 months spiel very well refined.
DeleteAnd just to put my own misery into perspective, I don't live in Syria, or Afghanistan, or Iraq, or South Sudan, or ... The list of places racked - and wrecked - by greed fed by the hand of capitalism seems endless some days. But I do believe the principles for which I fight would help right some of those wrongs. Anon22:37 put their finger on it - "a large chunk of humanity" would be the ideal airdrop.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/16/harmondsworth-elderly-man-died-handcuffs
ReplyDeleteThe chief inspector of prisons has accused the privately run immigration detention centre at Heathrow of a shocking loss of humanity after a terminally ill Canadian man was kept in handcuffs as he died in hospital.
ReplyDeleteStaff ignored a doctor's report declaring the 84-year-old unfit for detention or deportation and in need of social care.
The chief inspector, Nick Hardwick, said that on at least two occasions staff at the Geo-run Harmondsworth immigration removal centre have needlessly handcuffed elderly, vulnerable and incapacitated detainees in what he called "an excessive and shocking manner". He said that the two men were so ill that one died shortly after his handcuffs were removed and the other, the 84-year-old, who has been named as Alois Dvorzac, died while still restrained. .
Hardwick said the security procedures at the immigration removal centre, which can hold more than 600 male detainees, lacked proportionality: "Segregation was being used excessively and was not in line with the detention centre rules.
Disturbingly, a lack of intelligent individual risk assessment has meant that most detainees were handcuffed on escort."
He described the use of handcuffs at Harmondsworth as "grossly excessive".
The chief inspector detailed cases in which detainees who had been assessed as low risk were put in handcuffs before they were taken to appointments outside the centre. He cited one case in which a detainee who was using a wheelchair following a stroke had been handcuffed on a journey to hospital for no obvious reason.
Hardwick said the first case in which a dying man was kept in handcuffs happened in November 2012. The man remained cuffed while sedated and undergoing an angioplasty procedure in hospital. The restraints were removed only seven hours before his death. The Home Office professional standards unit has since completed a critical investigation report into the case.
The prisons and probation ombudsman has launched an investigation into the death of Dvorzac, which happened last February. The chief inspector said the Canadian was considered frail and was suffering from dementia. He died while still in handcuffs having been kept in them for around five hours. They were only removed after his heart had stopped.
The chief inspector said Dvorzac had been refused entry at Gatwick Airport on 23 January last year. After a stay in hospital, he had been detained at Harmondsworth, where, on 30 January, a doctor declared him unfit for detention or deportation and stated that he required social care.
On 6 February, an attempt was made to deport him despite his caseworker acknowledging his vulnerability and lack of contacts in Britain. That was halted by another doctor, who said he was unfit to fly.
Two days later Dvorzac was taken to hospital in handcuffs. He died during a second visit on 10 February.
Have just received email from our Chief saying that termination of Trust Contract will now happen on 31st of May and not 31st March. We remain in the employ of the Trust until then. Apparently they have been assured that TR remains on track and that the delay is to allow for two months of effective shadow running of NPS and CRC to ensure all systems are working before split proper.
ReplyDeleteIf TR genuinely did remain on track, the MoJ wouldn't have to say so. The period from 1st April to the share sale was already in the plan as shadow running, so this is a major departure from the plan. This is absolutely the time to ramp up whatever pressure we can muster on MPs, PCCs and so on. Don't believe the (lack of) hype! The MoJ are wobbling - let's push them over.
ReplyDelete