There's one aspect of this whole daft idea that the government has little control over and that's the potential bidders. Ironically, they are essential to the success or failure of the whole enterprise, but are only influenced by the usual forces of capitalism. Even the well-meaning staff mutuals or cuddly third sector charities have to focus on the hard economics of how to turn a profit from peoples misery and increasingly we know many are getting cold feet. To put things in a nutshell, if there are no bidders, there's no TR. Full stop. So, with this firmly in mind, I was heartened to read this comment left yesterday:-
I know you read all the postings and with various commitments I don't get chance to read this til late at night, but I wanted to share some nuggets that I have been mining over several days.
You have seen the runners and riders of the competition but what is not reported is the number that are pulling out of the process. There is evidence that the initial fanfare that there is a good group of bidders, some may have said "best in class"(!!) bidding for each CPA is beginning to dwindle.
You have heard of the Hampshire mutual stepping out, but there are some of the big boys stepping back from interest in CPA's.
To name them would undoubtedly compromise the source but you have heard that there is an approach from MoJ to get more companies to have another look at what they wish to bid for - but large nationals , multinationals and consortia are having second thoughts about bidding. We will not see for certain because of competition processes but the word is that 4/5 big companies will mop up the whole lot, and the mutuals .....bid candy !!
Sorry to say some staff mutuals are beaten before they even place pen on paper. The Danny Shaw report suggested that the MoJ procurement was going to do an excellent job, they have, however, not gone down well with prospective bidders. The TOM is still incomplete, staff unrest continues, setting up the training for new processes is shockingly inadequate, key staff from Trusts are leaving, some Trust are having to recruit or use agency staff which all means the bidders are becoming increasingly concerned on what will be "for sale".
The drip, drip, drip of reputational damaging news is also taking its toll, and the realisation from some bidders that they just do not have a capacity to try and take on the CPA will only add to this.
This is the full lineup of circling privateers the MoJ published a few weeks ago and it would be interesting to hear more news of any pulling out:-
|
CPA no.
|
CPA area
|
Potential Bidders
|
|
1.
|
Northumbria
|
Sodexo Justice Services
The Rehabilitation Company
Working links
|
|
2.
|
Cumbria and Lancashire
|
CRR Partnership
GMC Sodexo
Innovo (CLM) Limited
Interserve
The Rehabilitation Company
|
|
3.
|
Durham and Cleveland
|
ARCC
Northern Inclusion Consortium
Pertemps People Development Group
Sodexo Justice Services
Working links
|
|
4.
|
North Yorkshire, Humberside and Lincolnshire
|
EOS
Geo Delta
Interserve
Sodexo Justice Services
The Rehabilitation Company
|
|
5.
|
West Yorkshire
|
CRR Partnership
EOS
Interserve
MTC Amey
Northern Inclusion Consortium
Prospects Resolutions
Sodexo Justice Services
The GEO Group
The Rehabilitation Company
|
|
6.
|
Cheshire and Greater Manchester
|
CRR Partnership
EOS
GMC Sodexo
Interserve
MTC Amey
Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited
The Manchester College
The Rehabilitation Company
|
|
7.
|
Merseyside
|
a4e
CRR Partnership
GMC Sodexo
Innovo (CLM) Limited
Interserve
MTC Amey
Sodexo Justice Services
The Rehabilitation Company
|
|
8.
|
South Yorkshire
|
a4e
CRR Partnership
EOS
Inerserve
MTC Amey
Prospects Resolutions
Sodexo Justice Services
The GEO Group
The Rehabilitation Company
|
|
9.
|
Staffordshire and
West Midlands
|
Capita Business Services
CRR Partnership
EOS
Home Group (Stonham)
Ingeus
MTC Amey
Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited
Sentinel Offender Services LLC
The GEO Group
The Rehabilitation Company
|
|
10.
|
Derbyshire,
Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire
|
a4e
CRR Partnership
EOS
Ingeus
Interserve
Momentis and Homegroup
Sentinel Offender Services LLC
Working links
|
|
11.
|
Wales
|
Crime Reduction Initiatives (CRI)
Sodexo Justice Services
Working links
|
|
12
|
West Mercia and
Warwickshire
|
Capita Business Services
EOS
MCA and Homegroup
Pertemps People Development Group
Sentinel Offender Services LLC
The GEO Group
The Rehabilitation Company
|
|
13
|
Gloucestershire,
Avon, Somerset and Wiltshire
|
Interserve
Prospects Services
Shaw Trust
The Rehabilitation Company
Working links
|
|
14
|
Dorset, Devon and
Cornwall
|
Shaw Trust
The GEO Group
Working links
|
|
15
|
Hampshire
|
a4e
Capita Business Services
Crime Reduction Initiatives (CRI)
Hampshire Rehabilitation services
Interserve
Shaw Trust
|
|
16
|
Thames Valley
|
a4e
Capita Business Services
Home Group (Stonham)
Interserve
MTC Amey
Prospects Services
Shaw Trust
The GEO Group
|
|
17
|
Northamptonshire,
Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire
|
Home Group (Stonham)
Ingeus
Interserve
Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited
Sodexo Justice Services
|
|
18
|
Norfolk and Suffolk
|
a4e
Home Group (Stonham)
MTC Amey
Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited
Sodexo Justice Services
|
|
19
|
Essex
|
a4e
Aspire2 change
Capita Business Services
Home Group (Stonham)
MTC Amey
Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited
Sodexo Justice Services
Seetec Business Technology Centre Ltd
Sodexo Justice Services
|
|
20
|
London
|
Capita Business Services
CRR Partnership
MTC Amey
|
|
21
|
Kent Surrey and
Sussex
|
a4e
Capita Business Services
Chalk Ventures
CRR Partnership
MTC Amey
Seetec Business Technology Centre Limited
|
Here's another interesting snippet from the Napo Forum on the subject of drip, drip, drip:-
I heard the story and now I've heard so much of his dribble I don't get quite so angry. He may have been expecting more grievances but I don't think he was expecting as many FOI requests. A source at NOMS tells me it has used resources they don't have and really slowed them down. Members, friends and family members need to keep up with the FOI's and be creative in your questions. The ICO are onto them for delays in responding so they are being monitored from the afar so get the message out there to all and sundry
To slightly bend a well-known adage, I guess the message has to be one of 'death by a thousand cuts'. If we are to win the battle as well as the argument, it has to be by means of lots of relatively small actions.
Interesting to see that GMC Sodexo (Manc Probation mutual bankrolled by Sodexo) are bidding to annexe Merseyside, Lancs & Cumbria. Are we now at a stage where probation will eat itself in the belief that will help it survive?
ReplyDeleteJim - can we have an idiot's guide to submitting a FOI?
ReplyDeleteA very good point. The best and extremely easy way is to use the 'What Do They Know' website. The software very cleverly formats, sends and tracks any FOI request for you - all you have to do is frame the question. Here's the link and get cracking!
Deletehttps://www.whatdotheyknow.com/
I'm going to put one in tonight asking how many Probation staff have resigned since Grayling took up office.
DeleteIn my PT skilled staff are leaving and we are having difficulty replacing them. No agency POs are available at the moment to fill the gaps. Departments such as performance, HR or payroll are at risk of being downsized or disappearing altogether. Staff from these departments are understandably concerned about their future if they remain with probation so they are leaving fast. There is no realistic prospect of replacing them. The successful bidder for my PT will have to reverse a major skills shortage before it can get the results it is going to be depending on for payment in full.
ReplyDeleteProblem is the big fish won't be banking on full pbr payment. They will have planned on the payment for services part with pbr being a bonus. They aren't stupid. They will cut their cloth according to what they know. The whole notion of pbr was just a trojan horse anyway, as i see it.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeleteDefinitely. This was flagged up very early on by the former Serco exec, Richard Johnson (I think), who pointed out that meeting the MoJ's rules on re-offending statistics (i.e. the difference will need to be large enough to be certain it's not just an accidental change) will be so difficult that there's a clear incentive to cut services even to a point where re-offending actually rises, to a point. This will be in prime's thinking, even if it won't make it into their bid documents. We need to be clear that we know this, and that we will be blowing whistles with all our might if and when we find the evidence.
DeleteOMU in some prisons is grinding to a halt, no OASys being written, few sentence plans and hardly any prisoners being seen. Not enough staff to do the job after "Fair and Sustainable and " Bench marking" The mood is growing ugly yet nothing is done, are they going to flog off Offender Management in Prisons too?
DeleteCatch 22 who are part of The Rehabilitation Company are already in HMP Doncaster (SERCO) and have been doing their low and medium risk OMU work for the past 3, maybe even 4, years.
Delete“This competition will deliver real value for the hardworking taxpayer and ensure we get the best in the business when it comes to rehabilitating offenders.”
DeleteSaid Grayling!
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/best-in-the-business-bidding-to-rehabilitate-offenders
To see A4E up there amongst the bidders is a nauseating sight. This a company that has only ever enriched its directors, notably its taxpayer funded chief, Emma Harison, one of five shareholders, who paid herself 8.6 million out of a share dividend pot of 11 million, plus her six figure salary. That former radical Blunkett was paid tens of thousands as an advisor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfJnu4CvoEs Reminds me of a saying, behind every great fortune lies a great crime.
ReplyDeleteI see there is an interesting Blog called : - "Watching A4e" - Which describes its function as: - "Keeping an eye on a company whose business is government contracts."
DeleteThe writer has previously written about how they have taken an interest in Probation Contracts in the USA, but I could not see any recent comment about bidding for the 5 CRC's, so I have invited a comment.
http://watchinga4e.blogspot.co.uk/
Maybe there are others 'keeping an eye' on what is going on at some of the other bidders and we can usefully check them out.
For now I plan to follow the "Watching A4E" folks.
Jim is right, we shall probably need to take lots of small actions to stop Transforming Rehabilitation and Probation outsourcing - from my computer desk - I am willing to be involved.
'Fair and Sustainable' is neither.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger picture here is the political consensus that underpins the outsourcing of public services. And on a personal level you have politicians who profit enormously at the end of their political careers by picking up lucrative work in the private sector. The lure of the money is powerful and of course we have seen esteemed former senior managers in probation seduced by the money. Seems to me that the only public service that held the public's affection was the NHS and even that has been marketised. Whatever Labour politicians say I don't believe them. Labour has never said it is in principal opposed to TR, only that there should be pilots – and it won't commit to 'renationalise'.
ReplyDeleteThis ultimately is about cutting costs and shifting pension liabilities out of government responsibility. Just as all the parties are united in their rejection of Scottish independence, so they are united in their basis enthusiasm for outsourcing – for ideological and for fiscal reasons – and there is some pork barrel politics that plays out on a personal level when former politicians who pressed for public sector 'reforms' join the private companies that prospered courtesy of the taxpayers.
Netnipper I totally agree look at Blair he has been on the books of JP Morgan for years. As we know this thing is much bigger than Probation it is what the Elite want as the configuration of " late capitalism". Everything must be monetised you just don't do it unless you can turn a profit regardless of the cost to anyone who is not in the Elite.
ReplyDeleteThe only way to challenge this is by building a political movement to challenge the accepted orthodoxy of the market. Well it is happening, lots of groups forming at grass roots level on the left and there is even talk of socialism again. Eight years after a massive crisis of capitalism it's about time; and as you know "this is why it's kicking off everywhere".
Please watch this space re Sodexo and the whole North of England, Probation AND prisons. Word is it is a done deal as economies of scale will be manageable in this well defined area. The job cut after 12 months establishment period could be 2000.
ReplyDeleteU got any proof or just looking to wind people up? There's a lot of staff in this area who will read this and be understandably concerned at your comments!
DeleteThey're in the mix for Northumbria, Cumbria & Lancs, Merseyside, Durham & Cleveland, West Yorks - as a prime, and have their financial finger in numerous other pies, especially in conjunction with GMC, the Manc mutual. Recent acquisitions include HMP Northumberland, with a savaging of about 200 staff.
DeleteAnon 19:08 was not a reply to anon 19:03, just a coincidental timing of posts. Here's a link to some info regarding Sodexo's Justice guru. There's gold in them thar hills:
Deletehttp://www.ppdg.co.uk/employers/effrr-homepage/effrr-leadership-team/tony-leech
And here the link to reveal Kate Steadman, formerly employed by Tory Shadow Justice Minister in 2009 ish:
Deletehttp://www.catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk/Articles/2010/07/20/334335/Sodexo-appoints-Kate-Steadman-as-government-relations.htm
Tony Leech
DeleteManaging Director, Sodexo Justice Services
Tony joined Sodexo in January 2003 following a 16-year career in the South Australian and Western Australian Prison Services. Tony was the General Manager Public Prisons in Western Australia, where he was responsible for the 12 Public Prisons in that State. During his career he has held a number of senior posts in the Criminal Justice System including Deputy Secretary Department of Justice Victoria, Director Metropolitan Prisons, Director Prison Operations and Community Corrections and as a senior Prison Governor.
During 2010 and 2011, Tony returned to Australia where he held the position of Deputy Secretary of the Department of Justice in Victoria. In this position Tony was responsible for Corrections Victoria, Emergency Services and Police.
Tony returned to Sodexo in 2011 as Managing Director of Sodexo Justice Services.
Sodexo has appointed Kate Steadman to the newly created role of government relations manager.
DeleteSteadman's primary objective will be to look after Kalyx, Sodexo's prisons business, while supporting Tony Cooke, who was recruited to the role of government relations director in 2009.
Prior to joining Sodexo Steadman was most recently an adviser on prisons and probation to the shadow prisons minister and shadow secretary of state for justice, while also assisting the shadow attorney general with policy development.
She has worked within British politics and criminal justice policy for the past five years, advising and working with shadow cabinet ministers - now cabinet ministers - as well as junior ministers and other MPs and peers from all political parties.
Cooke said: "Kate brings a wealth of experience from the heart of British politics and will be an invaluable asset in helping Sodexo to align its services in the public sector more closely to Government's policy aspirations."
Jim Brown says it all beggars belief!
Sorry Jim - not in a place where I can cut & paste, but I can post links.
DeleteOh how they laughed, and dined, and plotted:
http://www.reform.co.uk/resources/0000/0332/FINAL_Administering_justice_by_results_web.pdf
Most recently, Steadman was the adviser on prisons and probation to the Shadow Prisons Minister and the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and also assisted the Shadow Attorney General with policy development. In addition, from February 2006, Steadman's central task was to compose fresh new conservative party policy on prison and probation under David Cameron's new party leadership. Steadman said: "I am delighted to join the team and hope that my insights into the heart of the government will enable me to help strengthen Sodexo's position in what is an exciting time for outsourcing companies."
Deletehttp://costsectorcatering.co.uk/sodexos-latest-appointment-shows-continued-support-government
My what a busy bee Ms Steadman has been. Here she is again, this time with G4S's Jerry Petherick (remember HMP Oakwood?):
Deletehttp://www.theyworkforyou.com/pbc/2010-11/Legal_Aid,_Sentencing_and_Punishment_of_Offenders_bill/03-0_2011-07-14a.2.0
Write the policy then move into post to ensure you cash in. What conflict of interest? And they reckon Bernie Ecclestone's a scoundrel. I feel like I've just fallen off a xmas tree.
DeleteYup, she is the missing link! It looks like this is where the Omnishambles started, surely there must be a massive conflict of interest in her role? She will have access to the government and it's strategic direction having developed most of it regarding probation. How can it be right for her to, in effect, sell this knowledge for commercial gain?
DeleteI was at HMP Northumberland following the 200 redundancies.
DeleteFair to say that now it does appear as if the left hand has never once met the right hand!! Moral is low and some of the staff are so young I was left wondering if they had simply been delivering the papers and decided to stay.
Not a nice place but one that will most likely be a mirror of what will happen to CRC's up and down the country.
Again many apologies for only being able to post a link - here's a document worth looking at. If you count 10 paras up from the bottom KS is recorded. Asking Jezza Wright a question - but there's a very revealing quote from Wright about probation and how its perceived. Even more so as its a POA document:
Deletehttp://www.poauk.org.uk/index.php?political-debate-1&newsdetail=20121008-84_conservative-conference-2012-fringe-report-transforming-justice-in-an-era-of-austerity
Commuting - doncha just love it? Right, now home with terrapins, whisky and a keyboard. I spend so long in here The Wife thinks I died last summer. I think she even cashed in the policy. Anyhoo, I can now c&p.
DeleteThe POA document from 08.10.2012 - Conservative Conference 2012: Fringe report - Transforming justice in an era of austerity
(Reform and Home Group - presumably the sponsors?)
Speakers:
- Jeremy Wright MP, minister for prisons and probation
- Rachael Byrne, exec director, care and support, Home Group
- Will Tanner, researcher, Reform (chairman)
Opening gambit - "The merits of payment by results and more flexible court sitting times were among many issues discussed at a Conservative Party fringe on Monday, where justice minister Jeremy Wright emphasised the need to focus on outcomes in the justice system, and not the processes by which they were achieved."
Later... "The question of how to encourage more businesses to get involved in PbR was raised, and both Byrne and Wright agreed that more could be done. Wright said there was huge scope for more business involvement both in prisons and out in society.
Wright noted that a tension lay in the fact that some contracts needed to be quite large to deliver the necessary savings, which presented difficulties for small businesses or social enterprises. The answer to this could lie in consortiums, he suggested."
Nearly there... "Kate Steadman, director of government strategy at Sodexo, noted how many items on the MoJ's to do list had been paused with the changing of the ministerial team.
Wright said there may well be a delay with things including probation reform, community sentence reform, prison reform and PbR."
And here's what the Tories really think of probation:
"Speaking from his own point of view, he said generally the public understanding of what the probation service did was very poor, and any reform of the probation system had to focus on this fact.
He also stressed the importance of the public believing in the worth of community sentences.
"We need to ensure those sentences command respect" he said, which would in turn encourage sentencers to use them more often."
From the earlier 'reform' link - A £20 brochure based upon a 2010 meeting sponsored by Reform & Home Group (again).
DeleteReform - roundtable with Crispin Blunt MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probation - Monday, 17 October 2010, Reform, 45 Great Peter Street, London SW1P
I'll simply list the attendees. There are some familiar names.
* Crispin Blunt MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Prisons and Probation
* Stephen Hornby, Solution Lead – Community Sentences,
Serco Civil Government
* Linda Hennigan
Chief Executive, Bedfordshire Probation Trust
* Gerry Marshall
Chief Executive, Thames Valley Probation Trust
* Heather Munro, Chief Executive, London Probation Trust
* Rachael Byrne, Executive Director, Care and Support Services, Home Group
* Colin Dobell, Managing Director, MITIE Group
* Roma Hooper, Director, Make Justice Work
* Emily Bolton, Criminal Justice Director, Social Finance
* Robert Morritt, Public Affairs Manager, Home Group
* Julie Harmsworth Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Policy and Research, Unlock
* Rob Owen, Chief Executive, St Giles Trust
* Andrew Haldenby, Director, Reform
* Chris Wright, Chief Executive, Catch 22
* Lucy Bogue, Head of Business Development Unit,
Commercial Development Group, NOMS
* Kate Steadman, Director, Government Strategy UK, Sodexo
Justice Services
* Tara Majumdar, Researcher, Reform
* Will Tanner, Researcher, Reform
A commentary on some of the bidders - sorry if this has been referenced before: -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pioneerspost.com/comment/20140131/poetic-justice-will-mutuals-win-through-door-slams-on-corporate-giants
It begins - the whole thing looks too long for the word limit here -
"Poetic justice: will mutuals win through as door slams on corporate giants?
Outsourcing giants G4S and Serco were noticeable by their absence in the Ministry of Justice's bidder list for a wave of major new contracts. So who is muscling in – and could it be poetic justice for social enterprise? Matt Black investigates
Back on 19 December the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) quietly released the names of the bidders who will compete for the regional rehabilitation contracts – the next big wave of public service outsourcing following the Work Programme.
At the boozy apex of Christmas Party Season (your correspondent was busy supping champers in Bristol at the time), the announcement was overshadowed by a Ministerial Statement on the ongoing Serco and G4S tagging scandal.
No contracts have been awarded but the bidding list makes for very interesting reading. Here are a few of the highlights…
G4S and Serco will not deliver any of the contracts…
The list is most notable for the absence of G4S and Serco – the two giants of the outsourcing marketplace.
With both organisations under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, G4S and Serco “decided to withdraw” from the bidding process – as revealed in Chris Grayling’s ministerial statement. (spotters badges to social investment big-thinkers @CommonCapitaI and @tobyecc).
… which makes for a very interesting mix of bidders
Did the big two jump or were they pushed? It’s a moot point and on the face of it has made for a very interesting mix of potential delivery organisations. An array of outsourcing conglomerates, charities, community interest companies and mutual spin-outs make the cut.
Some of the most eyebrow-raising moments come from the partnerships listed. The social investor Bridges Ventures will team up with Co:here – a Kent-Surrey-Sussex staff mutual – alongside "social purpose comany" and pantomime vilains A4E. Another unlikely joint venture listed as “The Rehabilitation Company” involves the charities Catch-22, Turning Point and DHL-owned Williams Lea, a print and mail company.
- See more at: http://www.pioneerspost.com/comment/20140131/poetic-justice-will-mutuals-win-through-door-slams-on-corporate-giants#sthash.WITiWpK2.dpuf"
We've done that Andrew - looks like we need to be watching Sodexo
ReplyDeleteMindful of the sponsors of the Reform meetings at Tory party conference, etc, Home Group have a fair few bids in - Midlands + Thames Valley & East Anglia & fringes.
DeleteAfter re-thinking the bids (as recommended by MoJ) I'd put my pocket money on Sodexo (north), Home Group (midlands), Capita (south), Working Links (south west). TRC will possibly get one area (Gloucs etc maybe?). I'm puzzled by Wales. That'll be six operators for the 21 areas, and not a mutual to be seen.
Do I win a goldfish?
No. You ARE a goldfish :)
DeleteOh? Ok.
DeleteSo this is how the carve up works. Rich kids out of university join right wing Think Tanks funded by big business. They come up with ideas like sell prisons and probation off to Sodexo or G4S which they kindly share with the fucking politicians. When the politicians come to power they enact the ideas coming out out the Think Tanks. And in the end when they are out of power they go and work for the big corporations.
ReplyDeleteThis is Fascism, the government working for corporations not the people. Bastards
Only so long as they are Oxford or Cambridge Universities. Don't want any riff-raff sneaking in to enjoy the spoils. It just isn't done. Now run along and blog off.
DeleteWycombe Abbey School (£11k per term), headmistress was, until she recently retired, wife of Lord Hall (chair of BBC) - then on to Cambridge University. No doubt this affords a certain privelege, experience, sense of belonging and access to opportunity that one is encouraged to make the most of? That is what people pay for when they send their offspring to fee paying schools. BUT, as our dearly beloved Chancellor knows, even then there's an elite of the elite. A bit like the hierarchy in gaol life.
Deletehttp://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/no-government-can-serve-its-citizens-properly-while-outsourcing-on-the-scale-that-this-one-does-its-time-the-practice-stopped-9141946.html
ReplyDeleteDon't rule out the W. Yorks mutual (Prospects / Resolutions) getting the CRC. Since Jan 2012 we have been busy fine tuning something called 'Post Sentence Assessment' which is the template by which all the CRC's / NPS in England and Wales will inform the courts of the various sentencing options available. It is essentially a PSR but without the need to be prescriptive as to exactly what requirements will make up any rehabilitative element. To be blunt it allows any organisation with trained / untrained staff to deliver any old crap, any old way, so long as its a 'meaningful activity'.It will have been researched and developed for at least a year before it was rolled out in Jan 2012 and will have involved many WYPT staff all paid for from Trust money.
ReplyDeleteWe have just been told to 'fine tune' the Post Sentence Assessment' and warned that if we don't step up to the mark as individuals then we will be singled out for special attention. My theory is tthat here will be some bod from MOJ giving the final once over before pronouncing 'PSA' fit for purpose.
Because we now have the expertise within our ranks to train / inform other areas we have a valuable assett. It might be that a deal was done long ago that if we managed to perfect 'PSA' we would be rewarded for all our hard work with a successfull bid for the CRC.
All this is just my own opinion but I would welcome comments . . .particularly from senior managers in my trust.
You are linking two seperate things , the mutual has a chance but not just on the PSA stuff. The PSA has been suggested in our area, perhaps they are trying to flog it to us ? However the research is not positive! It has been running for a couple of years and there is no great figures to say its worth adopting, also how can you sell it to another Trust ?? reminds me of the TFEC stuff from Notts all that time ago. Didn't they sell the manuals or the training......
DeleteThe mutual on the other hand has as good a chance as any but see previous posts , they may struggle on the money....the bigger companies can rationalise several CPA into one Head Office and gain from bigger regional staff groups unlike mutuals.
I'm told the architects, Mark Siddall and Liz Mills were only recently at Buckingham Palace collecting their award. I'm also told Jeremy Wright quickly picked up on how useful the West Yorkshire wheeze would be in delivering TR - so it looks like we can thank our colleagues up there for providing a key element of the whole omnishambles.
DeleteWY website:-
Post Sentence Assessment is one of only ten nationwide projects that won a prestigious Butler Trust Award in 2013. It is one of three Butler Trust Award winners from West Yorkshire Probation – an unprecedented success. The Awards will be presented at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in March.
Mark Siddall, Director of Operations for West Yorkshire Probation and Janet Carter, Legal Training Manager for HMCS West Yorkshire, went to London on 19 November to talk to the judges about the project.
Janet was keen to ensure that the pivotal role of West Yorkshire Courts was clear to the judges. She said: "The involvement of Courts in Post Sentence Assessment was essential and without the early involvement, enthusiasm and understanding, the project would have not been such a success, it may not even have reached implementation. West Yorkshire's Magistrates have been unequivocally impressed by the new innovation. The move to generic Activity Requirements was initially hesitant but after hearing about the successes, it is now embraced with confidence based on results."
http://www.westyorksprobation.org.uk/sentencers/post-sentence-assessment-wins-a-national-award/
I'm anon 21;24 In my anger I forgot to say when the rich kids come out of the Think Tanks they become SPADS ,special Advisers to the ministers and shadow minister. I think Cameron was a SPAD and many of the current dick-heads who govern us travel this hallowed rout to corruption.
ReplyDeleteJim this is a link to the Newstatesman that fully explains the above about the Think Tanks and the SPADS.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/04/four-reasons-why-policy-making-shouldnt-be-outsourced-right-wing-think-tanks
The “report from a respected think tank” news story is a staple of political reporting these days, especially now that the average news desk is manned by three hacks on minimum wage and a couple of kids on work experience. The media doesn’t tend to ask too much about the people producing these reports - they just give us the headline, give us a response from someone who doesn’t like it, and bang, story done.
DeleteAnd what this means is that big business has a louder voice than ever. Corporations have been able to quietly influence policy outside of traditional lobbying procedures in the past by infiltrating the civil service via the revolving door of the jobs market, but that advice is at least supposed to be objective. Now Francis Maude is suggesting that Government policy making should be outsourced to - among other bodies - think tanks, which have tax-free charitable status based on their aims to improve public policy. This isn't necessarily a bad idea, but it certainly raises questions about transparency and accountability. Here’s a quick look at a few of the think tanks on the right to illustrate why.
So much scope for raising questions via FOI requests....I really hoped this whole mess couldn't get any more despicable..I live in hope and aspiration.
ReplyDeleteInteresting notion of there being not enough bidders though. Reminds me of that Seventies anti-Vietnam war poster - "Suppose they gave a Probation Service and nobody came".
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