Latest From Napo 44

Blog from Ian Lawrence, Napo General Secretary, MoJ letter and press release:-

Chaos reigns as CRC bidders are announced

Napo members have already signalled their disgust at the news of the preferred bidders for the 21 CRC contracts which are intended to be awarded under the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda.

The expected grand announcement that we had all been waiting for was something of damp squib and raises questions about the purpose of the veil of secrecy that had been put up by the MoJ and Noms in the weeks leading up to the news. In a press release issued by Napo, General Secretary Ian Lawrence said: “Chris Grayling is pressing ahead with his untried and untested so called reforms to probation despite increasing evidence that it is not safe to sell off. The 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) which will deal with low – medium risk of harm offenders are still in utter chaos following the decision to split the Probation Service up on 1st June this year. Staff of all grades have spoken openly about risks to public safety with offenders not being supervised properly, continuing IT failures, staff shortages and ever increasing workloads.

We have mounting evidence that neither the CRCs or the National Probation Service is stable at the moment and this is having a direct impact on the supervision of offenders and public safety. The fact so few organisations have won contracts also suggests that this has been a flawed competition with little or no real interest from providers in taking these contracts on.”

The announcement below which was deposited in the House of Commons Library sets out the list of preferred bidders, and copy of a letter sent by the MoJ to Napo is also reproduced.

Table of Preferred Bidders

Letter From TR - Preferred Bidders Announcement

Ian Lawrence also told Napo News that: ‘Grayling has made a written statement to Parliament rather than risk having to answer questions in the House. Yet again he is trying to avoid scrutiny which is in our view further evidence of a lack of transparency in the whole process. We would urge MPs to ask questions of him and to hold him to account for his decision to press ahead without providing evidence that it is safe to do so.” He added: ‘The underhand manner of the announcement will mean that our members will be even more determined to fully exhaust all possible legal avenues to try and prevent the share sale from happening. 

Ian Lawrence
General Secretary, Napo
4 Chivalry Road
London
SW11 1HT

29 October 2014

Dear Ian, 

TRANSFORMING REHABILITATION – ANNOUNCEMENT OF PREFERRED BIDDERS

As you are aware, in May 2013, we launched Transforming Rehabilitation: A Strategy for Reform, which set out the Government’s plans to transform the way we manage offenders in the community by opening up these services to a diverse range of new providers. These important reforms will bring together the 
best of the public, private and voluntary sectors to reduce the unacceptably high reoffending rates. The aim is to give future service providers the freedom to innovate and, via the payment by results mechanism, provide a sharp focus on turning around the lives of offenders.

These important reforms mean that, for the first time in recent history, virtually every offender released from custody will receive statutory supervision and rehabilitation in the community. This includes the 45,000 most prolific offenders sentenced to less than 12 months in custody, who have the highest rates of reoffending, but who are currently released without supervision.

Following a competitive bidding process and a rigorous evaluation and moderation exercise, I am pleased to announce that we have today confirmed the names of the 21 Preferred Bidders, details of which are provided in the attachment to this letter. 

All our Preferred Bidders have demonstrated how they will use the voluntary and social sectors in the delivery of services – in fact, 75% of the 300 delivery partners identified in the bidders’ offers are voluntary and social sector or mutual organisations. Bidders have put forward a range of new and innovative approaches to address longstanding issues such as getting offenders into housing and employment, as well as proposals for peer mentoring and greater use of technology to make sure that staff can spend more of their time working with offenders to turn their lives away from crime.

The bidders combine the best of the private sector, driving back-office efficiency; the social sector, creating local innovation and new approaches to working with offenders; and the public sector, working to protect the public from offenders who pose the greatest risk to society and now with ever more opportunities to make a difference to the communities they serve.

Next steps 

We will now be holding a series of meetings with the Preferred Bidders in preparation for contract award. These are the final discussions to ensure that contracts offer the best possible value for money before the announcement that contracts are being awarded to the successful bidders. As has been the position throughout the programme, this mobilisation phase will be done in a controlled way that gives time for new processes to bed in and to ensure public protection remains a key priority. We remain on track to sign contracts with the new providers in the coming weeks, as planned, with successful providers taking over the running of CRCs in early 2015.

After successful bidders have been announced and new contracts signed, we will then move towards the service transfer date, when the CRCs start delivering rehabilitation services under the new ownership of the successful bidders.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for all the hard work by probation staff that has already gone into ensuring the successful stand-up of the CRCs and NPS in June and the subsequent work to bed in new structures. I recognise that this has been a time of unprecedented change and that there have been challenges to overcome. The fact that we are on track to deliver these important reforms is a testament to the dedication and hard work of all those involved.

Yours Sincerely

IAN PORÉE
Director, Rehabilitation Programme

For immediate release

Probation Union outraged as Secretary of State announces preferred bidders for the Probation Service despite evidence that it’s not safe to sell off

Napo is outraged today that Chris Grayling Secretary of State for Justice has gone ahead with his announcement of who his preferred bidders are for the Probation Service despite increasing evidence that it is not safe to sell off. The 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) which will deal with low – medium risk of harm offenders are still in utter chaos following the decision to split the Probation Service up on 1st June this year. Staff of all grades have spoken openly about risks to public safety with offenders not being supervised properly, continuing IT failures, staff shortages and ever increasing workloads.

Ian Lawrence General Secretary said: “it is purely ideological that Grayling is pressing ahead with his untried and untested so called reforms to probation. We have mounting evidence that neither the CRCs or the National Probation Service is stable at the moment and this is having a direct impact on the supervision of offenders and public safety. The fact so few organisations have won contracts also suggests that this has been a flawed competition with little or no real interest from providers in taking these contracts on.”

Napo has been on strike twice in the last 12 months in opposition to these outsourcing plans and will continue to campaign against them. Ian Lawrence said: “Grayling has made a written statement to parliament rather than risk having to answer questions in the House. Yet again he is trying to avoid scrutiny which is in our view further evidence of a lack of transparency in the whole process. We would urge MPs to ask questions of him and to hold him to account for his decision to press ahead without providing evidence that it is safe to do so.”