Sunday 30 November 2014

TR Week Twenty Six 2

I did not want to be privatised at all. But I can't help wondering if it would have been better for us to be sold as a complete entirety rather than the split. Keep strong and care for each other. Blessings to you all.

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One very serious consequence for Grayling that 'may' come from JR, is that he may not have been very honest with the private sector about the true nature of the risks involved. If that was true, then bidders may pull out or want to negotiate contracts again (greater risks = greater wonga), and it's all time consuming. There can be no doubt I think, that JR will reveal information that the bidders will be just as interested in as probation services are. Perhaps being aware of this is part of the reason Graylings been silent of late? However, until such a time as JR is heard, regardless of personal opinions and observations, all we can do is speculate. 

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Bidders are just as aware of the potential risks as Grayling, possibly more so. Most, if not all, of the bidders will have bought in advice from probation professionals who will have no reason not to give honest opinions on the nature of the risk, without political spin. They will have priced for that risk already and the MoJ will be trying to reassure them...

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I have 14 weekly late night reporters. Absolutely bonkers. Most come after 6pm. It's a quick hello, here's your next appointment. Then I receive abuse from them because of their 1 hour bus journey to the office. It's mind boggingly stupid way to manage things!

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I suspect weekend reporting may be one of the innovations being considered.

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I couldn't agree more. I had offered to do this in the past to my manager and instead of seeing this as positive, she actually asked if it meant I could not manage my workload within my working hours! You couldn't make this stuff up could you? Just makes me reflect on how many innovations practitioners have had rubbished by senior management. They really have sold us down the river

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Free speech is one thing, but this is offensive to SPOs in DTV and unnecessary. One of the motions at AGM was to support SPOs as they will be the fall guys in all of this. CRC SPOs cover late nights and that includes NPS staff as they have been told to ring the on call SPO if they have a problem. 

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Someone referenced it would be more expensive to open at weekends - only if you assume your terms and conditions will be intact. If you aren't paid extra to work weekends, then it would cost no more than now.

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Actually it was suggested simply to help the offenders, some of whom had to get trains and were often able to only walk in and sign for their next appointment. Two of my offenders had worked very long hours prior to reporting on the only night made available by the Trust for this purpose. I was able to do this, so suggested it with time off in lieu during the week. Anyway the answer was no. You missed my point about how flexible practitioners have been prepared to be in the past.

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I think there would be very little real demand for weekend reporting, certainly in every office I've worked at. Nearly everyone I've worked with was able to attend at some point between 8am-7pm Monday-Friday. Remember that opening even on a Saturday morning would increase costs quite considerably, with staff wages, building overheads and so on factored in.

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Are these 14 all High risk? This kind of brief mechanistic reporting does no one any good. If possible to re-assess any as Medium? More good likely if can be seen fortnightly, but for longer more meaningful session. If can't reassess to Medium yet, there is surely an argument for a remix/reallocation of some cases to colleagues? I think 3 late-nighters is absolute max to manage and that's still a strain!

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So, TR Week 26 and where are we?

1. The Sell Off: this proceeds at an alarming rate with little reflection or, it seems to me, care. This Government continues to outsource our Criminal Justice Sector to foreign owned companies where the end profit will go outside the UK. British professions are being down graded with reduced terms and conditions and, of course, less tax revenue and NI coming to the UK as a result. Be clear, the simple cost of running probation in the public sector is not the sole financial consideration as Grayling would have you believe. 


2. The buyers: has the Government issued some form of indemnity or guarantee to them? It makes so little sense for them to have expended great financial resources on this project otherwise. Just what is in it for them? Are the profits really going to be so great? Caveat emptor my friends, as your share value can go down remember - never lose sight of reputational damage from lack of public confidence in your organisations. Remember Northern Rock! I believe there is something the public is not being told about Graylings dealings with you - are you so sure he can be trusted?


3. The Day Job: so we are told by the MOJ all is running well. Now we know this is not true and whilst the rush to the sell off continues, we need to ask if the pace of this is dictated by trying to out run the truth catching up with the MOJ? Is NOMS trying to outpace the Tsunami of chaos that is moving ever faster towards the shore of reality?


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On point 2, there is no guarantee or indemnity. These companies bid for government contracts at risk. What is in it for them is a 7 year government contract with a profit margin of probably 4-5%

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Hasn't it all gone quiet about HMIP and his wife and the CONFLICT OF INTERESTS couples in public life eh Mr Grayling? This can not be allowed to continue, we are not stupid and we are watching closely ....

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I had a vision of this nightmare scenario in court a decade ago. I thought it couldn't possibly happen in a 'democratic' 'civilised' society. I said to my then boss, once the criminal justice system becomes a mere administrative process, without the time to consider legislation or interests of justice, then we may as well be under a communist or fascist dictatorship. The courts are becoming farcical, with poor IT, missing evidence and costly delays due to new procedures that due not work. I am so depressed by all of this. The only winners will be the IT contractors and other sharks waiting to feast on the carcass. And it won't be too long before we are sacked for having an opinion.

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If you want to see the shenanigans that really matter, explore how the tripartite game of pass the parcel will be achieved. I hear CRC chiefs are getting cold feet because company law has to be adhered to strictly in the transfer of ownership and since they are now the "directors" they have that responsibility to pass ownership at a certain day to the new providers - trouble is the new owners are having to promise they will take ownership as prescribed and the MoJ is having to promise there are contracts there to hang the business hat upon! 

This merry go round means that any slip ups and CRC chiefs could be pursued - personally through the courts. Highly unlikely but it is creating sleepless nights for the traditionally cautious probation types.....

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The CEO of Interserve says outsourcing frontline services is a must given the state of public finances. Still using the austerity argument. Complete mendacity of course. It's about screwing the workers and all those so-called senior leaders who have jumped ship presumably embrace this lie.

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Just wanted to post the strap line of the company taking over London Probation CRC : BIONIC : stands for ....wait for it....'believe it or not I care'. That is the largest chunk of the privatised probation and they feel like they need to sound like a pre-teen action hero. FFS.

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I have read on here a few times about the new NPS officers being 'young' and 'women'. Why is this important? I really shouldn't have to write this but being young and female does not mean you cannot do your job. I know we don't mean this but it is what is implied when we talk about an officer's age and gender. Perhaps we need to consider this and our own prejudices.

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In my experience younger male clients respond better to younger PO's of either gender. I agree and in my opinion the blog and many of the replies have always (not just post TR) had the underlying view that young females do not do the job as well as older males. I agree the service probably would benefit from being more diverse in terms of gender and background of staff. However this does not equal the view that young female staff can't or don't do a good job, just as all older/experienced (male) staff are not all perfect either.

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I understand the operating model may be commercially sensitive, but they are also crucial for staff worrying about their careers. Sorry if this post focuses on Band 4s, as I know all in CRC may be impacted, but if their model does not include the same, or similar number Band 4 OMs, then why are MoJ recruiting new TPOs? The expense of doing this is not justified when there is likely to be a good number of current POs being made redundant (or managed out without redundancy) and out or work in a few months. 

Put the next cohort of TPO recruitment on hold until after April 2015 and allow CRC POs to transfer into the NPS without the loss of service and on the same pay scales. After all, we did the same job up until June 2014, we have years of experience in risk assessments/public protection and reducing re-offending and are proven in the role.


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Well said, but this makes too much sense for them. Remember they are 'saving money' bullshit. In addition all that rhetoric about the most experienced officers goes out of the window when they are now willing to take on TPO's without any experience. It all stinks and we have been truly SHAFTED.

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VIVE LA NORTH EAST!! So French catering company Sodexo has HMP Northumberland and Northumbria in the bag with all profits destined for France and now this government looks set to sell off the East Coast Mainline to the French National Train Operator. C'est Grim up Nord mes amis....

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It's always been grim up here, the Tories closing pits, shipyards and fishing has not helped. Not entirely surprising given that the Tory vote in this area has traditionally been very low. They're trying their hardest to keep it that way. Bastards!

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Can anyone explain why there are 100's of PO and PSO vacancies being advertised around the country, for both CRC's and NPS, and 100's of graduate trainees taken on, but only 2 jobs advertised in Nbria - at Sunderland mags court. And that is the first I have seen since TR came in.

And there were no adverts in the press for Nbria for several years before I retired in 2011. When people left/retired, staff were just shuffled about - like Musical Chairs. Are they so well organised they don't need more staff? Or is no one leaving??(I know that is not true). Or are staff paddling under the surface faster than anyone elsewhere??!!!!!! Or are they just stepped over, when they die on the job??

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Give me my EVR and there'll be a vacancy at Northumbria :)

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But will you be replaced?! Even a tweet from Nbria, on the government's Twitter site advertising for graduates to train, said they had not recruited in Oct, will not be in Jan, and MAY BE in April. How do they manage without recruiting??

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A pregnant Wales CRC officer was attacked and hit in the stomach today by a female offender. No cameras in interview rooms, no way of alerting anyone that you are in danger. This is NOT acceptable. Who is risk assessing the buildings where CRC staff are/will be working?

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The Officer was working on the women's Pathfinder project supposedly with low risk women supported in the community as an alternative to prison. All offenders have the potential to become high risk and you never know until it happens.

20 comments:

  1. Does anyone know if there will be minutes published from the Select Committee meeting on Tuesday? It might be worth our time, collectively, to go through them with a fine tooth comb and highlight any little 'spoken untruths' to NAPO. It might just help with the JR...you never know.

    Regarding an earlier comment about when you know the minimum they require, that is the maximum you have to give; from this point on this will be my motto.

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    1. Yes, not only minutes but it's broadcast live and available on the Parliament website to watch at your convenience.

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    2. Parliament TV
      What's on Tuesday 2 December

      What's on

      10.15am
      HoC Justice Committee - Grimond Room


      Prisons: planning and policies

      Witnesses

      Andrew Selous MP, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation, Ministry of Justice, and Michael Spurr, Chief Executive, National Offender Management Service




      Follow up session on crime reduction policies and Transforming Rehabilitation

      Witnesses

      Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Ministry of Justice, and Michael Spurr, Chief Executive, National Offender Management Service

      Hopefully will be accessible on this link from about 10.15 am Tuesday and after the event: -

      http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=16663

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  2. What exactly are the testgates?

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    1. They are 'stress tests' of various functions to see if there are any problems!

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    2. Re other blogs and the issue of court reports. Information that I heard about from someone is that one and a half hours is the allocated time allowed for fast delivery reports. A ridiculously small amount of time as in many areas OAsys generated reports are the exception rather than the rule. Most report writers would spend at least five hours on an FDR from reading CPS, researching past response to supervision, reading previous reports, liaising with other agencies etc. The real issue is that if, as a report writer, you spend longer than an hour and a half in total you don't get and credit on the current work load management tool. 1.5hrs is totally unrealistic.

      Another issue is the money spent on consultant fees for TR. How can this be justified when money can't be found to fix the heating system in a probation office in a seaside town that overlooks the North Sea? A few grand rather than a lot of million?

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  3. Oral reports are being done in one hour fifteen minutes, including interview and delivery, it can be done as the court team manager attests...it is however a tick box report with no annotation.

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  4. Off topic, I'm having problems writing a blog I promised Jim. I haven't got word; does anyone have any Free Source or Open Source document down load recommendations. I want to type the blog and send it to Jim via an attachment. Or do I need to put my hand in my pocket?

    papa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Might you just put it in an email and send that to: -

      jimbrown51@virginmedia.com

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    2. Try Open Office.

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  5. All that's happened is that the full assessment process has moved from pre to post-sentence. The majority of this work will have to be undertaken by CRC colleagues given the way probation has been split. Frustrating for clients who previously would have spilt all about their lives to the PSR author. So they do a bit at court, a bit at induction and then more at the first interview with their supervising officer. Life used to be so simple when you carried on working with those clients that you'd interviewed for a PSR. How would we feel if we kept being pushed from pillar to post before being settled in a relationship with a line manager for example? The system developed in probation which I joined thirty plus years ago is so client unfriendly.

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  6. not so much unfriendly as downright hostile now IMO

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  7. My office is in such disarray and despair that colleagues are starting to turn on each other. Several long term sick added to high caseloads means that everyone is at the end of their tether. We dare not mention Christmas leave as there just isn't any time for people to take off (particularly when we are told we won't be leaving early on Christmas and New Year's Eve!) The only people who have any time are the PSOs who don't have enough work, aren't trained to write PSRs and are being told they can't undertake work with high risk clients.

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    1. This is very sad and all too true. NPS blaming CRC, CRC blaming NPS. Shoddy transfers and shoddy case management. Not because people don't care; they very much do! The organisation (in Manchester is particular) was already in despair with a weak senior management team that shed their values long ago. It was desperate before the split. The split just magnified the weaknesses that were there before. I feel for the officers on the ground. I see so many passionate people around me who are fundamentally there to help people; they've been ground down for a long time, the split is just the most recent wave in the tsunami of change that has hit them over the years.

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    2. Why should anyone leave early on Christmas or New Year's Eve?

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    3. Go boil your head, Scrooge.

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    4. err because we have lives outside of work??

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  8. Yes 19.37, couldn't agree more regarding hostility towards clients. I began to see a major change when "offender management" was introduced and their was a demise in the importance of the individual relationship. The service then went through its hard nut phase of "confronting offending" without realising that someone has to trust before they are able to really explore and accept the poor decisions they've made. It's the essence of attachment theory, good old Bowlby, a man whose work was pivitol to the theory I was taught on my CQSW course in the late 70s and which is still at the forefront of my mind today when working with clients.

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    1. My line always was that NOMS had not managed to re-write or re-frame either labelling or attachment theory which ran contrary to many of their stances regarding offending behaviour and the work probation staff were instructed to undertake with service users

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  9. http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/nov/30/boris-johnson-london-cps-devolution-courts-control how does this even fit in with tr

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