Lets Look at E3 (10)

Chapter 9 Other Supporting Activity

Throughout the work of the E3 programme we have gathered and noted the requirements for ICT and estates. 

We expect to see improvements in the effectiveness of our ICT systems as a result of digital improvements and greater in-house investment. Throughout the programme a common theme has been that the functioning of nDelius affects operational efficiency and that improvements are needed to its speed and efficiency. This will continue to be a priority for the NPS. Specific IT requirements are a key element in the success of the proposals in several work packages – e.g. laptops for staff working in courts and seconded to youth offending teams, a single case management system for victims work and an electronic referral process for Approved Premises. Work will continue to ensure that these are in place in tandem with the E3 changes. 

9.1 Facilities and Estates 

Over the last two years there has been a great deal of work on estates resulting from Transforming Rehabilitation. We will continue to work with the MOJ to ensure alignment of our needs and the estate, and specifically the needs identified under the E3 programme. These include sufficient space in every HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) court building to facilitate an NPS co-located Court Services team, and locations for the hubs proposed under the enforcement, victims, Approved Premises and foreign national offender proposals.

Our estate will change significantly over the next two years as a result of the estate implications of the Transforming Rehabilitation Programme. CRCs have set their own estates strategies and in many areas this will see them move out of buildings that are currently shared between the NPS and CRC. We have developed our own strategy in response to our emerging business needs and CRC plans. The guiding principle in that strategy has been to ensure an operationally viable estate while taking opportunities to reduce the overall cost of the estate. Every pound spent on buildings is a pound that is not available to invest in services to offenders. 

We will for example close some of the offender contact centres from which we currently work, and open some new buildings. This programme of moves has started and will continue over the course of the next two years. 

Throughout, we will maintain an estate that is sufficient to meet our operational needs.

Specific Estates Requirements 
The proposal to create administrative ‘hubs’ will require space to be found in the MOJ/wider Government estate to locate these small teams. The location of those hubs within the division has not been agreed but there is an argument to co-locate with the current divisional operational support hubs where space allows or with MOJ colleagues. 

The proposal to develop group interventions for offenders would require an increase in the number of group or programme rooms in the estate. With planning and some re-modelling it is envisaged that there will be sufficient capacity in the estate following the implementation of the TR Estates Programme to increase the number of group rooms. Further work will be required to identify specific local requirements and estate and IT cost implications.

Space at Court 

HMCTS has undertaken a consultation on proposals to close a number of courts. It is likely in the future that there will be fewer courts but each hearing a higher number of cases. We will require sufficient and suitable space in courts, underpinned by more modern ICT equipment, if we are to produce the majority of court reports on the day which that kind of case turnover will require. We are working with HMCTS, ICT and MOJ Estates to achieve that requirement. 

Approved Premises 

The AP estate operates at or close to full capacity. Through E3 we have started work to review the current AP estate and identify opportunities to increase bed spaces, through both remodelling of current facilities and identification of new sites that are suitable and where securing planning permission is potentially realistic. We are also comparing caseload forecast by region to the estate supply to ensure we seek to invest in the areas that need it most. This work will produce a future estates strategy for AP that we aim to have completed by April 2016. 

Facilities Management 
Facilities Management services, which includes services such as security, cleaning, maintenance and, in some APs, catering, are currently provided to us by Amey, Interserve and Sodexo through a contract held by the Home Office. 

We are working with MOJ Estates to secure a tighter grip on these contracts and to ensure they better meet our needs. The current contracts will be transferred from the Home Office to MOJ by April 2016. This will bring contract management closer to the operational frontline and allow us to better voice our views on service delivery.

In parallel, we are contributing to work to replace these contracts early in 2017 and there may be options to link these with existing NOMS contracts so securing better value. We have run a series of workshops with staff already to highlight what is and isn’t working in current provision. An Operational Reference Group will be set up to contribute to both finalising those requirements and evaluating bidders’ proposals through 2016. 

Learning and Development, CJL 
We appreciate that there will be a need for support and development for some staff in some areas of the work. This is particularly the case for PSOs working in courts and community supervision in parts of the country where they will be taking on tasks they have not previously undertaken. We are committed to ensuring that all staff have the skills to fulfil their roles well, and planning is already in hand to provide this. 

The new probation qualification scheme, Community Justice Learning (CJL), will be launched in April 2016. This will replace the current Probation Qualification Framework (PQF) and open up potential progression opportunities for staff in NPS and CRCs. It will be a work based programme comprising vocational qualifications and academic awards in a modular system. Employers will be able to sponsor learners to achieve the level of accredited competence required for the role and there will also be the opportunity for individuals to invest in their own progression, if they choose to do so. The academic awards will be accredited by universities and the procurement exercise to award those contracts is in progress to ensure a seamless transition for PQF to CJL. The numbers of learners recruited and sponsored through CJL will be determined by local workforce planning.

Chapter 10 Implementation Approach

The most important consideration in the implementation of any change programme is safeguarding operational delivery. We need to ensure the services we provide to the courts, offenders, and victims are prioritised throughout. Our approach to implementing the E3 proposals will put operational stability first. 

That does not necessarily mean going slowly. Some of the changes we propose to make are to address current issues. They will improve service delivery and we should put them into place as quickly as we can. While this will mean the pace of change will be relatively fast our view is this is more effective than spreading the changes over a long period. 

But wherever a change requires other things to be put in place first to prepare the ground we will do this. For example, suitable training for staff whose role is changing. 

The exact timeframe for implementation will not be set until we have confirmed the design. But our starting point is that we want to start to see changes adopted from April next year. That will require intensive activity between now and then. 

Many of the changes are inter-related. Ensuring we have the right staffing levels in court will require the release of staff from elsewhere in the organisation. Because of that, many of the changes will need to be implemented as a whole rather than phased.

Implementation will be managed at a divisional level to both provide assurance that the business is ready to make the changes and to manage the dependencies between different change activities. A change of this scale needs specialist support and we will be recruiting a temporary team to help managers implement these changes locally.

Chapter 11 Engagement

A number of different mechanisms have been put in place during the planning stage of the Programme to include staff input into the operating models outlined in the Blueprint document. Staff engagement activity has been taking place throughout the lifetime of the Programme and this will widen significantly during the mobilisation and implementation phases. Work package areas focusing on aspects of the operating model (e.g., courts, community supervision, etc.) have been largely made up of operational and management leads from each division working directly in that given area. In some work packages there have been focus groups of operational staff. This has allowed valuable input into designs from subject matter experts right from the start of the E3 Programme. Engagement with the wider staff group has been necessarily more limited. 

We are publishing this document to provide a basis for staff and stakeholders to give us your views on the changes we propose and how they might best be implemented. 

Feedback on the Blueprint and the E3 Programme more generally can be provided through a variety of different means. 

One mechanism for capturing feedback will be via an online survey. This will ask for your view on a series of specific design questions. 

Alternatively, you can send more general questions or feedback directly to the E3 Programme team via E3@probation.gsi.gov.uk

A further valued resource for feeding back E3 related issues is via our Divisional staff E3 Champions. Our Champions have been working directly with the Programme to cascade key messages out to Divisions and also to encourage feedback from staff back to the E3 Programme team. 

A series of national events have been organised to allow staff at all levels to comment and ask questions on the Blueprint. These will be held on 9th, 13th, 16th and 20th November. Divisional events will also be taking place locally to allow more specific Divisional awareness activity. 

In addition to your individual thoughts, we are encouraging discussion of the Blueprint in teams with briefing material available to support managers to discuss this document.

--oo00oo--

Readers will no doubt be pleased to know that's it - the E3 document in its entirety, but short of two pesky diagrams that I don't have the wherewithal to copy. I make no apologies for publishing the whole damn thing because it's clearly an important document that many will say confirms that 'probation' as we have known it really is on a fast track to oblivion. It will be absolutely fascinating to see what Napo makes of it and I really don't see how the Probation Institute can pretend to ignore what's happening for much longer. 

Does anyone feel abe to say how the four national events went last November? Are there any feedback documents people feel able to share?