Sunday 17 January 2016

Pick of the Week

This blog has a tendency to move along at some speed, covering a vast range of subjects and I'm conscious that some contributions tend to get lost in the haste. With this in mind I'm returning to the practice of picking out some that particularly catch my eye each week. I'm kicking this off with a rare contribution from the other side of the desk:-

There is a distinct stench of irony that a fair few of the lobbyists skulking the corridors of Whitehall are no better than those of us probation officers sit across the desk from on appointments. The only real difference being the lobbyists have someone who listens to them. 

My opinions have changed through my year and a half dealings with NPS. Inside a prison, the others that share the same houseblock have nothing nice at all to say about probation officers, "they are there just to recall you", "Just sit there and tell them what you think they want to hear" amongst many horror and sob stories that would have Simon Cowell in tears during your audition. 

Barring my first encounter with my probation officer using the famed blitzkrieg approach, things have not really been that bad. The majority of people I have dealt with, like many posters on here, seem to have a genuine passion and a degree of care you would hope to meet on entering the system. That being said, I can't see any bright future for NPS. The bandwagon is already rolling. It is no longer about the needs of the community they serve or those on licence. The only statement that matters now is the ones given at the annual shareholders meetings. 

If anyone thinks or hopes for a failure by these companies, to quote Lawrence Fishburn "You're living in a dream world, Neo". This is only the start. There is no opportunity to evolve and adapt. The cause isn't helped by those who wear rose tinted glasses. I am sure there were many things that could have been improved upon within the probation service, although there are a fair few will argue with that. 

I have been passed around from one probation officer to another, from one who you get along with and treats you like a person to, mystic meg with attitude. It can't be helped because that's the way things seem to be at the moment.

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E3 means that Pre Sentence Reports, PSR's are now Fast Delivery Reports FDR's, and written by unqualified staff (PSO's). Probation officers are to be forced to work in prisons (mainly writing parole reports), and replaced by PSO's in the community offices (managing huge caseloads). End of 'End to end offender management' as offenders in custody to have no contact with outside probation officers. Tiering models are to change so caseloads will rise (as if it wasn't busy enough already). Mandatory use of ARMS and VISOR slowly aligning probation with the police.

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A hopeful Inspector hopes the CRCs will see the big picture and not block inspections with confidentiality firewalls. A 'hopeful' inspector will frighten no one.

A muddled Inspector says that policy and probation instructions will not be the cause of any failures as these will be around 'time and priority' and resources. How can policy be divorced from resources? And what a wacky stance where probation instructions are not risk assessed to see if they are achievable in a resource depleted world.

An Inspector actually says something that will allow him to sleep at night:-

"I am worried about the prospects for staff and the future staffing levels and I fear the Sonnex scenario being recreated with inexperienced staff, possibly less trained and qualified than they were before, with larger caseloads, managed and supervised by more remote managers."

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"There is much less emphasis on ‘have you done this, that and the other to the required standard?’ and more on the question ‘have you made a positive impact on this offender?’ and ‘explain to us how you did it’.” - Paul Wilson

What an interesting question, especially with probation services being run by ruthless international catering companies and ministerial incompetents. Professional standards are no longer required, resources hardly exist and probation officers are being sacked en-masse to be replaced by electronic monitoring, Skype and unqualified/inexperienced new recruits. The CRC's Sodexo Links et al has decimated what's left of probation and the NPS' E3 is set to do the same. If there are any positive answers to Mr Wilson's question they may include the words "by a miracle".

I'd like to know what the HMIP expects probation (best practice) work to be, and the ways it expects probation services to provide it. It's very strange it has "inspected" the quality and impact of the current TR-damaged services provided, and there's little comment on what we know to be the failings of these services.

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The latest outrage in this disaster beggars belief! I understand that some PSOs in my NPS area have been "directed" to work for the failing CRC for up to the next 12 weeks. What's all that about?!

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After the long transitional period - honeymoon? Wilson now says no more slack on the 'serious transitional issues' and that in future TR will be held to account. The pressure to fiddle the figures will intensify and hopefully these antics will be widely shared through this blog. The serious transitional issues won't go away, because they are inherent in the design and structure of TR - a crab will never walk straight.

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At what point do "transitional issues" get recognised by the authorities for what they are, which is structural problems? Calling them "transitional" is unhelpful, because of the implication that they will reduce over time - which we simply aren't seeing, just more of the same nonsense, day after day, and it'll only get worse when the various cuts start biting.

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I went through the recent inspection and it was crystal clear that the inspectors did not want to hear about anything negative - not one person in our office commended managers for how they deal with change yet when we saw the feedback it was glowing and hastily transmitted by the ACE....independent my arse.

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Yesterday I was due to have 6 offenders coming in to see me. Only 1 turned up. Travel was not an issue as all were local. I work for CRC and have noticed a steady decline in attendance. Even after engagement panels, no improvement. The attendance rate of my caseload used to be excellent with barely a need to breach. Now I am considering breach on a number of cases many of whom have had engagement panels arranged (not always attended). I don't like breaching and I don't like being in this position. This change is steady and appears to have bedded in. This would seem to be a direct result of the changes in case management and officer status? associated with the changes under TR. I am now so unsure in the work that I do. A position I have never been in before. I do not really know now what my job is. That's the true outcome of TR. My community is less safe from offending of that I am sure. Recidivism is increasing and at a pace.

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In my CRC, staff are demoralised and dismayed at recently announced redundancy proposals to the more expensive, longer serving, specifically qualified frontline staff, in favour of a cheaper workforce. This is a clear drive towards deprofessionalisation. By splitting the service into two sectors (NPS/CRC) and then cherry picking which staff to lay-off, we have become more diluted and divided, whether we are in a union or not, and therefore less of a threat to employers through TU influence or threat of action? 

I hate to paint such a pessimistic picture, but this is what I as a local activist have observed during the whole TR debacle. There are those who might trumpet the brave new world of the CRC, with its sweeping new broom of change! I would simply point out the potential for disaster by such dilution of professionalism and increased disintegration of probation provision, by observing the all too frequent incidents of private firms getting it very wrong (G4S - Medway etc...), and the apparent decrease of supervision standards and increase in SFOs, perhaps as a result of increasing challenges to communication and information sharing between both sectors.

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"As a consequence of the constant monitoring and target culture, staff across the criminal justice system manipulate statistics to avoid the penalties of failure." (Harry Fletcher, the Guardian, 8/11/09).

Set up any system and some organisations and individuals will look for ways of fiddling, cheating and using bribery to gain advantage. We see the long shadow of corrupt practices in sport, business, banking, cash for honours, tax evasion, etc, etc. In the public sector the fiddling was more about gaining stars, kudos, foundation status. When the private sector gets involved there is the added incentive of fiddling to boost profits.

When a practice is commonplace it's usually asserted that it's human nature to do it. But it's not because human beings hate the experience of knowing that they have been fiddled and taken for a ride, it grates and infuriates. But when you get a prime minister asking, in relation to climate change and conservation 'Why should we be the only saint in a brothel?' (Call me Dave, Biteback) you can appreciate that the wrong social norms are being encouraged. Therefore what does it matter if you get caught with your pants down in a brothel? 

Very little if you are G4S and you have been overcharging for tagging. Mind you it helps to weather such storms when you have Board with lobbying power - members have included former home secretary and defence secretary John Reid (now Baron Reid of Cardowan), former Met police commissioner Lord Condon (who earns £124,600 as a non-executive director of G4S), former prison governor Tom Wheatley and helpfully for G4S' energy meter monitoring arm, the former energy regulator Claire Spottiswoode is a non-executive director (earning £56,800).

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Chief's blog on Merseyside says that next Weds 20th we will all be receiving a letter about the 'flex teams' we'll become part of. It'll also (I think) give locations of said teams. Admin to be told imminently about location and basically it's all systems go except Case Management System not up & running for ages as IT isn't capable yet. Estates high on the agenda and confirmation that county boundaries will be merged ie Cheshire with Merseyside and Manchester with Cheshire.

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According to G4S, staff thinking for themselves is undesirable – it's just a matter of following correct procedures. This management method may be fine for a production assembly line, but good management of people requires nuanced responses, often using imagination, empathy, compassion, discretion and so forth. There is no correct procedure that I know of that if followed will develop trusting relationships. Such procedures may work with dogs, but not with humans who do think for themselves. Essentially G4S advocate procedures that dehumanise and emphasise behavioural control and creates an oppressive culture.
G4S lies somewhere between Battersea Dog's Home and Guantanamo Bay.

In such a culture the staff are not unthinking, as the Panorama programme showed, they can be quite adept in interpreting the standing orders. They will abuse you out of range of the CCTV, they will squeeze your injured hand because they know it will be more painful, they will punch the wall to demonstrate their power before towering over you. And, later with their colleagues, they will be reflective and boastful: swapping stories and sharing abusive techniques, they will fiddle reports of incidents to reach targets and avoid penalties. This is not unthinking behaviour – to coin a phrase, it's the banality of evil.

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But as we know, unless or until such behaviour is exposed it gets results for the organisation, and so for as long as possible its tolerated, ignored or excused by EVERYONE with a finger in the pie, aka "stakeholders" or "partnerships" or plain & simple political ideology. The Howard League piece above proves that.

All that G4S, Serco, Sodexo etc etc are concerned about is the Bottom Line in terms of profit for shareholders. We know this. Its been hailed on this blog since its inception. The senior managers have no loyalty to anyone but Mammon; just look how quickly they jump into each others' graves once the bullet has been fired.

But why does the abuse & corruption & scandal continue when its so plain to see? Why do G4S lose one contract yet achieve another almost immediately? Why are they even considered suitable for any contracts when, just to give one example, they are by their own admission guilty of defrauding the government to the tune of (probably much more than) £100M. Similarly Serco, and no doubt many others. Where are the criminal proceedings? Likewise with bankers: "Erm, enough time has elapsed that we'll forget about the mass criminality & eyewatering fraud within the banking system."

The celebration of & plentiful rewards for deception & self-deception are beyond my comprehension. Crime DOES pay if you're a wealthy, white collar chum.

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The beneficiaries of outsourcing and TR are the private companies and those individuals who occupy high positions; the politicians and all the well-paid consultants who are ever ready to draw on their experience in the public sector to serve the private sector. When something goes well in the system they are quick to claim credit, when it goes awry they go into denial. But they don't want to reverse any reforms because they enjoy their rewards too much. These are the greedy men/women, they lean together. So when a child is bullied by G4S, the culpability is collective. Sure, your local CEO was not at the crime scene, but the Godfathers never are – they just run the system on behalf of their paymasters.

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No one is pretending or implying that G4S has a monopoly on abuse. Of course it was rife in residential homes in the public sector, in churches and elsewhere. There is focus on G4S because it was the subject of the Panorama programme and G4S is newsworthy because of past criticisms – the Olympic's fiasco, the tagging scandal, and other controversies.

But I agree: when it comes to abusive practices you need to look through a wide lens. In all walks of life, in schools and workplaces, in relationships of all descriptions, there seems to be no end to examples of bullying, predation and abuse of power. I suppose in this context the main difference between the likes of G4S and the public sector, is that the former makes a profit on the £140,000 it charges annually for looking after each child.

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My post was admittedly focused on current scandal but, as others have noted, it applies to any dysfunctional environment. Anon above is spot on that the core elements are "bullying, predation & abuse of power". I and others have previously compared the behaviours of the greedy & power hungry to the behaviours of DV perpetrators, i.e. take control, keep control, bully & humiliate, keep the victim in a state of anxiety, keep changing the 'rules' & deflect all responsibility onto the victim. Just apply that template to NOMS...

I spent over 20 years trying to unravel such abusive behaviour in the broadest range of perpetrators, from professional sports personalities to CEOs of international businesses, from local councillors to police officers and firefighters, lawyers and shopkeepers, drug dealers, welders and civil engineers. In all that time the hardest behaviours to challenge were those within the organisation, e.g. malicious line managers, ambitious ladder-climbers, politically motivated wannabe's. And with role models like Thatcher, Blair, Brown & Cameron, why wouldn't they see that behaviour as the way to achieve "success" ?

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It's inevitable that young people exposed to such horrific abuse at Medway will present with further behavioural, emotional and psychological difficulties on their release. One mother reflected on this fear in relation to her son. Young people such as those filmed will be at a higher risk of harming themselves or members of the public, thus escalating future risks should they 're-offend and become caught up in the revolving door of CJ provision. Ultimately, they will transfer into the adult arena and carry with them further risks to self and others.

Services for young offenders should ensure that provision treats young people as 'children'. They are not exempt from the provisions of the Children's Acts (1989 +2004). This statutory duty has to be reinforced and upheld in any setting where adults work with children. It also made me worry about the behaviour and attitudes of the adults who have now been sacked from Medway when they are away from cctv surveillance in their family and social settings.

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The cull in Staffordshire tactfully announced by senior management yesterday (but NOT for the West Midlands part of the SWM Probation area - at least not for main grade PO's) was made even less appealing as management have admitted there are still around 100 agency staff in post across the SWM area, costing God knows how much. They haven't deigned to consider voluntary redundancy to front line staff, despite offering this to a select group in head office some time ago. What a farce. . however, we are well used to being kept on tenterhooks, as we've been waiting for the chop for years ever since Stoke and Wales were singled out for an ill-fated 'pilot' for TR some time back. Investors in People - NO!!

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They have to do certain things and Napo reps should be all over this with the appropriate rules on the process. The Local reps had better get their fingers out too and challenge the model proposed and dust off the better than EVR rates that you have. The announcement is misguided in that it has to minimise dismissals and show a process to do so. Individual and union ET claims have to be the main ambition for unfair dismissals. Reads like they are making that evidence trail easy to collect and deliver winnable cases.

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Joe says "sentencers do not seem to care too much" about the future of probation. Trouble is sentencers have no public means to express their feelings appropriately. I have no doubt they do care when they see court POs rushing around like headless chickens doing several peoples' jobs. They probably care that monitoring community orders and breach procedures have gone down the tubes because of the split between NPS and CRC and probably also commercial confidentiality. There is a very great danger that sentencers will lose confidence in probation services entirely.

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Whilst I very much admire (and to some extent envy) Joe Kuipers' optimism, enthusiasm & positivity, I also tend to agree with the Anon posts highlighting that inherent in the demolition derby that is TR too many people have gotten away with too much without being brought to book for their actions, e.g. Grayling, Romeo, Brennan, Spurr etc. Ideologue politicians and allegedly political neutral civil servants have expedited a disastrous series of decisions, skirting around any notion of accountability whilst ignoring all evidence that told them it was risky. They toyed with the Public Accounts Committee & it is probably only the General Election that saved them from a further savaging by Ms Hodge. But as highlighted in the extracts posted on this blog today, where is the follow-up by the PAC? This is supposed to be the Committee that protects the public purse & reins in (or at least acknowledges) misuse, malpractice & incompetence.

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Sounds exactly like a DRR to me, formerly a DTTO. Yes probation has been providing these interventions to drug users for years. This was much better under DTTO when probation was better resourced, the Orders were lengthier and court reviews were always attended. IOM built on this model and this has been a success for probation too. Surprisingly none of this is mentioned in the article. That David Hanson MP is a weasel as he was a Justice Minister so his comments should have included all of the above.

Where's NAPO and the Probation Institute in all this, the "probation voice"? I assume their phones just ring and ring when the journalists call for a comment!

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Again, I would expect the Probation Institute to take a lead on setting the record straight on this, probation has been engaging in exactly THIS for YEARS until we were stopped, as pointed out DTTOs then DRRs. I always loved it when Judges gave positive feedback to service users (or more accurately endorsed the Probation Officers positive report when progress was made). Some ignorant Civil Servant will be getting plaudits for bringing in a system the CJS and Probation had been doing for years until they were made to stop. It really would be funny if our professionalism had not been so decimated.

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'A source close to Mr Gove added: “One of the principle aims is to make sure we effectively tackle the root causes of re-offending.'

The Tories need to spell out what they consider to be the root causes and whether these are actually being aggravated by other Tory polices in the fields of welfare, housing, etc... And if they seriously want to reduce the prison population they have to transfer money from the prison's budget to improve social provision and stop shrinking the probation, youth and other services that help to facilitate rehabilitation and community reintergration.

As a magistrate who was involved in the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre observed:

'So very often we talk about the underlying cause of offender behaviour as being substance abuse; but that is not the underlying cause.’ That often comes back to issues to do with ‘welfare benefits, housing, living conditions employment etc.'

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Michael Gove is well aware of probation's history and if not I'm sure the Lord Chief Justice is knowledgeable enough to set him straight. Who is going to be part of this panel?  Surely not any of our TR-friendly former probation Chief Officers that seem to keep popping up?

It was always understood that re-offending is prevented by working in partnership to improve literacy, job skills, employment opportunities, family support and access to housing, etc, and tackling addictions, health problems and mental health are key parts of the process. This was what the probation service did before some idiot came up with silly terms like "public protection", "risk management" and "desistance" to label and change what probation officers do.

Sadly this has feathered the careers of countless politicians, academics and probation secondees to the Home Office, but has achieved nothing for the probation service which is no longer mentioned by the government in the same sentence as "rehabilitation" and "reducing re-offending". It's probably easier to ignore us; out of sight, out of mind and all that. 'Tough on the causes of crime'?! Didn't Blair say that too?!

35 comments:

  1. Sunday Mirror exposes UPW scandal in Hull

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    1. An offender who claims he spent more time skiving off than doing service has called the sentences a "joke"

      Community Payback sentences are today blasted as a skivers’ charter, easily abused by crooks. The orders are supposed to involve doing vital work as recompense for crimes.

      But today a pub landlord given a 200-hour sentence reveals a world in which offenders spend most of their time lazing around in bars and cafes or sleeping in their minibus as supervisors turn a blind eye.

      Nigel Edwards, 51, said: “I thought we’d be picking up litter, cleaning graffiti, cutting hedges, painting bus shelters, that sort of thing.

      “But the whole thing was a joke. There was nothing to do. I spent more time in pubs, cafes, shops, the bookies, McDonald’s. I put on two stone.”

      At one session of “punishment” the landlord, nicked for stealing from his brewery , spent most of the time on the other side of the bar, blowing £130.

      “My first day we went to a football pitch and spent about 20 minutes walking around with a black bag and litter picker,” said Nigel. “At lunch lads were heading off to buy scratch cards while I was allowed to go to the pub. In the afternoon we sat on the bus. That was the day’s work.

      “On the second day we went to the golf club. It was raining so we went in the bar. That’s how it went. It was like a game of ‘hide the bus’ so people couldn’t see we were doing nothing.”

      Following up his shocking claims, our investigators spent a day observing him and fellow offenders as they served their sentences.

      Around 100,000 offenders are given orders each year across England and Wales, supposedly completing around 8.8 million hours of unpaid work.

      The National Probation Service is responsible for the most dangerous offenders – but the Government has outsourced 70 per cent of rehabilitation services.

      Nigel’s sentence was overseen by private firm Purple Futures which runs the Humberside, Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company. We watched as offenders – supposed to complete demanding work while wearing distinctive hi-vis jackets – wandered around in their normal gear.

      They left Hull probation offices at 9.30am and headed to Hessle Foreshore in the shadow of the Humber Bridge, stopping at a cafe for breakfast. They later drove 15 miles to Market Weighton, spending just 10 minutes litter picking at a beauty spot. For lunch they visited a chippy.

      After two offenders were dropped back in Hull at 12.45pm, the rest of them were taken to a park. They spent the afternoon sat in the van or strolling around feeding the squirrels. By 3pm they were back in Hull and their day was over.

      Nigel, of Bridlington, East Yorks, told us the only time a supervisor had a go at him was when he was watching football on his phone. “He complained, because he wanted the cricket on,” said Nigel.

      “They’re supposed to teach offenders new tasks, stop them re-offending. But there was no supervision, no co-ordination.

      “Some mornings there would be maybe 11 people turn up. The minibus only holds nine. We drew straws to see who could go home.” Most of the offenders in Nigel’s group were aged 18-25.

      He said: “They were there for minor offences – possession of drugs, fighting, or theft. One lad had been prosecuted by the RSPCA for not feeding his horse. These were young unemployed kids.

      "Spending all day doing nothing was better than being in jail. It seemed like a box-ticking exercise. I’m sure judges and public think criminals are receiving a punishment, but it’s a breeze.

      “There were a couple of Polish guys who used to work 12-hour overnight shifts at the McCain potato factory in Hull. They’d finish at 6am and then turn up for their unpaid work at 9am. They’d spend all day asleep in the van.”

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    2. Nigel claimed he told his offender manager what was happening, but he was warned for being rude. He told us he was a first-time offender and had pleaded guilty to theft at Beverley Magistrates Court in July 2014 over money he says he took to pay staff after handing in his notice.

      “The case cost me £6,000 in legal fees and if it had gone to Crown Court it would have cost even more, so I reluctantly pleaded guilty,” said Nigel.

      “I expected the community payback to be hard work. But it has opened my eyes to how the system works. It’s a sham.”

      A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “We will be seeking an urgent explanation from Purple Futures. We expect probation service providers to deliver effective community sentences and will hold them rigorously to account.”

      A Purple Futures spokesman said: “We employ thousands of people who do an important job. We were already aware of allegations and a staff member has been suspended pending investigation. We have commissioned an independent review of community payback.”

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  2. Probation Officer17 January 2016 at 11:44

    More exposure for the Purple Futures Community Rehabilitation Company. We're not surprised but it could be worse. I recall a CP project where Saturday's group rolled up balls of wool and Sunday's group unrolled them. What HMIP's Paul Wilson didn't say in his report is that the govt could have made CP meaningful with skills qualifications included, but instead they sold it off.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/offenders-spend-more-time-pub-7192650

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  3. Full Purple Futures Interserve statement:-

    "We employ thousands of probation staff who help to keep us all safer by helping people to stop offending. We are proud of the important job they do, in often challenging circumstances. Sometimes people fall short of the standards required. If that has happened, we need to understand why, and we will take all steps to make sure we understand the causes of any failure. We have therefore commissioned an independent review of Community Payback. Before we became aware of these specific allegations, we had already identified a potential problem with a member of staff working in Community Payback. An offender notified his probation officer of concerns and we immediately suspended the individual concerned. That investigation is still in progress."

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    1. The blame game has started and Purple Futures CRC management waste no time in throwing their staff under the bus!

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    2. So Purple Futures have commissioned an independent report: another job for Martin Narey perhaps.

      Their statement says they were aware of problems and had already suspended a member of staff before they got the specific allegations from the Mirror. So what have they done in light of the new allegations?

      In their 125-page staff manual Purple Futures said there would be key differenes in language: offender would become service user, yet in their press statement they revert to the tag 'offender'. Was this an oversight or did purple turn yellow when they needed to sound assertive in their statement to the press?

      http://probationmatters.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/turning-purple.html

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  4. How can the Home Secretary be a shareholder in G4s? Surely this is a series conflict of interest..

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    1. This is the cretinous nature of a Tory government and its so-called democratic "politics"!

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    2. Some extracts from a thought-provoking piece about the influence of four "Think Tanks" by Alan White, New Statesman 25 APRIL 2013.

      "1. Reform

      Founded by Nick Herbert, one of those Tories it’s generally considered ok for lefties to like. Unlike pretty much every other right-wing think tank, its open about who funds it and how much. Last year it received £1,251,501... On that note: produced a report this year entitled The Case for Private Prisons, which suggested private prisons offer better value for money and lower reoffending rates, an argument which wasn't supported by the Prison Reform Trust and was even described as “simplistic” by prisons minister Jeremy Wright.... Co-incidentally, three of its “corporate partners” are G4S, Serco and Sodexo, who run all the private prisons in Britain.

      2. Policy Exchange

      Founded by Nick Boles, Michael Gove and Francis Maude. To get a feel for the enthusiasm of this merry camp of dreamers, you need only read Gove’s sadly-deleted and somewhat hyperbolic testimony on their website: “Policy Exchange were a tiny band of guerrillas, partisans in the hillside fighting a lonely campaign, but now, that tiny guerrilla band has turned into the most formidable regular army on the thinktank battlefield."

      3. Centre for Social Justice

      The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), founded by Iain Duncan Smith, is perhaps the most prominent face of modern compassionate conservatism. Which to many means: wolf in sheep’s clothing. Its output and the thinking behind the Government’s welfare reforms are so closely related as to be indistinguishable - its last head, Philippa Stroud, is now Duncan Smith’s Spad, the current one was his speech writer. All three are churchgoers: all the fun of traditional Tory cuts, but now with added evangelical Christian zeal... But this rather begs the question of who’s funding their work. Someone gave them circa £1.5m last year to come up with their ideas, but we have no idea who they are... one of the CSJ’s award sponsors is the recruitment firm Manpower, and that raises questions, because that firm is one of the largest shareholders in Working Links, a major player in the DWP’s Work Programme and which has been accused of systematic fraud.

      4. Centre for Crime Prevention

      Just thought I’d drop this one in as it tells us rather a lot about how our media works. As you can see, the Centre for Crime Prevention has clocked up a number of media appearances, quoted in the Sun, Express, Metro and Mirror among others, with serious, weighty headlines like “Soft on hardened criminals: Now two thirds of serious repeat offenders avoid jail”, “Reoffending rates show "revolving door" community sentences not working, critics say,” and so on... So they’re a right wing think tank and they like hard, punitive justice. Fair enough. But who are they? Well here’s the thing: they’re one man (Peter Cuthbertson from the Taxpayers’ Alliance), and his blog."

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    3. Here's some shareholder info which will now, presumably, apply to Gove. Firstly, a definition:

      "A golden share is a nominal share which is able to outvote all other shares in certain specified circumstances, often held by a government organization, in a government company undergoing the process of privatization and transformation into a stock-company."

      MoJ press info in 2014 - "Mr Grayling will retain a ‘golden’ share against any future possible reductions in service by any privately-owned CRC."

      Methinks Govey needs to start outvoting. Unless he's taken them to "We Buy Your Gold".

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    4. I advised him to go to "webuyanyshares.com" .

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  5. Way back in the olden days, around 2010, a client told me that his group were doing nothing on UPW, other than travelling between local burger vans, with very little happening in between. Although I was initially sceptical, I found that other officers were being told the same thing, as well as a further disclosure from another client of mine. It was well know as 'the burger van run', and sometimes the supervisors would report needing to go for more equipment to justify the mileage. Many clients loathed it because they wanted to do meaningful work, and were bored, or they had no money to spend on burgers and were even more bored. I was initially told by UPW managers that it was untrue, but then it was true and being dealt with. I understand that 2 supervisors were eventually dismissed.

    Nothing is new.

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    1. Now If you take the line that 'nothing is new' that is mostly true but it also means there is never any news because nothing is new. But this event is new to Purple Futures and I suppose in light of the wisdom that nothing is new, had PF done due diligence they could have anticipated and avoided this embarrassment.

      However, community payback being nationally privatised is new and private is supposed to be superior to public - so it's a little new to see no difference. And, of course, some things are very new: like compulsory redundancies, plummeting morale and making a profit out of community payback which now ultimately serves shareholders, not communities.

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  6. Welcome soon to "Community Paycheck" (thanks Jim,good term).Cheap Labour to subsidise the cash strapped CRC's.Just watch the Service Users/Offenders revolt when they get wind of this.

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    1. Isn't it already like this? I thought (and I might be wrong) that MOJ are paying the private companies to do maintenance on their buildings. Then paying them again when they use unpaid work offenders to do it. so they are paid for the work itself on top of the CRC probation contracts. Is this not the case? I'm sure I've heard talked about openly??? I didn't think it was a secret.

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  7. Things are not much better in Working Links DDC CRC. There have been problems with staff resorces , sessions cancelled, or offenders being sent back home because no room on the bus. The minuute they fail to attend CP want them breached. It's a joke.

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  8. Cannot breach on FTA Service request though.

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  9. Anon 16:38 I clearly need to do a bit more promotion because I think it was 'Community Cashback' :)

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    1. Cashback was correct.Sorry Jim.

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  10. One problem has always been the over use of cs,upw,cp. Courts love it and I'm afraid to say, some colleagues doing court reports, seem to ignore or are unaware of other available sentences. Conditional discharges, proportionate fines or Attendance centre, all but dismissed!

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  11. There's an elf on a mission backposting on the STC discussion thread a few days back. He/she (do elves have a recognised gender?) expresses some interesting thoughts about G4S & ITV.

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    1. Yes very interesting indeed.

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    2. And it was BBCs Panorama team that broke the news! Hurrah for Aunty Beeb!!

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  12. "Where are they now?"

    Remember Mr Russell Bruce, erstwhile Chief of most of the north of England until he left with very full pockets? Could this be the same man, now masquerading as a wedding singer?

    "Russell Bruce is an accomplished contemporary vocalist based in the North East of England.

    Being a professional singer for over 10 years, Russell has entertained various audiences throughout the UK.

    Russell’s career has seen him perform in a world famous luxury hotel and holiday venues throughout Europe. In recent times Russell has established himself as a wedding singer performing a classic repertoire of songs with a modern twist.

    Russell can add a touch of class to your wedding, corporate event or party that will entertain both young and old. Whether it’s a large occasion or something more intimate, Russell can cater for all requests."

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    1. He's moved on so let him be (if it's him). And if he was suspect at least he has moved on. This is more than we can say for those Chief Probation Officers and CEO's that shafted us with TR, took massive retirement/redundancy payouts and STILL keep popping as self styled criminal justice "experts", at the HMIP and the Probation Institute, or on the Queens honours list!

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    2. I can assure you it is not RB ex CO.

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  13. I don't imagine for one second that 21:14's was a serious post, but just the very idea made me smile!

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  14. to 21 40 -april 2015 - Sunday Times 'Probation chiefs cash in as 700 staff lose jobs' - 'Russell Bruce, outgoing chief of Durham/Tees Valley Probation Trust, received a redundancy package worth £230,000.' And he wasn't even in a big region - Northumbria was much the biggest in the north, and the last Chief in the Trust there is now heading up the Sodexo CRC in the north east.

    so as you said - he was indeed one of those Chiefs you refer to, who took a massive redundancy payout, and is no doubt singing all the way to the bank.

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    1. Here's the story and it's worth remembering:

      SENIOR executives at the National Probation Service have received severance packages of up to £300,000 as part of the government’s “enhanced voluntary redundancy” scheme.

      The figures, released shortly before the dissolution of parliament ahead of the general election, have emerged just weeks after it was announced that up to 700 probation officers will lose their jobs as part of reforms which will see the probation service outsourced to 21 new community rehabilitation companies (CRCs).

      In total, 10 senior executives secured six-figure deals including lump-sum payouts as well as pension top-ups. They include Sally Lewis, the outgoing chief executive of Avon and Somerset Probation Trust, whose exit package totalled £293,000, and Russell Bruce, the outgoing chief executive of Durham Tees Valley Probation Trust, who received a redundancy package worth £230,000.

      Heather Munro, the former head of the then London Probation Trust (now the London CRC), who was paid a salary of more than £130,000 in her final year of employment, left with a deal worth £247,196. Her pension pot was valued at £1.4m.

      In 2009, the London Probation Service was condemned for its decision to release Daniel Sonnex, a violent criminal, on parole shortly before he murdered two French students. Within days of his release, he had attacked a pregnant woman and her partner, yet escaped with a verbal warning.

      Details of the payouts under the scheme, which expired at the end of March, appear in a document posted on the Probation Association’s website. They come less than a month after Sodexo, a French contractor drafted in to oversee part of the “transforming rehabilitation” initiative, detailed the planned job cuts and plans to install ATM-style machines so offenders check themselves in rather than report to probation staff.

      Ian Lawrence, general secretary for Napo, the probation officers’ union, criticised the payouts. “The transforming rehabilitation programme was never fully costed by the government and the unions warned that this unnecessary social experiment would cost the taxpayer an extortionate amount of money,” he said.

      Sadiq Khan, shadow justice secretary, said: “David Cameron’s government recklessly privatised probation without any evidence it would cut reoffending and keep the public safe.”

      In an article for the Conservative Home website earlier this year, Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, said the scheme represented a “classic case” of the coalition “delivering more for less for the taxpayer".

      The Ministry of Justice said: “As part of a restructure of probation services and the dissolution of probation trusts, a small number of senior leaders were made redundant. Payments reflected the national scheme for severance.”

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  15. ps to me at 23 55 - surprise surprise - Bruce is now a trustee with NEPACS - see Northern Echo 27/1/15, complete with photo - 'Bruce is a bonus for NEPACS charity.'

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  16. Listen we would have all taken EVR as a CEO even if it meant others getting jack shit. It's dog eat dog and you have to take whatever you can. Good luck and do what you can to win

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    1. They weren't dogs they were snakes. I doubt they can sit comfortably in the knowledge that they had a big fat slithering hand in the misery probation staff are now going through.

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    2. You wish! I bet they haven't given them a second thought!

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  17. BGSW have been writing off UPW hours for years. They even got the ACE to investigate. It was all true. No action.

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