Wednesday 5 October 2016

A Big Day For Probation

Seen on Facebook:-


I knew yesterday would be a big day for probation. It began with the joint inspectors report into the failings of TTG and ended with the File on Four BBC radio 4 programme on SFO's. Interestingly, Dame Glenys Stacey began and ended proceedings having been interviewed for the Today programme and featuring in the documentary. In between of course we had Liz Truss speaking at her party conference and not mentioning probation, or the rising death rate in our prisons, but announcing the intention to recruit army veterans for the prison service. 


Those with long memories might recall a previous Home Secretary who had a similar idea for putting 'a bit of discipline' into the probation service. It was just as ill-thought-out being essentially only useful as a soundbite for party and tabloid consumption. The new Justice Secretary seems to have forgotten that the new terms and conditions for prison officers might be part of the reason why recruitment may not be attractive for ex-squaddies.

I thought the File on Four programme was an extremely competent piece of work, covering as it did some very complex and sensitive issues around murders and SFO's. It's an utter disgrace though that the MoJ refused the BBC permission to interview the CRC's involved, a situation that cannot be allowed to continue in a democracy. Public services run by private companies must be held publicly to account and there must surely be some Parliamentary action on this front soon?


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This from the Guardian:-

Liz Truss to launch recruitment drive for ex-forces prison officers

An extra £14m is to be spent on 10 of the “most challenging” prisons and a campaign launched to recruit ex-armed forces staff as prison officers, the justice secretary is to announce. Liz Truss is to tell the Conservative party conference on Tuesday that the extra funds will be used to recruit more staff to combat drugs and violence behind bars. She is also to confirm that she will publish a new prison safety and reform plan “within weeks”, which will detail “the most far-reaching reforms of our prisons in a generation”.

The announcement comes as a critical report by the chief inspectors of prisons and probation says that the government’s “good intentions” in introducing the post-release supervision of 50,000 short-term prisoners by private probation companies “have not been realised”.

The justice secretary will say prisons must be places of safety for reform to happen: “We are going to make prisons work … Officers tell me their numbers are stretched too thin and without more frontline staff who are better deployed, they cannot deliver prisons that are places of safety and reform. They’ve told me this and I’ve listened.”

At the same time new working practices are to be rolled out across jails in England and Wales so that prison officers can spend more time supervising inmates and each officer will be supervising about six individual offenders. The 10 of the most challenging jails to receive the extra funding for more prison officers are Chelmsford, Eastwood Park, Exeter, Guys Marsh, Leeds, Liverpool, Moorland, Nottingham, Wayland and Winchester.

On the new drive to recruit ex-soldiers and other service personnel to work as frontline prison officers, Truss is to say: “Who better to instil the virtues of discipline? Who better to show what you can achieve in life with courage and integrity? They will help our prison officers lead the change. Safety on our street and safety in our jails – that is the policy of this government.”

The decision to press ahead with a prison reform and safety plan follows an appearance at the justice select committee when Truss seemed to cast doubt on the government’s commitment to the prison reform plans outlined by her predecessor, Michael Gove, in July. “Reform is the only way to break the cycle, to cut the cost to society and spare more people the misery of being a victim of crime,” she will say.

The Conservative party conference will also hear on Tuesday from the home secretary, Amber Rudd, who is to announce an extension to the unduly lenient sentence scheme to make sure that the public can challenge sentences in most terrorist cases if they believe an error has been made. Rudd will also unveil plans to take a “more aggressive approach” to the EU free movement rules on the deportation of convicted criminals to ensure that repeat minor offenders from other EU countries can be excluded from re-entering Britain for between five and 10 years rather than the current 12 months.

Meanwhile the chief inspector of probation, Dame Glenys Stacey, says in a report published on Tuesday that although the new service had been in place for almost a year at the time of the inspection, not a single prisoner – out of a sample of 86 cases – had been helped into a job on release. The report from her and the chief inspector of prisons also says that some of the promised new services proposed in the private probation companies’ contracts had not been implemented and there was little evidence of the anticipated innovation or creativity being delivered.

The report also says that support for prisoners leaving jail was poor. In some cases the risk they posed to others had not been recognised, which meant victims were not always protected, particularly in cases of domestic abuse. “The good intentions of the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, which meant to bring about a step change in rehabilitation by extending support from probation services to this large group of prisoners who previously received no supervision on release, have not yet been realised,” says the report.

Under the reforms introduced by Chris Grayling in February 2015 when he was justice secretary all prisoners sentenced to 12 months or less received 12 months’ supervision by the probation services on release. “This means that an extra 50,000 extra people are now supervised, an increase of around 25%. Reoffending rates are highest for those serving short prison sentences. Many have long records of convictions, complex needs and a history of not engaging with public services,” the report says.

Community rehabilitation companies are now responsible for their supervision, which is supposed to include helping prisoners to find accommodation, employment or training, treatment for substance misuse and help with managing their finances.

“Inspectors found that, overall, services were poor and there was little to commend. Too many prisoners reached their release date without their immediate resettlement needs having been met or even recognised. None of the prisoners in their sample (86 cases) had been helped into employment by Through the Gate services; too many prisoners were released without accommodation and not enough help was given to prisoners to resolve debts,” says the report.

Frances Crook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the report showed the failure of the rehabilitation revolution was becoming increasingly clear: “Transforming Rehabilitation was supposed to turn lives around, reduce reoffending and make us all safer. It is doing precisely the opposite – failing to help people find homes and employment, failing to prevent people committing further offences and failing by exposing victims of crime to more danger,” she said.

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This from Rob Allen:- 

Where are we now on Prison Reform?

I couldn’t follow Liz Truss’s speech to the Tory Conference this morning as I was visiting a prison where I’m doing a piece of work. When I arrived there, I was told the Governors were all in a debrief after a death in custody- yet another wasted life to reinforce the urgency of what the new ministerial team at Justice have to do.

From time to time, Tory party conferences have signalled important changes in prison policy. In 1979 William Whitelaw assured the faithful that short sharp shock detention centres would “be no holiday camps”. In 1993 Michael Howard gave them his 27 point Prison Works package, (funds for which had only been secured hours earlier in a Blackpool hotel room showdown with Chief Secretary Michael Portillo). Last year, Michael Gove won his audience round to redemption by introducing a charismatic ex-offender who now works to rehabilitate others. What of Liz Truss today?

There will be a welcome dollop of cash to stem the wounds inflicted by an ill-judged benchmarking exercise, which has seen prison staff cut by a fifth since 2010 and the loss of many experienced officers on whom stability in prison often depends. Of course prisons can use 400 new boots on the landings but a sustainable future surely needs proper long term resourcing not midyear handouts squeezed from the Treasury.

Recruiting personnel with a military background looks like an effort to recreate the past rather than the modern service we’ve been promised. Indeed the policy offers more than a nod to UKIP’s 2015 manifesto guarantee of a job offer in the police, prisons or border force for anyone who has served in the Armed Forces for a minimum of 12 years. Unlike Howard, who illustrated his priorities by inviting a victim of a serious crime to address the 1993 conference or Gove with his ex-offender, Ms Truss at least resisted the temptation to surround herself with soldiers.

After mixed signals from the MoJ, prison reform is, it seems, back on. We will have to wait a few weeks for a plan with the promise of legislation in the New Year. These will announce a “vision for prison reform to 2020 and beyond” and “a blueprint for the biggest overhaul of our prisons in a generation”. But haven’t we had enough visions and blueprints? The White Paper will surely need to be a bit more – I think the civil service word is- granular. More plainly, what exactly will be done to solve the crisis in our prisons in the short, medium and long term?

Ms Truss used to favour contracting out all prisons to the private sector on a payment by results basis but today’s damning criticisms of Community Rehabilitation Companies by the Probation Inspectorate makes no case at all for further privatisation. But who knows? In a Through the Gate scheme that does work, one of the companies, Interserve, announced today they have recruited Ian Mulholland the former Director of Public Prisons. Mulholland is apparently looking forward to helping grow the business: “The CRCs are our foothold in justice, if we are seen as the best provider we will strengthen our chances of winning more business”. Setting aside the supposed limitations on that particular revolving door, perhaps he knows something we don’t?


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As Rob mentions, the march of the prison governor's continues and we have a strong indication from Interserve that they have ambitions of moving into the prison business, CRC's just being a bit of window dressing before the main event. Here's their press release:- 

Ian Mulholland joins Interserve

The former director of public sector prisons Ian Mulholland has joined Interserve as the company’s director of justice. Ian began his career as a prison officer 26 years ago before working his way up to the top prisons’ job at the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). Before he left to join the company, Ian had responsibility for 110 public prisons across England and Wales – representing 85 per cent of the prison population – and more than 37,000 staff; together with three immigration removal centres.

Ian said: 


“My role very clearly signifies that Interserve has a serious, long-term commitment to working in the justice sector. The company is dedicated to delivering public services in the justice arena and my job is to focus on our existing performance, especially around Interserve’s already excellent Community Rehabilitation Companies. I will be looking at what is working well, and also focusing on what is working less well in order to drive improvements. Through the Gate is one area of service delivery that plays a relatively small part of our overall business in terms of money, but has a significant reputational impact. I will be striving to ensure that our Through the Gate service is the best it can possibly be.”

Ian said he is looking forward to helping grow the business, and to supporting the Ministry of Justice’s aim of improving outcomes for offenders.

He added: “I worked for the public sector for 26 years and I feel in my heart a public servant. Moving from NOMS to Interserve is not a decision I have taken lightly, but I was convinced by the integrity and honesty of the company’s senior management, and about the firm’s very clear sense of values. During the course of my career I have had opportunities to join other organisations, but I always resisted because of my public service ethos. However, I am convinced that my outlook and behaviours do not have to change, because they are perfectly in sympathy with Interserve’s approach. The CRCs are our foothold in justice, if we are seen as the best provider we will strengthen our chances of winning more business. I am tremendously excited about the challenge and to build on the excellent start that Interserve has made in the justice sector.”

31 comments:

  1. Why is Napo clamouring to sign up agency workers? If the trend of employing agency staff continues isn't there a risk that the workforce will start to share many of the working practices of Sports Direct who will only employ agency staff in some of its operations.

    By recruiting agency staff isn't Napo increasing the threat to the terms and conditions of permanent staff by making it easier for the employers to shed staff via redundancies and then re-employing sometimes the same staff via agencies. A reliance on agency staff is likely to add to the chances of newly-qualified staff gaining permanent positions.

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    1. harm the chances of newly-qualified officers...

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    2. This was exactly the issue raised during debate - but the motion was passed by a fair majority.

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    3. I'm an agency worker who has been displaced twice by newly qualified staff going into permanent positions, which was the right thing to do! I don't think you've got much to worry about. Permanent newly qualified staff are cheaper than me.

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    4. Agency staff are expensive usually with a lot of baggage. They cause mayhem then move on

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    5. The use of agency staff at at time when permanent staff are being cut is cynical. It allows the CRCs to cut their workforces to the bone – but this has nothing to do with genuine workforce planning, because if it did why has there be a growth in agency workers alongside a decline in permanent staff? To the employer you can see the attraction of agency staff: their supply can be switched on or off at will, they will work flexibly and there are no ongoing employment costs. I wonder if Napo has done any analysis of the impact of agency staff or is it the case that if every office had a cat they too would be invited to join Napo?

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    6. I have a friend who moved from working for many years as a PO in this country to try her hand as a PO abroad, pre TR; returned home after 2 years to find the Service decimated. She managed to get 12 months work here as a PO, away from home area, before TR bit more deeply. She left there voluntarily and got 6 months SW work in a young people's high risk detention centre,nearer home, then found agency work for 3 months in a YOI,as a PO, away from home, which was stretched to 6 months because of the quality of her work. She then managed to get 3 months PO work at a YOI nearer home, again extended to 6 months. Her last job was as a PO at a CAT A prison, again 3 months extended to 6. All her colleagues, including managers, were sorry to see her go. Now agencies seem to have tightened up and she has been unable to find NPS work anymore, and according to the agencies, CRCs won't accept applicants who have not previously worked in a CRC, as 'the work is different', even tho' she has over 20 years experience as a PO in various roles.

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    7. This was exactly the issue raised during debate - but the motion was passed by a fair majority.

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    8. It is not NAPO recruiting the agency staff who will have differing reasons for coming to probation via an agency. NAPO has falling membership numbers so why put more nails in the coffin by not allowing agency staff to join. Would we rather they joined Unison?.......Bobbyjoe

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  2. Liz Truss would have still been at school on April 1st 1990 when Strangeways prison seen the beginning of the longest riot in British penal history. Of the staff employed there at the time, there was more then 85% ex forces.
    I think before she announces her magnificent ideas for a brighter future for the prison system, she should at least do a little historical research, and not least look a little at the Wolfe report that was commissioned as a consequence of the Strangeways riot. There's a lot still relevant in that report today that she would do well to contemplate on.

    'Getafix'

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  3. Why look to the past when you can announce it as a new measure. Why mention the reduction in staffing since 2010 when you can announce more money for staffing and the use of ex forces.
    Why mention the closure of regional hospitals when talking about a and e seeing more patients than last year.
    Why mention the reduction in local social services provision as the reason there is bed blocking in hospitals.
    The increase in class sizes due to stagnation in school budgets and increasing costs not the announcement of grammar schools.

    It's the announcements that matter not how we got here.

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  4. Nice to see Mulholland drive [geddit?] straight into his nice new private sector parking space; yet another example of the Revolving Doors practice that Private Eye has been working on exposing.

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  5. I think Teresa May was thinking of poor Ian Mulholland when she delivered her speech today:

    "Our economy should work for everyone, but if your pay has stagnated for several years in a row and fixed items of spending keep going up, it doesn’t feel like it’s working for you... And the roots of the revolution run deep. Because it wasn’t the wealthy who made the biggest sacrifices after the financial crash, but ordinary, working class families.

    And if you’re one of those people who lost their job, who stayed in work but on reduced hours, took a pay cut as household bills rocketed, or - and I know a lot of people don’t like to admit this - someone who finds themselves out of work or on lower wages because of low-skilled immigration, life simply doesn’t seem fair.

    It feels like your dreams have been sacrificed in the service of others..."

    So its time for change - and what better change, courtesy of the Tories, than to leave behind the poverty stricken grind of high public office and slide into a private sector full of opportunity & promise.

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  6. We need to unite against money grabbing agency staff. Let's petition the CRCS not to employ them.

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    1. I'm puzzled. CRCs got shot of "expensive" experienced staff because they couldn't afford to keep them, yet they are employing agencies who charge extortionate rates to recruit & install staff on short-term contracts. And the NPS must be bankrupting themselves given the numbers of agency placements on offer. A PO is on perhaps £17/hour? I've had email approaches from several "specialist" agencies offering rates varying between £24/hr to £32/hr... Presumably there are additional charges for the agencies themselves? And one agent rang me at home (on an ex directory home number, hmmm, how did that happen?) telling me she got bonuses for each new recruit and offering to cut me in on her bonus if I gave her names she could turn into placements. But don't pick on agency staff, look to the NPS & CRCs; they're the decision-makers. Staff who have been discarded by profiteers in hurried stupidity are only looking for work. I'm happy flipping burgers but others want to continue with their careers & their vocation, to exercise their experience. And maybe £25/hour is a fair rate for the job?

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    2. Thank you. People are on agency contracts for many reasons and many agency staff would like permanent contracts again but are being shut out as newly qualified officers are favoured. People have left and returned for various reasons, myself included. I have 10 years experience as a PO and I would love a permanent position again but I am told to wait for the mystical recruitment drive that never happens. At the same time my local area seems happy to employ seemingly hundreds of new pso's with no prior probation experience. Not all agency staff are useless same as not all permanent staff are excellent.

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    3. In Kent newly qualified probation officer's are being offered 3000 pound above the starting rate if they come from out of area. Apparently this was agreed by the unions. Places newly qualified on more than officers with years of experience.

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    4. I doubt very much the unions agreed with this, however the CRC employers can do what they like ref wages , and they will.

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    5. Anon 22:40 NPS not CRC.

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  7. We are facing years, possibly decades of Tory rule. In fact, I'm not sure who the opposition are anymore. What are the PMs instincts on further privatisation?

    I don't see that she will give free reign to her ministers in the way that David Cameron did, so maybe a brake on Ms Truss' 'private is best at any cost' philosophy?

    What objective thoughts are out there?

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    1. Maybe devolution?

      http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/give-us-freedom-tackle-reoffending

      I'm personally not in favour though.

      'Getafix'

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    2. MANCHESTER’S INTERIM mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd has called for the city to be given the freedom and flexibility from the government to reduce reoffending in the region.

      He made the remarks following inspectorates’ criticisms of the government’s flagship ‘Through The Gates’ policy intended to reduce reoffending through improved rehabilitation.

      Lloyd said: “The government has got to listen to this report. As we negotiate our justice devolution terms, I’m calling on the government to give us the freedom and flexibility needed to work more effectively with partner agencies to tackle reoffending.

      “We’re committed to being - and we already are - forerunners in this area, pushing boundaries and testing innovative new approaches. We’re already seeing some excellent results on the back of our trailblazing work with women offenders but it relies on solid partnership working at a local level, and local probation services need to be free to do this.”

      Justice devolution will strengthen the work Greater Manchester is already doing to deliver effective local justice and reduce offending. It will give Greater Manchester more powers to drive forward important improvements by more closely integrating health, education and accommodation, with police, Crown Prosecution Service, the courts, prisons, and probation services.

      Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner, the Combined Authority, the Ministry of Justice, the National Offender Management Service, the Youth Justice Board and other partner agencies are currently working together to agree what justice devolution will look like and what will be implemented from April 2017 and beyond.

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    3. This sounds good. Maybe I don't need to emigrate to Scotland after all, just go to Manchester instead. But will I need my passport to get in?

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  8. SFO reports in the NPS will be public documents soon, the same should apply to CRCs, surely!

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    1. Doubt it they have soared since tr so its going to remain their rotten secret for the worst wrongs.

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    2. Now we clearly have a problem here because Dame Glenys Stacey says that SFO numbers are broadly the same pre and post TR. What's the answer?

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  9. there was a claim at AGM that SFO numbers were up, and then that was refuted, so don't know. It maybe a red herring enayway, such short timescales between TR and now. I'd welcome a reliablel statistician to our ranks here

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  10. maybe its time we got the number crunchers on BBC R4 "More or Less" onto this

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    1. would anyone care to pose a statistical question to this programme? SFOs? the falling crime rate? Payment by results?

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  11. http://m.theargus.co.uk/news/14784308.Homeless_criminals_to_be_offered_homes_on_prison_release_to_crack_down_on_reoffending/

    'Getafix'

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    1. HOMESLESS criminals will be offered a place to live when they are released from prison in a bid to crack down on crime. Those who are on probation, or are serving a community order, but do not have a reliable place to stay will be helped in the hope they do not reoffend. Southdown Housing Association will provide the accommodation thanks to funding from the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company (KSS CRC).

      In Sussex, only 38 per cent of people at the time of their release from prison have an accommodation support need linked to their risk of reoffending, according to the association. It is believed criminals are more likely to reoffend if they are homeless or lack stable accommodation.

      The Lewes-based not-for-profit organisation has set up a brokerage team which will help people on probation - who are classed as low and medium risk offenders - find suitable places to live and stay there. They will be guided through their housing options, put in touch with the right providers and learn their rights and responsibilities as tenants. It will work alongside KSS CRC's rehabilitation service.

      Kamini Sanghani, of KSS CRC, said: "We are focused on addressing the root causes of why people commit crimes in order to reduce reoffending and protect the public – problems with housing is one of these root causes. We have chosen Southdown Housing to deliver this service as they have demonstrated they will provide a valuable complementary service to our own. We look forward to working with them to make a difference to not only the lives of our service users but more widely to the Sussex community."

      Roland Williams, Brighton and Hove contract manager at Southdown Housing Association, said: "This is an excellent opportunity to make a significant contribution to a reduction in repeat offending by supporting people leaving prison to access sustainable housing. Southdown has a wealth of experience in offering housing support to people with complex needs across Sussex."

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