The announcement may only have been made on Friday when politics in the UK has traditionally packed up until the party conference season, but having set up a sham 8 week consultation to divert attention, the MoJ is wasting no time encouraging new privateers:-
London: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/probation-services-launch-event-london-tickets-48413522148
Manchester: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/probation-services-launch-event-manchester-tickets-48413916327
The Ministry of Justice is undertaking service and contract design activity for the future of probation services in England and would encourage the inputs of interested suppliers via structured market engagement activity over August and September 2018. The launch event will be an opportunity to understand the future vision for probation and gain more insights on the plan for market engagement.
--ooo00oo--
In all honesty, who can feel confident that Napo under newly-elected General Secretary Ian Lawrence will be any more effective than with TR the first time around:-
"All I really wanted to add today is that we are wasting no time in analysing the consultative paper. Our activities will be focussed on preparing to field evidence to the MoJ and the Labour Partys recently announced review into the future of probation and the next steps in our public campaign to press for reunification of the service as well as the key priority of trying to arrive at a pay deal that can be recommended to members. It means a massive amount of work ahead."
Quite understandably anger is mounting and people have long memories:-
I still struggle to understand how just a handful of folk who made up the union's 'Officer Group' were able to decide not to go to ballot, not to fight for collective bargaining, not to pursue JR or any exploratory tribunal regarding the abusive & significantly damaging loss of T&Cs as a result of the abandonment of NNC. It certainly didn't represent my views.
Back in the midst of the cull I was shown Legal Opinion (sought privately) that advised there WAS a 'winnable case' at Tribunal but that an individual stood no chance against a multinational. They couldn't understand why the union wouldn't back its members by challenging the new CRC owners & the SoS who holds the controlling Golden Share in all 21 CRCs; nor why the union agreed to such "kamikaze" terms of staff transfer, e.g. the time-limited "no redundancy" clause.
It doesn't surprise me that many strongly believe Napo failed in its duty to uphold "responsibilities to members and a responsibility to do the best for them."
But hey, what do I care? I now ply my long-standing probation service experience, knowledge & training as a barista in an over-priced coffee shop. It was, is & continues to be, a sick fucking joke which has transferred £Billions from the public purse into the pockets of thieves, liars, cheats & charlatans - gilding the chumocracy.
Back in the midst of the cull I was shown Legal Opinion (sought privately) that advised there WAS a 'winnable case' at Tribunal but that an individual stood no chance against a multinational. They couldn't understand why the union wouldn't back its members by challenging the new CRC owners & the SoS who holds the controlling Golden Share in all 21 CRCs; nor why the union agreed to such "kamikaze" terms of staff transfer, e.g. the time-limited "no redundancy" clause.
It doesn't surprise me that many strongly believe Napo failed in its duty to uphold "responsibilities to members and a responsibility to do the best for them."
But hey, what do I care? I now ply my long-standing probation service experience, knowledge & training as a barista in an over-priced coffee shop. It was, is & continues to be, a sick fucking joke which has transferred £Billions from the public purse into the pockets of thieves, liars, cheats & charlatans - gilding the chumocracy.
******
End of Term Provides Cover for Difficult Government Announcements
We’re now firmly into summer holiday time, here in the UK at least, so you may see some small drop in the number of articles we publish between now and the end of August, unless amazing events transpire in the procurement world in the next few weeks. And of course Bank Holiday weekend you will get the usual Reading Festival reviews as a special bonus for all music-loving procurement professionals!
But if you read us this week you may wonder why suddenly there is a rash of public sector procurement related stories, and why most of them aren’t exactly good news. To be fair, in some cases, this is not about “procurement failure” – the MOD is arguably running out of money, and while you might criticise some aspects of procurement in that organisation, you can hardly blame it for the fundamental underlying challenges and issues with defence spending and management.
The reason for the rush of news stories though is much simpler to explain. It is in the main about minimising the impact of bad news. So announcements are slipped out just at the time when a large proportion of the general public is gearing up for or disappearing off on holiday and Parliament goes into recess, so MPs also disappear from Westminster. That means there is no-one around to ask difficult questions in the House about the latest MOD / probation service / nursery milk scheme / (insert controversial issue of your choice) announcement.
To be fair, there is also simply a sense of “clearing the decks”, and probably some personal KPIs and deliverables for staff that relate to completing work before the recess. It’s that end of term feeling – a combination of relief and panic as you try to tick off everything on your “to do” list before you rush off to your relaxing five-hour queue for Eurotunnel or 3 hour delay on the runway at Gatwick due to air traffic controllers striking somewhere in southern Europe.
But government can be quite sneaky (or worse) at times. Do you remember the awful memo from the government adviser who on the very day of the 2001 Twin Towers tragedy wrote that it is “now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury”.
Unfortunately, that is still the way government thinks and works, and that is true of all political parties. For example, as we pointed out here, when there was apparently good news on spend with smaller firms, there was much fanfare. When it is bad news, it is slipped out very quietly onto an obscure corner of Gov.uk.
I don’t often agree 100% with Polly Toynbee in the Guardian, but she was spot on last week here when she highlighted just how many important announcements were slipped out this time;
“All these decisions will mightily affect many people’s lives and livelihoods – and under scrutiny, more details will emerge. This underhanded skulduggery is a reminder of the value of a parliament holding the executive to account. As a way to conduct government, it is a disgrace: take no garbage from any minister promising “transparency” when this take-out-the-trash deviousness has become an end-of-term ritual”.
So we’ll be a little government-heavy here this week as we take a look at some of the recent announcements with a procurement angle. Apologies to anyone who has no interest in public sector commercial matters, but if you are in the UK, remember this is your money that is being spent!
We work with those who live chaotic lifestyles and assess them as risky as a minimum and often dangerous. Yet who are we, we work in chaos. We have no stability and no trust in our employer who sells us down river, doesn't give a shit for our sanity. It's dangerous. Just give me my redundancy. I've had enough. I'm so angry with the f**king lot of em. Aaarrgghhh
******
To Grayling, Romeo, Brennan, Spurr, Poree, Stewart, Gauke & Napo:
I've read this blog tonight & have to write something that I hope you'll read.
Many years ago as an angry, confused young person I was in Court a number of times for a variety of offences. I had a very positive experience with one Probation Officer. About ten years later I was given Home Office approval & funding for a CQSW course, after three years gained my qualification & with a further year's probationary period I was a PO myself. I worked damned hard, I knew my subject, I was comfortable in my own skin for the first time in my life. I realised I never wanted to be anything but a PO.
In 2013 I was shafted. In 2014 I was transferred. In 2015 I was bullied out of my career, had my redundancy entitlement slashed while my complicit Union was hapless, helpless & useless.
At the time of being shafted into a CRC I had a heavy caseload which included five long term cases who were damaged, volatile & unpredictable. I'd worked with them for between three & five years each. It was hard work. They should all have been allocated mental health specialists but there was neither the funding nor the appetite for PD diagnoses. The cases involved considerable commitment, especially given the onerous bureaucracy, crap IT & target-driven managerialism.
The cases were reallocated in 2014, just prior to my transfer. Its now 2018. I'm no longer a PO. Three of those five cases are dead. The other two are serving lengthy prison terms for new offences. That might have happened anyway. I'm not such an egomaniac as to think I was their saviour. But we had developed significant working relationships. I knew their families. We'll never know what might have been & I have to live with the guilt that generates for me, however irrational or unhelpful.
So, I've really struggled to cope with my anger, guilt & grief at the impact of TR and that has surprised me. This MoJ announcement beggars belief. The determination to repeat the same catastrophic mistakes is staggering. And Napo's response is equally a source of dismay. Groundhog Day.
And now I have no idea what else to say. Its shocking. I just want to scream in anger & frustration but its nearly 2am & that wouldn't be easy to explain to the police.
******
What is palpable within these comments is the anger that many have felt about the changes that have been wrought upon them. It is clear this anger is directed outwards towards many, be it government, unions, management, institutions various or the rapacious outsourcing corporations. Fundamentally people feel badly let down, unsettled and stressed. One of the problems with revolutions such as TR is that people get hurt and in this revolution it is far from obvious where the greater good has been served.
******
I've read this blog tonight & have to write something that I hope you'll read.
Many years ago as an angry, confused young person I was in Court a number of times for a variety of offences. I had a very positive experience with one Probation Officer. About ten years later I was given Home Office approval & funding for a CQSW course, after three years gained my qualification & with a further year's probationary period I was a PO myself. I worked damned hard, I knew my subject, I was comfortable in my own skin for the first time in my life. I realised I never wanted to be anything but a PO.
In 2013 I was shafted. In 2014 I was transferred. In 2015 I was bullied out of my career, had my redundancy entitlement slashed while my complicit Union was hapless, helpless & useless.
At the time of being shafted into a CRC I had a heavy caseload which included five long term cases who were damaged, volatile & unpredictable. I'd worked with them for between three & five years each. It was hard work. They should all have been allocated mental health specialists but there was neither the funding nor the appetite for PD diagnoses. The cases involved considerable commitment, especially given the onerous bureaucracy, crap IT & target-driven managerialism.
The cases were reallocated in 2014, just prior to my transfer. Its now 2018. I'm no longer a PO. Three of those five cases are dead. The other two are serving lengthy prison terms for new offences. That might have happened anyway. I'm not such an egomaniac as to think I was their saviour. But we had developed significant working relationships. I knew their families. We'll never know what might have been & I have to live with the guilt that generates for me, however irrational or unhelpful.
So, I've really struggled to cope with my anger, guilt & grief at the impact of TR and that has surprised me. This MoJ announcement beggars belief. The determination to repeat the same catastrophic mistakes is staggering. And Napo's response is equally a source of dismay. Groundhog Day.
And now I have no idea what else to say. Its shocking. I just want to scream in anger & frustration but its nearly 2am & that wouldn't be easy to explain to the police.
******
What is palpable within these comments is the anger that many have felt about the changes that have been wrought upon them. It is clear this anger is directed outwards towards many, be it government, unions, management, institutions various or the rapacious outsourcing corporations. Fundamentally people feel badly let down, unsettled and stressed. One of the problems with revolutions such as TR is that people get hurt and in this revolution it is far from obvious where the greater good has been served.
******
My thoughts are with my former CRC colleagues, those that remained at least, and the double injustice that you are now faced with through absolutely no fault of your own. Sold and soon to be sold again with all the uncertainty and stress involved. It does not look like you are coming home anytime soon. Instead of a consultation how about a Probation staff vote, Reunify or Remain?
******
"We are wasting no time in analysing the consultative paper" - Sorry, Mr Lawrence, but you're miles & months behind the game yet again. MoJ & Clinks are already mobilised, venues booked, agenda set, chequebook in hand. Before we know it you'll be signing yet another fait accompli agreement which entombs the next incarnation of pseudo-probation within T&Cs determined by HMPPS. Frankly, it's embarrassing.
--oo00oo--
I notice that former Probation CEO Sally Lewis has attempted to engage Rory Stewart on twitter, but to no avail:-
I notice that former Probation CEO Sally Lewis has attempted to engage Rory Stewart on twitter, but to no avail:-
From past experience of all professional views / advice being ignored in Probation TR consultation, many feel the current consultation will be equally meaningless. Is there any personal assurance you can give to the contrary @RoryStewartUK ?
I'll round off with this from the spend matters website on the disgraceful way government in the UK regularly prides itself in news manipulation:-
We’re now firmly into summer holiday time, here in the UK at least, so you may see some small drop in the number of articles we publish between now and the end of August, unless amazing events transpire in the procurement world in the next few weeks. And of course Bank Holiday weekend you will get the usual Reading Festival reviews as a special bonus for all music-loving procurement professionals!
But if you read us this week you may wonder why suddenly there is a rash of public sector procurement related stories, and why most of them aren’t exactly good news. To be fair, in some cases, this is not about “procurement failure” – the MOD is arguably running out of money, and while you might criticise some aspects of procurement in that organisation, you can hardly blame it for the fundamental underlying challenges and issues with defence spending and management.
The reason for the rush of news stories though is much simpler to explain. It is in the main about minimising the impact of bad news. So announcements are slipped out just at the time when a large proportion of the general public is gearing up for or disappearing off on holiday and Parliament goes into recess, so MPs also disappear from Westminster. That means there is no-one around to ask difficult questions in the House about the latest MOD / probation service / nursery milk scheme / (insert controversial issue of your choice) announcement.
To be fair, there is also simply a sense of “clearing the decks”, and probably some personal KPIs and deliverables for staff that relate to completing work before the recess. It’s that end of term feeling – a combination of relief and panic as you try to tick off everything on your “to do” list before you rush off to your relaxing five-hour queue for Eurotunnel or 3 hour delay on the runway at Gatwick due to air traffic controllers striking somewhere in southern Europe.
But government can be quite sneaky (or worse) at times. Do you remember the awful memo from the government adviser who on the very day of the 2001 Twin Towers tragedy wrote that it is “now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury”.
Unfortunately, that is still the way government thinks and works, and that is true of all political parties. For example, as we pointed out here, when there was apparently good news on spend with smaller firms, there was much fanfare. When it is bad news, it is slipped out very quietly onto an obscure corner of Gov.uk.
I don’t often agree 100% with Polly Toynbee in the Guardian, but she was spot on last week here when she highlighted just how many important announcements were slipped out this time;
“All these decisions will mightily affect many people’s lives and livelihoods – and under scrutiny, more details will emerge. This underhanded skulduggery is a reminder of the value of a parliament holding the executive to account. As a way to conduct government, it is a disgrace: take no garbage from any minister promising “transparency” when this take-out-the-trash deviousness has become an end-of-term ritual”.
So we’ll be a little government-heavy here this week as we take a look at some of the recent announcements with a procurement angle. Apologies to anyone who has no interest in public sector commercial matters, but if you are in the UK, remember this is your money that is being spent!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/30/shining-a-searchlight-on-prisons-and-probation#ampshare=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/30/shining-a-searchlight-on-prisons-and-probation
ReplyDeleteShining a searchlight on prisons and probation
DeleteThe shadow justice secretary’s simplistic assertion that the prison crisis stems from the “dire consequences of austerity” reeks of political opportunism (Prison crisis warning over rise in attacks and incidents of self-harm, 27 July).
Prisons have been in crisis for decades, including in the late 1970s when his party was in power and staff numbers were high. If the crisis is a consequence of austerity, how does he explain the situation in Exeter prison highlighted recently by the Inspectorate of Prisons?
The prison operated a degrading, punitive regime which, crucially, was not suffering from staff shortages. The implication from the inspectorate’s grim report was that there was an occupational culture of complacency, immunity and impunity which went well beyond the cuts and into areas of staff attitudes, training and accountability.
The cuts are devastating. But the pre-cuts prison also did very little to rehabilitate prisoners, reduce recidivism and protect the public. It was a place of suffering for the majority as evidenced by the number of deaths. Between 1990 and 2010, when Labour was in power for the majority of the time, there were nearly 2,500 deaths, 1,404 of them self-inflicted. This is a shocking indictment of the pre-cuts prison, and Labour’s attitude towards prisons and prisoners.
Austerity has intensified the prison crisis; it has not caused it. Richard Burgon and his party colleagues might reflect on this, ditch the political opportunism and develop radical alternatives to the current, desperate situation before another Strangeways happens.
Professor Joe Sim
School of Humanities and Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University
That incidents of violence and self-harm in prisons are on the rise is extremely concerning. Self-harm has risen by 24% among women compared with 14% among men, according to the report from the Ministry of Justice. Women make up 19% of all self-harm incidents, despite being only 5% of the prison population.
Most women in prison have experienced domestic or sexual violence and have significant mental health problems, often as a result of that abuse. Prison is simply not the right place for such a vulnerable group. Instead they need support in the community to tackle the underlying issues they face, including help with mental health problems.
These figures follow the recent announcement of just £3m new funding for female offenders. This is simply not enough to ensure vital women’s services are able to support women in the way Ministry of Justice itself recommends.
It is vital that the worrying rise in violence in our prisons that largely affects men does not overshadow this deeply worrying rise in self-harm. We must see far better investment in services in the community to prevent women being unnecessarily sent to prison in the first place.
Katharine Sacks-Jones
Chief executive, Agenda
At the forefront of probation work throughout its distinguished history has been the attempt to help people learn from their mistakes. Terminating the contracts of the community rehabilitation companies because of their acknowledged failures but then reasserting the continuation of privatisation (Government bailout of private probation firms tops £500m, 27 July) demonstrates a singular failure by the justice secretary, David Gauke, to learn from the mistakes of his predecessor.
DeleteTo address such sublime irrationality, we believe the time has come for a new John Howard moment – his reports on the moral decay of the late 18th-century prison provoked outrage and ushered in an era of revolutionary change. Some fine buildings are all that remains of his great penitentiary experiment; many of their regimes now resemble the C4 documentary on Durham prison. It is a system beyond repair that needs new thinking.
We propose four steps:
1 Redefine prisons as places of public protection where small numbers of predatory, violent and dangerous individuals can be held in secure and civilised conditions while professional efforts are made to rehabilitate them.
2 Re-establish probation as a fully independent public service shorn of failing commercial contracts, accountable to local people, tasked with primary responsibility for rehabilitation in the community, and operating from probation day centres, once common throughout England and Wales, and since copied to every state of the USA, but allowed to die by successive careless administrations here.
3 Research a curriculum of evidence-led, offending-behaviour programmes and services which show the most promise for reducing reconvictions and place effectiveness at the heart of rehabilitative practice.
4 Re-invest in professional training for probation, because the evidence shows that committed practitioners with high levels of appropriate skills are more effective in helping people resolve those problems that contribute to their offending.
It is a plan that requires imagination and political courage of a high order.
Philip Priestley and Maurice Vanstone
Co-authors of Probation and Politics: Academic Reflections from Former Practitioners (2016)
It may be journalistic overkill to set out a full catalogue of Chris Grayling’s failings in his various ministerial posts, but there should be reference to more of the notable turkeys that he initiated or oversaw during his tenure as justice secretary (Grayling’s record on and off the rails, 27 July).
They include: the disastrous attempt to penalise defendants financially for pleading not guilty; the cuts in legal aid and court services which have led to barristers’ industrial action; the near collapse of the family courts and the denial of civil justice to many unable to afford or travel to court hearings; and the swingeing increases in court and tribunal fees, many of which have been reversed or reduced following judicial review.
Given that the rule of law itself stands in jeopardy due to any or all of the above, if anyone deserves justice to be done, it is surely the former justice secretary himself.
Chris Leyland
Marsden, West Yorkshire
Email from managers this morning warning against use of social media to criticise NOMS, talking to journalists etc. Disciplinary etc etc. Ok. What is this NOMS?
ReplyDeleteIn response to your twitter-posed question, NPS, and hilariously, in response to Things Seen On Facebook. Facebook is SOOoooo last year, my dear.
DeleteAs is NOMS. Keep up! Probation is an every shifting quicksand
DeleteThe one good thing about the consultation is that comments can be submitted anonymously. It's made me feel a lot better telling the MoJ exactly what I think.
ReplyDeleteIf Napo balloted for strike action barely anyone would vote, even less would strike and most of those would just make up the work another time. Napo members are passive, yet blame 'Napo' for not doing anything. Get a grip and take some responsibility.
ReplyDeleteStriking would achieve what?? Who cares if Probation go on strike. The offenders would applaud it they don't have to report. We're of time.
ReplyDeleteClearly the so called 'Consulation Period is just a process they have yo go through to look like they give a shot what we think.
It's all planned agreed and about to be delivered by that great big fan. They are just filling up their shit wagons before throwing it all atctge fan, all over again. Deja vue
The only way a probation strike work is if offenders are left waiting outside probation offices, community service sites and probation hostels. No staff to open the door means they cannot get in, kick off and waiting press take photos. This will not happen because on strike day probation officers will rearrange their appointment and offer to help out at the hostels so they’re not forced to close.
ReplyDeleteWell said, you're spot on
Delete