Friday 27 July 2018

TR Fails But to be Bailed Out

So TR has indeed been a total failure and Probation delivery is to be completely re-designed, but understanding exactly how is far from clear with an 8 week consultation process. 

The privateers are to have their contracts terminated early in 2020, but only after being bailed out first with more government cash. Despite all the evidence that involving the private sector has been a disaster, the contract areas are to be enlarged to match the NPS regions, but not in Wales where all probation will be run by NPS. If reintegration is good for Wales, it can obviously be good for England as well. Here are both government announcements:-

JUSTICE SECRETARY OUTLINES FUTURE VISION FOR PROBATION

  • Government is strengthening offender supervision in existing CRC contracts and investing an extra £22 million each year to improve through-the-gate support
  • CRC and NPS areas to be aligned – improving joint working and strengthening ties with key partners, including the third sector, local authorities and PCCs
  • Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) contracts will end two years early in 2020, with plans to work with the market to design new and improved contracts
Justice Secretary David Gauke has set out his vision for the future of probation services in England and Wales today, announcing plans to change and improve the current system and invest £22 million in extra support for offenders leaving prison.

A consultation document published today outlines the Ministry of Justice’s intention to strengthen the supervision of offenders and increase confidence in community sentences. It builds on the recent publication of our female offender and employment and education strategies, to demonstrate the department’s commitment to tackling reoffending by: investing in community provision, strengthening alternatives to short custodial sentences; and boosting rehabilitation and prospects for offenders.

Probation relies heavily on joint working with a range of agencies and today’s consultation outlines plans to create a more integrated and collaborative system, by improving partnerships with PCCs and the third sector. In the future, CRC and NPS areas will be aligned, with ten new probation regions in England, simplifying and strengthening ties with key local partners and creating opportunities to co-commission rehabilitation services with PCCs.

Reforms to probation in 2015, known as ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’, were challenging, ambitious and have led to 40,000 extra offenders a year receiving support and supervision on release – a positive change for public safety. This additional monitoring has been carried out by newly formed, ‘Community Rehabilitation Companies’ (CRCs) who manage low and medium-risk offenders, and the publicly funded National Probation Service (NPS), who manage higher-risk offenders.

While CRCs have reduced the overall number of people reoffending, it is clear that probation providers have faced significant challenges. Unforeseen changes in the types of offenders coming to the courts and the sentences they receive have substantially reduced CRC income and affected the quality of frontline services.

That is why the consultation document sets out urgent action being taken to address existing issues with CRC contracts. This includes ending current CRC contracts early in 2020, improving supervision and through-the-gate support in the meantime, and using the lessons learnt so far to put in place improved services in the future, with more effective commercial arrangements.

Secretary of State, David Gauke said:

"I am determined to have a probation service that protects the public, commands the confidence of the courts and ultimately reduces reoffending. So we are taking decisive action now to improve the delivery of probation services in England and Wales. We want to see less reliance on ineffective short prison terms, and in order to achieve this courts must have confidence that probation services will deliver tough community sentences – sentences that punish, but also help those who commit crime to turn their lives around and stop offending. I am confident that the proposals set out in this consultation will play a major role in helping us to achieve this aim."

To improve services in the next two years, the Ministry of Justice is investing an additional £22 million a year in through-the-gate support for offenders when they leave prison, as part of wider changes to contracts to stabilise CRC delivery until the end of 2020 and allow CRCs to continue to deliver the level of service required.

The Ministry of Justice will also work with London and Greater Manchester to co-design future services in those areas as part of existing devolution arrangements. In addition, the devolved responsibilities of the Welsh Government and existing arrangements in Wales make the delivery of probation services fundamentally different to England.

To reflect this, the consultation sets out proposals to bring the supervision of all offenders in Wales into the NPS and explore how wider partners can help to improve rehabilitative support for offenders, by better joining up with health, housing and other local services.

Alongside the structural and contractual changes, a new professional register will be introduced, helping staff to move between roles and develop their careers. The consultation also seeks views on improving the training and development of staff.

The consultation will seek to gather views and expertise from a range of potential providers, including the voluntary sector, as well as other stakeholders, and will inform the future delivery of probation services in England and Wales.

--oo00oo--

New plans for probation in Wales announced by UK Government

Reforms will see supervision of all offenders in Wales managed by NPS Wales

  • Supervision of all offenders in Wales will be brought together into the National Probation Service (NPS), to better reflect the needs of communities in Wales.
  • Changes will strengthen the supervision of offenders and increase public confidence in community sentences.
  • CRC contracts will end two years early in 2020, with plans to work with the market to design new and improved contracts for rehabilitation services
Widespread reforms to the way probation is delivered in Wales have been announced by the UK Government, to strengthen the supervision of offenders and increase confidence in community sentences.

A consultation document published today outlines the Ministry of Justice’s intention to use flexibilities in the existing devolution settlement to bring the supervision of all offenders in Wales into NPS Wales - so a single organisation is responsible for managing all offenders taking a holistic and unified approach to probation.

In the future, CRC and NPS areas will be aligned, with ten new probation regions in England, simplifying and strengthening ties with key local partners and creating opportunities to co-commission rehabilitation services with PCCs.

Reforms to probation in 2015, known as ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’, were challenging, ambitious and have led to 40,000 extra offenders a year receiving support and supervision on release – a positive change for public safety.

This additional monitoring has been carried out by newly formed, ‘Community Rehabilitation Companies’ who manage low and medium-risk offenders, and the publicly funded NPS, who manage higher-risk offenders.

Existing arrangements mean that the make-up and delivery of probation services in Wales is already different to England, with prison and probation services overseen entirely by HMPPS Wales – paving the way for changes to the current system.

Criminal justice in Wales is a reserved matter and the responsibility of the UK Government. However, other agencies such as healthcare, education and social services are devolved, and we will continue to work closely with these key organisations.

To reflect this, today’s consultation sets out proposals to bring the supervision of all offenders in Wales into the NPS and explore how wider partners can help to improve rehabilitative support for offenders, by better joining up with health, housing and the third sector.

The new model will support greater integration with these key services – building on the positive work that is already happening through the All Wales Criminal Justice Board.

Probation partners in Wales have already come together collaboratively to join up the delivery of rehabilitation and resettlement services, which provides a unique opportunity to build on these positive partnerships and improve the offering of services across the country.


Justice Secretary David Gauke said:

"I want a probation service in Wales that not only keeps the public safe but one that fundamentally reduces reoffending, by giving offenders the support they need to contribute positively to the community and turn their lives around. This is an exciting opportunity to create a probation service in Wales that brings together vital services and strengthens existing partnerships. We want to see a greater emphasis on community sentences, and less reliance on short custodial sentences, so they are only used as a last resort - but to do this we must have a probation service that commands the confidence of the courts. I am confident the steps we are outlining today will build on the positive progress in Wales and improve rehabilitation – so we can ultimately cut the cost of reoffending."


Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns said:

"The plans announced today underline the UK Government’s firm commitment to cutting reoffending with the support of an effective, stable probation service. We want to see offenders in Wales successfully rehabilitated so they turn away from crime and make a positive contribution to society. We now want to engage with a wide range of stakeholders across Wales to seek views on these proposals, listen to the experiences and suggestions of others, and to work with the Welsh Government to refine our plans for improving probation services across the nation."

While CRCs have reduced the overall number of people reoffending, it is clear that private probation providers have faced significant challenges. Unforeseen changes in the types of offenders coming to the courts and the sentences they receive have substantially reduced CRC income and affected the quality of frontline services.

That is why today’s consultation document sets out urgent action that will be taken to address these issues - ending the current CRC contracts early in 2020, improving supervision and through-the-gate support in the meantime, and using lessons learnt so far to put in place improved services with more effective commercial arrangements.

Alongside the structural and contractual changes, a new professional register will be introduced, helping staff to move between roles and develop their careers. The consultation also seeks views on improving the training and development of staff.

The consultation will seek to gather views and expertise from a range of potential providers, including the voluntary sector, as well as other stakeholders, and will inform the future delivery of probation services in England and Wales.


Notes to editors:
There are currently 21 CRCs: one in Wales and 20 in England.
There are seven NPS regions: six in England and one in Wales.
Under the new proposals ten new probation regions will be created in England. Each will contain one CRC and one NPS area and be overseen by one HMPPS leader.
Under current arrangements, the National Probation Service (NPS) manages higher-risk offenders, with the CRCs managing low and medium-risk offenders.
Criminal justice powers are not devolved, however the Welsh Government are responsible for aspects of the probation service such as health, education and social services.
The consultation will last for eight weeks and the findings will be used to inform future delivery of probation.

42 comments:

  1. The Guardian make clear that its a mess of Graylings making.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/27/private-probation-companies-contracts-ended-early-justice#ampshare=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/27/private-probation-companies-contracts-ended-early-justice

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    1. more of the same, private companies taking all the money cutting more and still being rubbish.

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    2. Private probation companies to have contracts ended early

      The monitoring of offenders in the community faces another shake-up after disastrous reforms introduced by Chris Grayling forced the government to bail out failing private probation companies by more than half a billion pounds.

      David Gauke, the justice secretary, has announced that eight private firms that run 21 “community rehabilitation companies” (CRCs) in England and Wales are to have their contracts terminated in 2020, two years earlier than agreed.

      Offenders may no longer face a minimum 12 months’ supervision on release from prison or once their licence expires; and probation officers will have to meet a minimum requirement of offering monthly face-to-face contact with their clients under proposals announced on Friday and put out to consultation.

      The probation sector in England and Wales was overhauled in 2014 by Grayling, who ignored significant warnings from within the Ministry of Justice and broke up existing probation trusts, replacing them with a public sector service dealing with high-risk offenders and the CRCs that manage low-to-medium risk offenders.

      Labour branded Grayling’s reforms an “ideological experiment” and a “costly failure”. While Gauke defended the changes as “ambitious”, he accepted that improvements were needed and the government had to “learn from the experience” of the past three years.

      Under Gauke’s proposals, the number of CRCs operating in England and Wales will be reduced to 11, with 10 new probation regions to be formed in England plus an additional region in Wales.

      But despite significant problems identified with the provision of services by the private companies, the government insists that the sector has a role to play and will be putting contracts out to tender for the overhauled framework proposed for 2020 onwards.

      “I am very keen to ensure that the justice system focuses on rehabilitation,” Gauke said. “We need to reduce crime, we need to reduce reoffending. One of the key aspects of that is how we deal with the probation system.”

      Discussing Grayling’s so-called transforming rehabilitation reforms, he added: “It was an ambitious and innovative reform. “With the experience of the last three years or so, it seems to me there are some clear lessons that need to be learned in improving the system. But I don’t favour excluding the private sector from this at all.”

      The most recent intervention to save the flagging providers will cost the taxpayer £170m. This includes the waiver of £115m in penalties owed by CRCs for failing to meet targets under Grayling’s “payment by results” system, an extra £46m over two years to shore up the “through the gate” services provided to prisoners on release and a further £9m to correct underpayments.

      The government has already had to hand over an extra £342m to the CRCs, bringing the total additional cost to the taxpayer to more than £500m. The size of the bailout is an indictment on Grayling’s reforms, which have been criticised by the chief inspector of probation and the cross-party justice committee, which last month branded the overhaul a “mess”.

      Gauke’s announcement comes at the end of a parliamentary term in which Grayling faced a no-confidence motion in parliament over his ability to carry out his current role as transport secretary, following the rail timetable fiasco. MPs narrowly backed him in a vote on the motion, although few of his fellow Tories rallied to his defence.

      This week, Grayling said he was “not a specialist in rail matters” and “I don’t run the railways” in a select committee hearing on the rail timetabling fiasco.

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    3. Under Grayling’s reforms, the CRCs did not earn as much as expected for a range of reasons. A rise in violence against the person and sexual offences meant a greater number of offenders were being allocated to the National Probation Service – which deals with high-risk offenders – rather than the CRCs.

      And while the number of reoffenders declined, the frequency of reoffending has increased which has impacted the CRCs’ “payment by results” income. It was originally thought that the department would spend up to £3.7bn on CRC contracts that ran until 2022. The MoJ now expects the total spend to be up to £2.2bn up to 2020.

      Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Handing over more cash in the meantime to abject private companies – whose contracts are being cut short because they have failed to deliver what was promised – is throwing good money after bad.”

      Among proposals put out to consultation are plans to introduce minimum standards specifying the form and frequency of contact between offenders and their responsible officer. This comes after probation inspectors discovered tens of thousands of offenders were being supervised by telephone calls every six weeks instead of face-to-face meetings.

      Richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, said: “This announcement is further evidence that the Conservatives’ decision to outsource whole swathes of probation to the private sector has created an unprecedented crisis in the system. This ideological experiment has been a costly failure”

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  2. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/probation-bailout-private-companies-170m-contracts-scrapped-a8465556.html

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    1. Private probation companies given extra £170m as government scraps ‘catastrophic’ contracts

      Ministers have been accused of slipping an eight-week consultation on dramatic reforms ‘through the back door’

      Private probation companies are being bailed out for a second time as the government prepares to scrap “catastrophic” contracts two years early.

      Ministers were accused of slipping an eight-week consultation on dramatic reforms “through the back door” just days after the start of parliament’s summer break.

      Proposals would see 21 community rehabilitation companies (CRCs), which have been accused of putting public safety at risk with multiple failings, slashed to 11 within two years.

      Offender management will be taken back under public control in Wales but not in England, where new contracts will introduce minimum standards for supervision, community sentences and rehabilitation services.

      David Gauke, the justice secretary, said he wanted to create a “probation service that protects the public, commands the confidence of the courts and ultimately reduces reoffending”.

      “We are taking decisive action now to improve the delivery of probation services in England and Wales,” he added.

      “I am confident that the proposals set out in this consultation will play a major role in helping us to achieve this aim.”

      Until the current agreements end in 2020, CRCs will be given another £170m to cover huge losses, following a previous cash injection of £342m amid warnings they could collapse.

      The boost is made up of £115m in waived penalties for failed reoffending targets, a £46m investment for offenders leaving prison and £9m in payments to “correct underpayments”.

      The government insisted it has actually saved the taxpayer some £300m because it initially had budgeted to pay firms £2.5bn by 2020 and had only spent £2.2bn.

      But the reforms mark a major climbdown from the Tories’ widely-opposed Transforming Rehabilitation programme, which split services between new CRCs and the publicly owned National Probation Service.

      Richard Burgon MP, Labour’s shadow justice secretary, said the programme amounted to an “ideological experiment that has been a costly failure”.

      “This decision to throw more good money after bad and the government’s recommitment to a privately run probation service shows that the Conservatives have run out of all ideas on how to fix their broken system,” he added. “Delaying this announcement until parliament closed for the summer is a tacit admission by the government that its probation policies can’t withstand the slightest scrutiny.”

      The Napo union, which represents probation workers, said the government was offering a “further bailout for failure” and vowed to continue fighting for they system to be brought back under public ownership.

      Ian Lawrence, the general secretary, told The Independent: “These companies should have been dismissed for failure ... we’re very sceptical about the impact of these so-called reforms.

      “These things should already be underway, we’ve had any number of reports saying all of this before.

      “It’s a disgrace that the minister has not brought this in front of parliament and slipped it in through the back door.”

      Mr Gauke insisted the consultation had been started as early as possible amid ongoing negotiations with CRCs over cancelling their contracts.

      He stopped short of directly criticising his predecessor Chris Grayling, who had been blamed for ploughing ahead with privatisation in defiance of warnings that have since come to fruition.

      Mr Gauke said the original overhaul had been “ambitious and innovative” and achieved “some successes”, including supporting an extra 40,000 offenders a year, but acknowledged fundamental flaws with the original contacts.

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    2. They paid CRCs by results, rather than the services provided, abolished minimum standards and hinged budgets on incorrect future crime predictions.

      But a rise in violence, sex attacks and other serious offences left fewer low and medium risk offenders for CRCs to deal with, while judges have been increasingly reluctant to hand out the community sentences they deliver.

      The companies are said to welcome the reforms and will be entering new bids that will be considered against both the value they offer and their previous performance.

      Mr Gauke laid part of the blame for huge losses on the firms themselves for underbidding the first time round, adding: “My heart doesn’t bleed for them, it was their misjudgement.”

      A wave of damning inspections have found that the programme had created a two-tier system putting public safety at risk, while leaving released prisoners homeless and unemployed.

      CRCs were only intended to supervise low or medium-risk offenders, while the public sector NPS was charged with dangerous criminals, but an inspection found that they were letting criminals commit violent offences while supposedly under their supervision.

      HM Inspectorate of Probation revealed that thousands of offenders living in the community were being managed only by a brief phone call every few weeks – a method that will be banned under the new proposals.

      CRCs were also charged with implementing community sentences, but one report found convicts being made to carry out “meaningless” unpaid work like moving mud from one pile to another in graveyards, or turning up to placements and finding no one there.

      While the firms are meant to ensure prisoners are freed with accommodation, employment and financial support, the Justice Committee said many were being kicked out of jails homeless and with just £46 to last for several weeks.

      In a separate probe, the Public Accounts Committee warned of a looming “contracting catastrophe” that raised fears of another Carillion-style collapse.

      MPs warned that the Government’s attempt to “spend its way out of difficulty” by agreeing to £342m extra funding for CRCs was not working.

      The government consultation is asking for submissions on how to rehabilitate prisoners more effectively, prepare them for release, improve education and training, and increase judges’ confidence in CRCs’ community sentences.

      It was launched as new figures showed self-harm and violent attacks hitting record levels in prisons across England and Wales, despite repeated warning jails are at crisis-point.

      Mr Gauke, who worked as a solicitor before becoming a Tory MP, has repeatedly stated his ambition for alternative punishments to be used instead of short prison sentences, but there has been no change to judges’ guidelines to make it a reality.

      “I am very keen to ensure that the justice system focuses on rehabilitation,” he said. “If we want to reduce crime, we need to reduce reoffending and one of the key aspects of that is the probation system.”

      Dame Glenys Stacey, HM chief inspector of probation, welcomed the consultation, adding: “We can see already that there is much to welcome in these proposals, and we are pleased to see that our inspection evidence and findings and our wider advice have had significant influence and impact.”

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  3. It may be a cynical view, but I think throwing another £170m at the privateers and announcing that their contracts will end early in 2020 dosen't seem a very good idea to me.
    Surely the prime objective of CRCs will now be to extract as much money as possible before their contracts are terminated?
    I see little chance of any improvement to services between now and 2020, just a rush to get all they can get before the TR cake is taken away.

    'Getafix

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  4. 'The government has already had to handover an extra £342m to CRCs'
    'The most recent intervention to save the flagging providers will cost the taxpayer £170m. This includes the waiver of £115m in penalties owed by CRCs for failing to meet targets under Grayling’s “payment by results” system, an extra £46m over two years to shore up the “through the gate” services provided to prisoners on release and a further £9m to correct underpayments.'

    Not only wasn't TR fit for purpose, letting down service users, hounding employees out of work and treating them very badly....
    This money is ours! We are taxpayers too and have funded this downfall. Not to mention our terms and conditions and our established pension rights.
    How has Grayling been allowed to get away with this?
    Why has the government waited so long to do something about this? Where are the MOJ contract managers?
    For that matter where are NAPO?
    Unbelievable!

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    1. no one will ever be held responsiblefor this. the money will evaporate away with little change

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  5. Getafix - not cynical. Experience of the behaviour of other privateers is that they will wind down the service even further and maximise their profits. Someone else will have to sort out the mess.

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  6. Hurray! Theresa May has found the money tree! Can we have some?

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  7. I'm not one to bash NAPO for the sake of it but Ian Lawrence was weak on BBC Breakfast

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    1. was he on there what did he say?

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    2. "We told you so; retaining privatisation is a bad idea; we need a pay rise"

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    3. NAPO have kept up the fight, bash the GS all you like but he's been mentioned as the reason this has been kept high on the agenda.

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  8. Thank you Jim Brown, contributors to this blog, Bob Neill & for your persistence, courage & refusal to keep quiet.

    Over £500,000,000 of public money has been wasted in propping up this bullshit in bailouts & gifts (remember the Modernisation Fund?) plus god knows how much more handed over in "legitimate operational costs" PLUS the lost assets when CRCs were sold for £1.

    Austerity for the many. Windfalls for the chums.

    Grayling ought to be feeling the hand of Plod resting on his shoulder.

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    1. It was never going to work. Every report that's ever been published (or hidden away) has said its a disaster.
      Remember the NAOs report in 2016?

      https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/national-audit-office-watchdog-savages-governments-disastrous-privatisation-of-probation-services-a7010496.html

      The plug should have been pulled then.

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    2. Grayling might not be about to feel the hand of plod on his shoulder, but the Guardian isn't pulling its punches in its discretion of the most incompetent minister to ever hold office.

      https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/27/chris-failing-grayling-standing-room-only-for-the-gaffe-prone-minister

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    3. Chris Grayling has been a minister since 2010, and in the cabinet continuously from 2012. In that time, and even before, he has developed a reputation for mishaps – his opponents would term it incompetence. Thanks to his propensity for failure, critics popularised the monicker “Failing Grayling” as sketchwriters such as the Guardian’s John Crace added to his woe. Here are some of Grayling’s more infamous moments.

      2010: B&Bs and gay couples
      Shortly before the 2010 general election Grayling, then the shadow home secretary, was recorded telling an audience at a thinktank that people who ran bed and breakfasts in their homes should “have the right” to turn away gay couples. He later apologised.

      2014: books in prisons
      Grayling became possibly the first minister to be condemned by both prison reformers and writers including Philip Pullman and Mark Haddon for banning books being sent to prisoners. Later that year it was declared unlawful by the high court, and when Michael Gove took over the justice brief he reversed the move – as he did with much of Grayling’s programme.

      2016: domestic violence victims in court
      Swingeing cuts to legal aid led lawyers to claim victims of domestic violence were being left having “to face their abuser in court” without representation after Grayling pushed through reforms in 2013 despite furious protests from women’s groups. In 2016, however, the court of appeal declared that the changes to the rules on obtaining support were legally flawed and “invalid”. Months later Labour claimed that thousands of victims were still waiting for the government to scrap the law requiring people to produce evidence that they were abused within the last five years.

      2016: takes out a cyclist
      In July 2016 Grayling, who had spent a year as leader of the Commons, was moved to transport. As transport secretary an unspoken part of the job is to not personally harm any transport users – but within three months he managed to do just this. Footage emerged of Grayling suddenly opening the door of his ministerial car outside parliament, and knocking over a man riding past. He checked the rider was OK, but left the scene without giving his details.

      2018: the rail crisis
      Grayling was arguably unfortunate to be transport secretary amid a meltdown on some services caused by both botched changes to timetabling and longer-term issues with individual franchises. But it’s fair to say he’s not exactly got a grip on the problem. The crisis wreaked misery on tens of thousands of commuters as timetable changes saw hundreds of journeys cancelled and delayed throughout the summer as MPs bemoaned the effects of the chaos in their constituencies. Meanwhile, the East Coast Mainline – which was privatised in 2015 even though it was running a healthy profit – was renationalised in May under Grayling’s watch in an ideological blow to the government after private companies were unable to run it at a profit. Grayling – who conceded this week he is not a “specialist in rail matters” – narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in the Commons in June.

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  9. What an unmitigated disaster I just wish I could get out and leave them to it

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  10. That Napo Press Release:-

    Union outrage as government throws another £192m at failed justice experiment

    Probation union Napo is outraged at government plans to pump a further £192 million into its Transforming Rehabilitation agenda despite the publication of a damning Justice Select Committee report just a month ago on the failed experiment.

    JSC chair, Bob Neill said the committee was “unconvinced that the TR model can ever deliver an effective or viable probation service”, but the government refuses to accept that the model itself is wrong. Current contracts will be ended two years early in 2020, only for bigger contracts to be retendered to an unknown number of private companies.

    Napo has also slammed what it believes is a deliberate attempt by government to avoid parliamentary scrutiny by launching its short eight-week consultation during summer recess.

    The Justice Committee found that:

    The split in offender supervision between the NPS and CRCs according to risk of harm had complicated service delivery and caused significant problems;

    The voluntary sector was less involved in probation than they were before TR, despite opening up of the market being one of the reforms’ key aims;

    Sentencer confidence in community alternatives to short custodial sentences had been badly undermined;
    Current through the gate (TTG) provision was wholly inadequate;

    Staff morale is at an all-time low.

    It called on the government swiftly to address these problems. However, the proposals largely ignore all of the JSC’s concerns and the options available to them such as introducing legislation to create a community focused justice agency, or using existing Labour legislation from 2007 to give contracts to Police Commissioners or Local Authorities.

    Napo General Secretary, Ian Lawrence said: “Napo is sceptical and remain unconvinced about whether this latest bail out will work. It is unbelievable that the government’s initial response to the Justice Committee’s thorough inquiry into this catastrophe is to give private companies a bigger slice of the pie while vital issues such as the unworkable split of the service, inadequate Through the Gate Services, and poor staff morale remain unaddressed.

    “It is clear they are wedded to a failed and unworkable ideology, and cannot accept the undeniable fact that justice and public safety cannot be subject to the rule of supply and demand.”

    In wales, pressure from the Welsh Assembly for a reunified probation service has seen the decision to bring offender management back into the existing National Probation Service by 2020, but the government remains adamant that this is not a step towards reunification as a whole.

    Napo will be heavily involved in Labour’s review into the justice reforms led by Lord Ramsbotham and will continue to call for the reunification of a publically owned probation service.

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    1. Outrage is great, but doing something about it is even better.

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    2. Memebers wont strike, the only tool left, and CRCs know it

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  11. There is nothing to celebrate here. Our important public services will continue to be run by chancers and opportunists hoping to make a profit. I am disgusted by the whole sorry saga of TR and cannot help but look at the Conservatives and continually shake my head in disbelief. Privatisation of Probation has failed and yet they are effectively going to try to do it again in 2020 meaning this sorry saga will run toward 2030. Watch for the continued professional exodus away from this culture of incompetence and questionable integrity.

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  12. Seen on Facebook:-

    "Well it seems clear to me. We have two years to either get rid of this government or persuade them to adopt the ‘Welsh Model’ across England as well. Please everyone make sure they contribute to the consultation paper. We need to keep the pressure up, we are winning the argument."

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    1. Nope, naive. The tender process and contracts will have been signed long before then - unless there's an early election.

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    2. Thanks. I agree - the message has to be simple "what's good for Wales is good for England" doing things differently in Wales and saying it's going to work and a brilliant idea merely undermines what MoJ is proposing for England.

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    3. The plan for Wales' renationalisation only relates to Offender Management. Community Punishment and Interventions are stil to be contracted out and staff dealt with differently.

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    4. Firstly I'm not at all convinced a new election would return a new government in the first place. Secondly, however much Wales might be a blueprint for renationalisation the politics are too different. The areas of England most comparable to Wales, where the arguments for reuniting the service are strongest, are Tory heartlands who won't push for that change. The metropolitan labour areas are the most financially viable for the private sector.

      We're not shaking this off any time soon. In fact, it'll take a miracle.

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  13. That Napo email to all members:-

    Dear Jim,

    Later this morning Probation staff in England and Wales will hear the details of the Government's planned reforms to the Probation service.

    The main features are:

    Termination of the current 21 CRC contracts by the close of 2020 with the intention to re-let an as yet unspecified number within 11 co-terminus probation regions to be managed by the Director of Probation

    £170m payment to existing CRCs to the end of the revised contract

    £22m a year for an improvement to Through the Gate services
    Wales to see the return of Offender Management work to the NPS by the end of 2020 with Unpaid work and Programmes remaing in the private sector

    A new training programme for staff and the introduction of a Professional Register.

    Below is Napo’s initial response to the announcement which sets out our serious concerns about these plans.

    (above already published)

    Please look out for more important news on these proposals later today along with an update on the soon to commence NPS pay negotiations.

    Napo – fighting on behalf of our members pay, terms and conditions and for the reunification of a publicly owned fully accountable Probation service

    Ian Lawrence
    General Secretary

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    1. http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/opinion/16381692.comment-underfunded-private-probation-contracts-put-public-at-risk/

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    2. IT is pleasing to see the Government admit that asking private businesses to manage probation contracts on a shoestring has been a disaster.

      A scathing report earlier this year revealed that private companies were failing to enforce the sentences handed down by courts, leaving convicts to commit more crime or simply disappear.

      HM Inspectorate of Probation said firms commissioned in a 2014 overhaul of the service were “stretched beyond their capacity”.

      They said the lack of proper engagement with convicts led to mistakes whereby people were sent back into overcrowded prisons.

      Inspectors found that staff in community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) were not seeing the offenders they were supposed to supervise during community orders and suspended sentences often enough.

      In one case, no plan was drawn up for a man given a suspended sentence for assault, and an appointment finally made after 10 weeks was cancelled because of staff sickness. The CRC eventually sent a letter to the man’s address, but he no longer lived there. He then committed another attack on his former partner.

      In other incidents, failures by CRCs allowed people to drop out of contact and disappear, including a homeless heroin addict with a long history in the criminal justice system who went on to commit more offences.

      Another report warned poor supervision by CRCs was putting the public at risk, with thousands of convicts monitored using phone calls rather than proper face-to-face meetings.

      Announcing the scrapping of the scheme Justice Secretary David Gauke said the original plans, introduced by Chris Grayling ( the man currently making a complete pigs ear of Britain’s railway) had been “an ambitious and innovative reform in terms of transforming rehabilitation”

      No, it was a cheap, corner cutting disaster which put the public, victims, and vulnerable offenders, at risk.

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    3. Of course nothing like that happened in the old Probation Service. Sonnex never happened, Hanson and White never happened. The old Probation Service never put the public at risk!

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  14. Surely this just means they're going to privatise the whole lot in England??

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  15. No telephone conference for all staff in London. Why are we not party to the national telecon?

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  16. So here we are again the crc’s escape financial penalties so escape with minimal losses the new plan appears to be greater centralisation to reduce costs and attracts G4S and Serco who were banned from bidding due to fraud on the tagging contracts. The split led to greater beaurocracy and form filling for front line staff, less face to face time with offenders and staff burn out and dissolutionment at chasing pointless targets
    Restoration of faith of community sentences with judges will only come with representation in court of crcs allowing officers to write reports without them bouncing back with a spelling mistake and proper enforcement like the old national standards
    Through the gate needs to focus on accommodation and especially low risk properly supported accommodation being available staffed by trained staff not companies willing to pocket the HB cash with zero support as now occurs

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  17. The retention of fewer CRCs seems akin to locking up a few mafiosi whilst leaving their organisation intact.

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    1. A champion comment - I hope Jim brown will use as a hedline sometime.

      Thank you.

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  18. bets on g4s and serco allowed to bid? also are any on the original contract owners going to get out?

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  19. Has anyone run an audit on how CRCs have spent the money they received so far? How much went in bonuses at the top or into the pockets of shareholders?

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  20. Just more of the same by the sounds of it. Target driven, micro managed, no room for autonomy. Will there still be seperate IT systems. What about staff that were forced out of jobs because of this failure.

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