The Case Must Be Made

I notice Napo have submitted the following Motion to the TUC Congress for wresting probation from the malign clutches of the civil service. This is all-well-and-good, but the test will surely be in the quality and commitment to a campaign that can make a successful case? It's to be hoped the ever-resourceful Lord Ramsbotham can once more be mobilised to assist.  

Rebuilding the Probation service

On the 13th June, the Secretary of State for Justice announced that all probation services will revert to public ownership and control, bringing an early end to the 20 Community Rehabilitation Company contracts in June 2021. This change of direction represents a significant victory over a privatisation policy that has been an unmitigated disaster for staff, clients, victims and the taxpayer.

Now that the first part of the campaign to save Probation has been achieved, Congress believes that there is a need for substantial investment in the Probation service in order that the damage of the last 6 years can start to be repaired and the service can once again excel at reducing reoffending and protecting the public.

Congress instructs the General Council to work in partnership with the probation unions and the Official Opposition to press government Ministers to take the necessary steps to recover what was once a world class probation service with the following objectives:

1. Fully unified service provision delivered within the public sector and never for profit

2. Removal of Probation from the civil service and release from the prison dominated culture which means that Probation is the forgotten ‘P’ in HMPPS

3. A service built on evidence based practice

4. A service rooted in the local community and partnering with local specialist providers

The General Council should include a progress report to the 2021 Congress

--oo00oo--

A reminder of Lord Ramsbotham's stirling groundwork last year:- 

Saturday, 25 May 2019

Reflection

As the world of probation once more finds itself plunged into uncertainty, it's probably as good a time as any for a moment of quiet reflection. In this regard, I notice Lord Ramsbotham opens his interim report People Are Not Things : The Return of Probation to the Public Sector with the following quotations:-

‘The mood and temper of the public, in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals, is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilisation of any country. A calm and dispassionate recognition of the rights of the accused against the State, and even of convicted criminals against the State, a constant heart-searching by all charged with the duty of punishment, a desire and eagerness to rehabilitate in the world of industry all those who have paid their dues in the hard coinage of punishment, tireless efforts towards the discovery of curative and regenerative processes, and an unfaltering faith, that there is a treasure, if you can only find it, in the heart of every man – these are the symbols which, in the treatment of crime and criminals, mark and measure the stored-up strength of a nation, and are the sign and proof of the living virtue in it’.

Winston Churchill, H of C debate on Prison Estimates, 20 July 1910

‘The essence of punishment is that it is the reaction of a community against a constituent member. The community has three interests to consider:

a. The maintenance of its own life and order, upon which the welfare of all its members depends.
b. The interests of the individual members generally.
c. The interests of the offending member.

Wrong is done if any of the three is neglected.

Archbishop William Temple, 1930

‘Probation is a thing so large in its conception, and so immensely potent in its effect on the hopes and happiness of thousands of human lives every year, that it is better not even to try to find words of commendation, which might be unworthy of their subject, but to be content to make the way clear for its advance, and let its deeds praise it’.

L le Mesurier, A Handbook of Probation and Social Work for the Courts, 1935

‘Probation belongs at a local level and profit should not come into it. The satisfactions of the Probation Service are not financial ones, nor should they be; they are the rewards of dedication and service….the remedying of misfortune, which is what probation is about, has no more to do with profit than the remedying of disease’.

Alan Bennett, Foreword to The Golden Age of Probation, Roger Statham, 2014

‘Probation was respected by politicians, and the courts, as a humane and enterprising Service, prepared to embrace new methods and challenges. Often derided by those who talked tough, and advocated harsh prison sentences, it moved steadily to a more centralised position in the Criminal Justice System… Probation had its own distinctive character…it was one of hope and a realistic faith that, with tenacity, and in valuing the positive qualities of even the most apparently hardened offenders, we could influence for the good…. As with much else, the culture of public service has been sacrificed on the altar of privatisation’.

Sir Michael Day, former Chief Probation Officer and Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, 2018