It's all gone quiet on the probation front again. It's Saturday 5am and I'm struggling. The official HMPPS probation Twitter accounts for inconsequential guff or pictures of your supper seem unusually quiet. Napo doesn't have much to say in it's weekend mailout other than to remind members it's nearly time for the AGM. I think even Russell Webster is finding it a challenge to find something new to tell us about.
We're only about 15,000 away from another milestone of 7 million 'hits', but whilst we await something interesting to turn up, I'll share the following gleaned from various corners of the internet:-
"So much emphasis is put on OASys and not enough on rehabilitation. We rush supervision because of the paperwork and high caseload. Our cases outweigh the hours. An offender can’t expect an hour from his officer. To get a hour, others have to suffer. I joined to make a difference. But I can’t make a difference... the service won’t let me."
"The whole OASys & endless paperwork is now a joke. No business could operate efficiently like this."
"I have been doing a compulsory online training thing in between appointments. Periodically the online thing would ask 'What have you learnt from this module and how will you put it into your practice?' My time is being wasted with this shit and I have clients to advise assist and befriend and 99% of my time is expended on this bollx."
"The micro management is driving me further into ill-health and increasing poor sleep. Where will it all end? E learning has no place in our profession. No consideration for learning styles and disabilities..."
"I would love to work for an organisation that cherished my experience and service and let me get on with what was always at my core, service to my community and my clients."
Your right Jim preparing crab sandwiches was the face stuffing I read from a Twitter by an NPS idiot. Thought their preparation was more important than the substance. Contrast that to their work and self belief greater than the job. Inane.
ReplyDeleteFrom HMPPS webpage - our transparent & responsive government keeping the public informed:
ReplyDelete"Safety in custody: quarterly update to June 2020 - Quarterly update on deaths, self-harm and assaults in prison custody in England and Wales. Annual detailed data on assaults and self-harm in prison custody.
These statistics will be released on 29 October 2020 9:30am"
Boris wants everything his way (again):
ReplyDelete"The government has urged Whitehall bosses to "move quickly" to get more staff back into the office.
In a letter seen by the BBC, it says it is "strongly encouraging" attendance through rota systems, arguing this would be "hugely beneficial".
The government says it wants 80% of civil servants to be able to attend their usual workplace at least once a week by the end of September.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked officials for a weekly update on progress."
Meanwhile, in a loonyverse not far away:
ReplyDelete"US President Donald Trump has ordered federal agencies to stop racial sensitivity training, labelling it "divisive, anti-American propaganda".
A memo to government agencies says it has come to his attention that millions of dollars of taxpayers' money have funded such "trainings".
The document says these sessions only foster resentment in the workforce.
Mr Trump has previously said he does not believe systemic racism is a problem in the US."
Expect similar sentiments from Boris & the Cummings' Crazy Crew in the not-too-distant future...
Profit before people - surely this can't be true? That would mean NONE of previous Foreign Secy Johnson's posturing had any bearing on the situation whatsoever. It was simply about the UK putting its hands in its pocket to pay a legally owed debt of nearly £half-a-billon from over 40 years ago.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/sep/04/uk-defence-secretary-acknowledges-debt-owed-to-iran-over-shahs-tank-order
"The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has for the first time acknowledged that he is actively seeking to pay a debt to the Iranian government that could finally help to secure the release of British dual nationals including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Wallace assured lawyers acting for the families that the government was exploring every legal avenue to pay the debt, which for the first time he formally acknowledged the government owes.
The admission came in a letter to the lawyers acting for Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been detained in Iran in jail and then house arrest since 2016.
The UK is thought to owe as much as £400m to the Iranian government arising from the non-delivery of Chieftain tanks ordered by the Shah of Iran before his overthrow in 1979."
I was struck by two things when reading recent blog posts.
ReplyDeleteFirstly by the paper from the PI discussing the third sector.
"The core functions of the National Probation Service must be plainly articulated in order to enable the roles and responsibilities of different organisations to be clear. In our view these are case management and the delivery of core interventions requiring enforcement on behalf of the courts. It seems that this principle has been accepted by Government as of June 2020. "
Secondly, the HMI report that extolled the virtue of quality PSRs did so without using the word 'rehabilitation' once.
Can it really be that probation is no longer a 'purveyor' of rehabilitation? A service that is solely reliant on external agencies for the provision of rehabilitation services?
If that's the case, then I'd suggest there's consequences for the probation service. Why would the qualifications, training, and skills currently needed to be a probation officer be required by a service only focused on enforcement?
And just some food for thought, but would an 'enforcement officer' be able to command the same level of pay as a qualified, trained and skilled probation officer? I think not perhaps!
'Getafix
Have we had any discussion about the recent research by HMIP on the quality of PSRs and their recommendations? Not histrionic but good evidence of all the things we have been saying for a long time about speed being the enemy of quality.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/08/2020.04-The-quality-of-pre-sentence-information-and-advice-provided-to-courts.pdf
Anon 11:03 - yes we covered that here :- 'Would You Adam and Eve It!'
Deletehttps://probationmatters.blogspot.com/2020/08/would-you-adam-and-eve-it.html
Just popped up in the Independent.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/voices/prison-justice-system-probation-homelessness-chris-grayling-coronavirus-a9701931.html%3famp
'Getafix
Chris Grayling's disastrous probation privatisation experiment is over - now it's time for change
DeleteLives have been wasted and new victims harmed in this broken system. After privatisation and austerity, we need to rebuild a nationalised probation service that protects
During the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 1,000 people were released from prison with nowhere to go. Hundreds began sleeping rough despite the lockdown, risking their own health and public health, plus shattering any hope for a new and positive future. For 27 per cent of those released between 23 March and 30 April, the government had no idea where they were planning to live.
It isn’t clear why the Ministry of Justice failed to implement the same "Everyone In" policy that was put in place by councils across the country. As Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation has confirmed in a recent report, homelessness for prison leavers is a disaster for rehabilitation. The Inspectorate found that the proportion of prison leavers back in custody a year later was 35 per cent for those released to a secure home. That figure is unacceptably high, but for those who were released homeless it’s almost twice as high, at 63 per cent.
The same report contains so many powerful stories of vulnerable prison leavers who so clearly need support if they’re going to stay safe and not reoffend. Even prison can feel safer than the freezing and dangerous streets. One man described how he “kept reoffending to get put back inside as [he] couldn’t get accommodation”. In his case, that cycle went on for seven years. One woman felt she had no choice but to return to an abusive partner’s home. Lives are wasted and new victims are harmed while the system remains broken.
Labour wants a justice system that really tackles reoffending. A service that protects our communities by ensuring those who have made mistakes get the support needed to lead law-abiding, productive lives.
We must rebuild and rejuvenate the National Probation Service and invest in its staff. They are overlooked public servants who have endured impossible caseloads, chaotic management and severe underinvestment for most of the last decade of austerity.
Currently, probation services are fragmented and neglected, hindered from realising their highest ideals, despite the commitment and dedication of probation workers. Reoffending rates after one year remain unacceptably high and are generally highest for crimes like theft, at 52 per cent, which is closely linked to chaotic lives.
As Chris Grayling’s catalogue of disastrous changes to the probation service from his time as former justice secretary are unpicked, the government must make homes for prison leavers a priority. However, homelessness is far from the only cause of reoffending that must be tackled at scale. Other major causes of reoffending include poverty, mental health issues, alcohol and drug dependency, broken family relationships, and a lack of skills.
We also know that Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are disproportionately represented in a justice system that still fails to address its own bias effectively. David Lammy’s 2017 report for the government still hasn’t been fully implemented, and there is far more to do besides.
The solution to fixing probation services is consistent, joined-up support through strong partnerships with health services, local authorities, education and social care services. It means working with charities and community groups to create and share information and plans with people before they leave prison.
DeleteProbation services need to have local links to charity and public service partners so that they can immediately begin to build relationships to turn lives around. The successful support of offenders away from criminal activity could prevent huge amounts of trauma for victims of crime, enabling our communities to heal.
It is time for a national strategy to join up mental and physical healthcare, drug and alcohol support, education, training, and employment. The alternative is grim, but all too familiar. When people are lost in the system their second chance is lost too, and a lapse back to crime can take just days. We owe it to victims of crime, and to our communities, to rebuild a probation service that protects them by stopping the endless cycle of reoffence.
Lyn Brown MP
No, that is not a solution. Lyn Brown needs to understand probation officers already provide support and share information. Many communities groups and charities do not have access to actual resources. What probation is lacking is direct access to immediate housing, education and job opportunities. These should be assisted spaces for probation, accepted on referral. The same should apply to referrals to mental heath and substance misuse services.
DeleteUntil May 2009, Lyn Brown rented a central London flat using the second home allowance, despite her constituency being only 6 miles from Westminster.
Deletehttps://archive.is/20120912094729/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23701306-west-hams-brown-gives-up-flat-she-rented-for-safetys-sake.do;jsessionid=80D8EBDFD4FD8B16E5444D19827FC355
She could have donated her second home as a probation approved premises.
It’s not all that quiet on the probation front. Some probation offices are not Covid safe and others not fit for purpose at all. The NPS National Probation Service are civil servants and about to be forced back into offices in their masses. Typical civil service top down command and control meddling, about to be assisted by the limp wristed NPS directors. PCS Union has jumped all over this but not a whimper from Napo Crapo.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54035770
It is wishful thinking that 400,000 civil servants buying a Costa coffee once a week is going to kickstart the economy!
Delete[the] Public and Commercial Services union said its members had “kept the country running during the pandemic while working from home” and it did not believe it was safe to return to workplaces while infection rates remained high and there was a risk of a second wave.
DeleteThe general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: “If the government or any employer starts forcing people back to work and we believe that it is not safe to do so, we will firstly consider our legal options, secondly give individual legal advice, and thirdly consider whether a collective response is required.
“As a last resort, if you have no other option and people’s health and safety is at risk, of course we would be prepared to consider industrial action.”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/05/mark-sedwill-urges-more-civil-servants-to-return-to-offices-in-england
“ If the government or any employer starts forcing people back to work”
DeleteThey already are!
In some offices, foolhardy Probation managers made sure staff never left the office.
But where are all the lardy big on direction deputies directing from the armchair again Netflix remote in one hand a wine in the other sandwich waiting. Counting the extra c19 payments yet miles from any office desk for them.
Deleteflip-flop govt covid-19 data 5/9/20
ReplyDeletecases - 1,813; weekly total = 11,312
deaths - 12
UK now at 28.6 new cases per 100K population
FranK.
Weekend bonus info:
DeleteThree ways that UK deaths are being 'measured' (as at 4 Sept 2020):
1. within 28 days of +ve result = 41,549
2. death cert refers to covid-19 = 56,652
3. deaths over & above 'normal levels' = 64,528
I don't know what 'normal levels' are, but ONS uses averages taken over previous 5 years
R-number varies across regions of the UK from 0.5 (better) to 1.6 (not so good).
UK hospital admissions are climbing again.
Telegraph.
ReplyDeleteSuspected criminals will be forced to spend longer behind bars to help courts backlog, Justice Secretary announces
The Government will change the law to lengthen the time that offenders can be held before a trial from 182 days to 238.
Suspected criminals charged with serious sexual and violent offences are to be held in custody for up to an extra two months before their trial under an emergency plan to help reduce the courts backlog.
Robert Buckland, the Justice Secretary, is to change the law to lengthen the time that defendants can be held before a trial – known as the Custody Time Limit - from the current maximum of 182 days to 238 days.
The move will cover offences deemed serious enough to merit a crown court trial and will include those suspected of violent or sex crimes.
There are more than 500,000 cases yet to be heard in the magistrates or crown courts, an increase of some 100,000 since the Covid-19 pandemic forced the suspension of trials and closure of many courts.
Lawyers claim cases are being delayed a year with some more than two years, raising fears that victims and witnesses could lose faith and drop out of prosecutions while defendants are being left in limbo.
Courts have prioritised serious offences rather than have to release potentially violent defendants into the community because their custody time limit has passed. This has led to even longer waits for those charged with less serious offences after being released on bail.
Lawyers’ and human rights’ groups are expected to challenge the proposals for lengthening the time in custody of potentially innocent defendants.
However, Mr Buckland said: “Throughout the pandemic this government has taken the necessary steps to protect the public while ensuring that justice continues to be delivered.
“This temporary extension to custody time limits will keep victims and the public safe, and we should not apologise for making that our priority.”
Only for serious offences
The legislation is expected to come into force on September 28 and will apply to anyone who is arrested and remanded for an offence deemed serious enough for a Crown Court trial after that date. The new custody time limits will remain in place for nine months.
Mr Buckland also announced £80 million to fund a series of measures to boost capacity across criminal courts in an attempt to reduce the backlog..
This will include employing 1,600 new court staff, setting up more temporary “Nightingale” courts in public buildings to fulfil social distancing, a further rollout of video technology for remote trials, and physical changes to courts to minimise risk, such as the introduction of plexiglass barriers.
Mr Buckland is also looking to introduce more flexible sittings of courts, where there would be longer morning and afternoon with different judges or magistrates panels to handle more cases in a single day. This, though, is facing opposition from many lawyers.
However, Mr Buckland said: “The measures I have announced will get the criminal courts system back to where it needs to be – reducing delays and delivering speedier justice for all.”
Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, said: “This plan is an important document which gives a clear path towards recovery as the judges and magistrates, in partnership with HM Courts Service, the Ministry of Justice and many others, strive to ensure that cases are heard as soon as possible in the public interest and the interests of all those involved in the criminal process.”
Half of magistrates courts in England and Wales closed since 2010
DeleteIncluding crown courts, county courts and tribunals, since 2010 more than 250 hearing centres have ceased operating. So far £223m has been raised by sales. Treasury funding for the courts digital programme stipulates that a third must be raised by selling courthouses.
HMCTS and the MoJ justify the closures on the grounds that crime rates have fallen and large numbers of courthouses are operating at less than 40% capacity. The agency is developing justice websites and remote video screens, which, it is argued, will mean fewer journeys to court.
Critics fear savings will only be achieved by displacing costs on to other agencies. The MoJ has declined to give a commitment about halting closures: six more magistrates courts are scheduled to shut this year.
A study by Dr Olumide Adisa of the University of Suffolk found that local court closures have led to an increase in the number failing to attend hearings.
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/jan/27/half-of-magistrates-courts-in-england-and-wales-closed-since-tories-elected
And where does the £223m end up? Paid out in consultancy fees!
DeletePublically owned realestate, publically used and maintained (sometimes for well over a 100years) is just being gifted to privateers without any real return for the public purse.
There's a short blog post on the issue, that puts some context to the wholesale 'theft' of our publically owned assets.
It's criminal.
https://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2019/09/26/sale-court-buildings-profits-chaos/
'Getafix
Double standards and hypocrisy as usual...
ReplyDeleteAsked about reports that Prime Minister Boris Johnson wanted to see Parliament "back to normal" by Christmas, the Speaker said he wanted to make it happen but said he would not risk health and safety.
"We are a Covid-secure workplace - if we were to lose that status, the game is over," he said.
"It's about working in an efficient way. If people don't need to be here, why would we have them here?"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54044624
uk govt covid-s9 data for sun 6/9/20
ReplyDeleteBlimey, what with all those people travelling overseas in planes & boats, and all those parties & anti-mask protagonists, and everyone desperate to get back to their desks and all the children piling into schools & colleges, would you adam & eve it (as Jim might say):
testing: still averaging below 180,000/day
new cases: 2,988 in 24 hours
deaths within 28 days of 1st +ve test: 2
hospital admissions: 124/day
FranK.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/06/england-criminal-justice-system-coronavirus-covid-19-cuts-2010
DeleteIf anyone doubted Johnson's capacity for treachery thus far:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/06/five-weeks-clinch-brexit-deal-uk-move-boris-johnson-to-say
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54051933
https://news.sky.com/story/brexit-boris-johnson-planning-to-override-key-parts-of-eu-withdrawal-agreement-report-12065619
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-talks-latest-trade-no-deal-october-european-council-eu-summit-b404627.html
https://www.ft.com/content/9906e0d4-0c29-4f5f-9cb0-130c75a2f7a7
Still nowt from NAPO on anything.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s happening with the wage negotiations, speak up I can’t hear you.
Based on previous experience, they will make. A paltry Offer next month then offer to have it in the pre-Christmas wage packet as long as it is accepted.
The old ones are the best.
There's no money left in the pot - its all been spent on recruiting 1,000 compliant new starters, greasing the exit packages of the CRC directors & funding friends of the Johnson/Cummings partnership.
DeleteIf Johnson can throw entire populations under the bus & not give a toss, then failing to honour a pay deal for a few probation staff won't keep him awake.
It is always quiet on the probation front this time of year. Politicians and Management go on holiday. Lord help us when they get back, refreshed, and indulge in a frenzy of directives.
ReplyDeleteuk govt covid-19 data
ReplyDeleteweb page aint working again
R4 PM programme says 2,900+ new cases
update to follow if/as/when govt data is accessible
FranK.
update as promised (unlike a Boris Promise):
Deletetesting: still around the 175,000 mark
new cases: 2,948 (R4, finger on the pulse!)
deaths within 28 days of 1st +ve: 3
hospital admissions: 124/day
FranK.
here here 08:59
ReplyDelete'The old ones are the best.' yes, we fall foul to this every time, so when are the unions going to wake up to this horrible,lying,cheating, bastxrd, older than the hills way of a wage negotiation ?
It has always left a very bad taste. it screws the workforce and relies on my many 20 something female colleagues and others acceptance of a offer that they may view differently but for the timing.
I would like the unions to develop a strategy to stop this happening in the future as it stinks to high heaven.
I worked at sea in the 1980's and this was the usual way management done things until about 1985 i think, when the brilliant NUS (national union of seamen ) caught them out and with the members support put many ships on the dock wall until they agreed to change their tactics, they did and never tried it again ( different days i know )
So probation unions ( of which i am a member ) wake up you are 35 years behind and having the piss taken out of you and us
Napo facilitate the management not defend and or fight for members you wake up.
Deleteuk govt plans for 10% margin of error with our taxpayer funds... is that acceptable? If any of that £3.5bn has been appropriated to finance terrorist activities, does that mean the govt is even more guilty of funding terrorism, e.g. the parents of a Muslim convert dubbed Jihadi Jack who were given suspended sentences (15 months in jail, suspended for 12 months) were found guilty of funding terrorism when they sent £223 to their son???
ReplyDelete"The government believes it may have paid out up to £3.5bn in wrong or fraudulent claims for the furlough scheme.
Jim Harra, the top civil servant at HM Revenue & Customs, said that his staff had calculated for the possibility that as much as 10% of the money might have gone to the wrong places.
“We have made an assumption for the purposes of our planning that the error and fraud rate in this scheme could be between 5% and 10%,” the permanent secretary said.
The government has so far made £35.4bn in furlough payments, according to the latest figures. It means that somewhere between £1.75bn and £3.5bn could have been paid out wrongly"
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/07/up-to-35bn-furlough-scheme-cash-may-have-been-wrongly-paid-out
Every probation officer worth their salt knows that OASYS is not fit for purpose. That's not to say that writing an assessment, identifying a plan of action to address the issues concerned both from a "risk management" and "rehabilitative" perspective does not have any place - but WE ALL know that OASYS is clunky, repetitive and frankly doesn't make sense. So rather than admitting this, the service constantly invests more time and effort into it - tweaking little boxes here and there, constantly forcing staff to complete more and more of them, and then recruiting armies of QDO's to monitor it's completion to exacting standards which themselves make absolutely no sense.
ReplyDeleteFrankly if someone gave me an A4 piece of paper, I'd be able to write a good assessment, identify the issues, and structure a risk/sentence plan - I'd be able to update this easily, and would have the time to engage my service users in that process. But no! Fearful that we can't be trusted, the service has chosen to continue to invest in a difficult to use system- even writing a sentence plan with all it's ridiculous drop down boxes and meaningless/crap non-SMART drop down objectives, takes absolutely FOREVEVER (constant error messages if an old sentence plan action is not closed down etc.)
And yes, as per the comment in this blog, the skills, time and effort and frankly professionalisation it takes to develop those skills over time with the service users, has no priority at all. London NPS solution to this? Chuck a whole load of resources on a website and constantly tell us to complete the WEB (which is basically another sentence plan). The Head of Operations briefing the other day was embarrassing - being told "complete a WEB, it improves engagement", "use all these resources, and do exercises", and "use CRISSA recording convention" was frankly so embarrasingly out of touch it actually made me angry. I'd love to hear what others thought of that?