Ever since the writing was on the wall for the CRCs, US company MTC Novo must have had their eye on forthcoming lucrative MoJ prison contracts, but the Rainsbrook omnishambles has surely put paid to that? Of course we are talking of the MoJ here, their legendary contracting skills and the dysfunctional outfit run by Antonia Romeo of TR fame and currently in the process of wresting total control of the Probation Service.
Sir Bob Neil at the Justice Committee has clearly lost his patience with both MTC Novo and the MoJ judging by this terse statement issued today:-
The Justice Committee calls on the Ministry of Justice to explain why prison operator MTC was granted a two-year extension in 2020 to its contract to run Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre despite long-term concerns about its performance.
Read the Report: Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre
On 16 June, it was announced that all children would be removed from Rainsbrook amid serious concerns for the safety of those housed there. The facility had previously received a catalogue of negative inspection reports by Ofsted, the Inspectorate of Prisons and the Care Quality Commission, and also issued with two Urgent Notifications in less than a year. The Justice Committee’s own report, published in March this year, called for the running of the facility to be brought back in-house, should MTC fail to deliver the improvements necessary.
In a follow-up report published today, the Committee has set out a series of questions about the decision making process that led to the contract to run the facility to be extended despite repeated criticisms from independent inspectors, two improvement notices being issued and financial penalties levied.
Questions also remain over the financial cost of extending the contract and what termination costs may now apply, as well as what the future use of the Rainsbrook facility will be. The Ministry has been requested to disclose this information.
The Committee expects to receive a reply in two weeks.
--oo00oo--
This from BBC website 16th June:-
The Ministry of Justice is removing all children from a key institution detaining young criminals in the UK, amid serious concerns for their safety. All 33 children currently detained at the Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre will be transferred to other institutions. Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said private contractor MTC had "failed to deliver" vital changes. The company said it was surprised by the move and challenged the findings.
During the peak of the pandemic last year, detainees were being locked up in near solitary confinement as a quarantine measure. Three watchdogs were so concerned to find that children were still being held in those conditions in December, despite an order to the centre's management to stop, they ordered ministers to take urgent action. That prompted Justice Secretary Robert Buckland to order major changes to how private contractor MTC ran the facility in Northamptonshire, including new managers responsible for more closely monitoring how the young detainees were being cared for. But in a statement on Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice revealed that a further inspection by the education watchdog Ofsted had rated the centre as "inadequate", despite attempts to turn it around. It said that the most urgent concerns about the time children spent locked up had been addressed - but the government did not believe that MTC had done enough to resolve "wider long-standing issues".
Mr Buckland said: "Six months ago, I demanded that MTC take immediate action to fix the very serious failings at Rainsbrook. They have failed to deliver and I have been left with no choice but to ask that all children are moved elsewhere as soon as possible. This move will help protect the public by ensuring often vulnerable children get the support they need to turn their lives around - ultimately resulting in fewer victims and safer streets."
The 33 current detainees will be moved out of the facility to other accommodation within the youth justice system. In practice that means the only other operating secure training centre (STC) or secure children's homes that are dotted around the country.
In a statement, MTC said the welfare of children had been its priority and it had been working in close partnership with officials from the Ministry of Justice since late last year.
"Given the previous positive assessments, including Ofsted's follow-up visit in January, we were very surprised to receive Ofsted's feedback at the end of last week's inspection," said the statement. "We have a number of concerns about their approach and ultimately the conclusions they have reached. We plan to vigorously challenge this as we go through the fact-checking process."
Rainsbrook will be mothballed while the MOJ considers its future, including its contract with MTC. It's not clear whether the contract can be automatically terminated. The potential complete closure of Rainsbrook would mean that two of the three STCs in England have been emptied after serious allegations of poor management and care - the other being Medway in Kent.
MTC have been both prolific and repeat offenders in the USA.
ReplyDeleteThe question Sir Bob should be asking is why would anyone ever consider a company with such a dismal record and reputation suitable to look after very damaged children?
'Getafix
Is it gtx? This same government Tory put working links in charge of probation. They never had enough money to start with to bid and borrowed royally on the prospect. Got out of depth immediately by two of the least able directors and rubbish board of chums. Damaged probation locally beyond repair. Held onto the fine print of the contract having exported millions to Germany in profits. None of which improved offender or staff services. Aurelius took every last drop then dumped the stupid sole director. The other sharp enough to duck out earlier. Bankrupted and unable the finally filed and the moj had to administer a rescue package. It's all over now but this is why they stick with crap . It is pure ideology .
Deletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/news/reappointment-of-her-majesty-s-chief-inspector-of-probation
ReplyDeleteOf all the toxic partnerships I have witnessed in my sorry life, Justice and Profit is right up there on the top of the list. The Probation Service I joined back in the day was, as I experienced it, driven by a moral imperative, funded by but independent of the state, alive to the social context of crime, articulate, authoritative and confident. One of the moral imperatives was a top down, bottom up, commitment to keeping people out of the prison system.
ReplyDeleteMTC is without doubt greatly diminished in the UK because of losing yet another contract and suffering considerable reputational damage because of their dalliance in the justice sector. They dropped the ball at Rainsbrook big time, but others also knew what was going on and should shoulder some of the blame. A children’s detention facility in the spotlight is always crawling with all manner of professionals. Were they all oblivious to problems?
ReplyDeleteThe MoJ probation contract where they ran two CRCs has come to a premature end and after initial problems (BIONIC badges, failed cohort model etc) they were not doing too badly, and staff overall considered them a reasonably OK employer especially when compared with the NPS who were awful. At least, unlike in the NPS, you could email the senior managers and have a moan and expect a reasoned response rather than the elbow. MTC were probably not consistently the best but certainly not the worst of the surviving private probation service providers.
MTC failed to win the Wellingborough prison bid ending up in a legal spat with the MoJ. We might sympathise with them a little as they lost out to G4S who arguably have a worst record than they do. Not a great record or position to be in. However, their greatest achievement and what would have been a positive legacy in the UK is probably the introduction of an improved and more user-friendly case management system in their CRCs that runs rings around Delius and OASys called OMNIA that cut data entry times by 50% compared with the outdated systems used in the NPS freeing staff up to do more face-to-face work or go home at 5 leaving their NPS colleagues with lower caseloads still tapping away on clunky systems. Staff Transitioning in London and Thames Valley will now be subjected to antiquated systems with a slight facelift having previously used something a lot better.
The other thing MTC did was introduce a proper service centre that took on a lot of irksome administrative tasks easing the load on hard pressed frontline staff. The new unified Probation Service needs to learn from the good things some CRCs and well-motivated staff did within the CRCs and not assume they know best. Transition itself has been one big cock up so far with the NPS issuing letters to staff full of inaccuracies and many staff facing demotions and pay cuts through no fault of their own. At least most of us will not be suffering together but it will be a culture shock for many because the NPS is far from an ideal Probation Service (if it were a CRC without a line of credit to the Treasury then it would have gone bust years ago) and whilst it remains in the civil service it is hard to see how it can improve.
OMNIA wasn't all that to be fair. Speaking as someone who had to operate both systems there is clearly room for improvement in Delius/OASys but OMNIA was a fairly pointless because overly localised innovation. If you're going to innovate, you need to get the key ie national players on board. And anyway, whatever the record keeping system the fundamental thing is to advise, assist and befriend. That's still my modus operandi and I don't care if it's not technically what we're supposed to be doing: the evidence shows this is what works whatever pesky databases we're filling in... Imho
DeleteSome informative writing there from Anons on 24-06-21 at 12.31 and 23.22. I hope you are encouraged to write more - thank you.
ReplyDeleteIf one can intentionally lie to & cheat those who (we assume) are one's nearest & dearest, then how likely is it that one can lie to & cheat the UK population as a whole?
ReplyDeleteThis is a multiple choice question. Please chooose ONE answer only.
1. Likely?
2. Highly Likely?
3. Guaranteed?
4. No rules have been broken (except the social distancing rules, but they don't count because I'm a Minister) & its all perfectly normal?
5. I wake up every morning & think "hmmm, save lives or shag my aide?" (which is, of course, a private matter that is of no consequence for anyone else).
6. Who cares - he's just a poor man [from a poor family]? (as quoted by The *actual* Queen when speaking about Hancock this week). So Freddie wasn't far wrong after all...
Message to grayling . Your con deception trickery all ends today. Hoorah. Your failure to understand or be truthful in bits . Hoorah. Your naked ambition ruthless tyranny of a decent social moral professional service now discredited for history hoorah. Your incompetence and acts of dishonesty finally ended for manY of us hoorah. Good riddance privatised ideology. Hoorah. Renationalised under NPS not so good next battle free us of the civil service it's worth fighting for.
ReplyDeleteNot just Mr Grayling (Anon at 11:52 25th June 2021), Lord McNally was the first minister who introduced the Offender Rehabilitation Bill to Parliament, with the backing of his leader Nick Clegg and presumably Simon Hughes who later also became a minister.
DeleteAndrew, we should never forget that the mechanism which allowed for the 2014 ORA was constructed & set in motion by the 2007 Offender Management Act:
DeleteOffender Management Act 2007
Long title "An Act to make provision about the provision of probation services, prisons and other matters relating to the management of offenders; and for connected purposes."
Introduced by John Reid
Royal assent 26 July 2007
The dissolution of an independent Probation Service had been in the hearts of most governments since the 1980's.
Reid & co carefully & precisely set up the final nails around Probation's coffin.
Grayling & co drove those nails home with wreckless, joyful abandon.
Well, whaddya know. The govt is populated by liars, cheats, thieves, philanderers. Johnson, Cummings, Jenrick, Hancock, Gove, etc etc etc.
ReplyDeleteIts all perfectly normal.