This from BBC website today:-
The government's efforts to fix the prison crisis may not work without "bold investment decisions", the leading union for the probation service has said.
Ian Lawrence, general secretary of Napo, said a review of sentencing policy by former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke "may come to little effect" if the probation service was underfunded.
The union boss said he supported proposals to scrap short sentences for some offenders and toughen up community orders supervised by probation officers. But he said probation staff were already "overworked" and suggested any "cost cutting" could increase pressure on the service. "I'm struggling to see how a package of sentencing reform can work without the necessary support," Lawrence told the BBC.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said a "crisis" in the justice system had "put a huge strain on the probation service". "We are hiring 1,300 new probation officers, investing in technology to cut back on admin, and increasing focus on those offenders who pose the greatest risk to the public," the spokesperson said. "This will ease pressure on the service, help cut reoffending and keep our streets safe."
Gauke is understood to be considering recommending the idea of scrapping short prison terms as part of the sentencing review.
The review comes as prisons across the country are struggling to deal with overcrowding after the number of offenders behind bars hit a new high. In an interim report, Gauke warned that unless radical changes were made, prisons in England and Wales could run out of cells by early next year. Gauke's sentencing review is expected to be published this month, before the government sets out its spending plans for departments in June.
"Napo would welcome any initiatives to reduce the numbers of people in our prison estate," Lawrence said. "But that can't come without the lord chancellor absolutely recognising the pressures that the probation service is now facing and will in the future. "And that's why we need brave, bold investment decisions by this government and not more of the same."
Tight budget
The prisons and probation budget fell by 12% when inflation was accounted for between 2007–08 and 2023–24, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, external.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has outlined plans for efficiency savings and in her spring statement, said day-to-day government spending would fall by £6.1bn per year by 2030. But the chancellor has not yet stated which departments will have less money to spend, meaning it's not clear how the probation service will be affected. The money allocated to government departments for the three years beyond 2025-26 will be set out in the spending review in June.
Lawrence said a reduction in funding for the Ministry of Justice, which oversees the probation service, could mean less funding to support offenders in the community and worse outcomes.
"In other words, they go out of prison and they've got no option but to commit crime because they have no means of supporting themselves," he said. "They're back in prison within weeks. And so it goes on and that costs the taxpayer millions."
A source at the Prison Reform Trust, a charity, said the probation service would need to be resourced properly if there was more community sentencing. They said the government may have to divert funding from prisons towards probation and community solutions. "It needs to make a strong economic case for why this would be a spend-to-save policy," they said.
Pay dispute
In a national inspection report, the probation watchdog said there was a high shortfall of officers in some regions and workloads were a problem. Lawrence said Napo was in dispute with the prison and probation service over pay progression and workloads. He said the union had submitted a claim for a 12% pay rise for probation staff this year. That's way above the increases independent pay review bodies have advised the government to give teachers (4%) and NHS workers (3%).
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said a "crisis" in the justice system had "put a huge strain on the probation service". "We are hiring 1,300 new probation officers, investing in technology to cut back on admin, and increasing focus on those offenders who pose the greatest risk to the public," the spokesperson said. "This will ease pressure on the service, help cut reoffending and keep our streets safe."
Gauke is understood to be considering recommending the idea of scrapping short prison terms as part of the sentencing review.
The review comes as prisons across the country are struggling to deal with overcrowding after the number of offenders behind bars hit a new high. In an interim report, Gauke warned that unless radical changes were made, prisons in England and Wales could run out of cells by early next year. Gauke's sentencing review is expected to be published this month, before the government sets out its spending plans for departments in June.
"Napo would welcome any initiatives to reduce the numbers of people in our prison estate," Lawrence said. "But that can't come without the lord chancellor absolutely recognising the pressures that the probation service is now facing and will in the future. "And that's why we need brave, bold investment decisions by this government and not more of the same."
Tight budget
The prisons and probation budget fell by 12% when inflation was accounted for between 2007–08 and 2023–24, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, external.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has outlined plans for efficiency savings and in her spring statement, said day-to-day government spending would fall by £6.1bn per year by 2030. But the chancellor has not yet stated which departments will have less money to spend, meaning it's not clear how the probation service will be affected. The money allocated to government departments for the three years beyond 2025-26 will be set out in the spending review in June.
Lawrence said a reduction in funding for the Ministry of Justice, which oversees the probation service, could mean less funding to support offenders in the community and worse outcomes.
"In other words, they go out of prison and they've got no option but to commit crime because they have no means of supporting themselves," he said. "They're back in prison within weeks. And so it goes on and that costs the taxpayer millions."
A source at the Prison Reform Trust, a charity, said the probation service would need to be resourced properly if there was more community sentencing. They said the government may have to divert funding from prisons towards probation and community solutions. "It needs to make a strong economic case for why this would be a spend-to-save policy," they said.
Pay dispute
In a national inspection report, the probation watchdog said there was a high shortfall of officers in some regions and workloads were a problem. Lawrence said Napo was in dispute with the prison and probation service over pay progression and workloads. He said the union had submitted a claim for a 12% pay rise for probation staff this year. That's way above the increases independent pay review bodies have advised the government to give teachers (4%) and NHS workers (3%).
Lawrence said probation workers going on strike was a possibility if the pay offer was too low. "We think senior leaders in [the service] have a responsibility to let ministers know the gravity of the situation," he said. "And that worries me as to whether ministers are truly sighted on the operational crisis that exists in probation right now."
In a speech in February, external, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out her vision for reforming the probation service. She said probation officers were "responsible for caseloads and workloads that exceed what they should be expected to handle".
The changes she announced included 1,300 new trainee probation officers by next March, and an £8m investment in new technology to reduce the administrative burden on staff.
In a speech in February, external, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out her vision for reforming the probation service. She said probation officers were "responsible for caseloads and workloads that exceed what they should be expected to handle".
The changes she announced included 1,300 new trainee probation officers by next March, and an £8m investment in new technology to reduce the administrative burden on staff.
From Inside Time - A reminder of what HM Inspector said recently:-
ReplyDeleteFreed prisoners who commit further lower-level offences such as shoplifting should not be automatically recalled to prison, according to Martin Jones, HM Chief Inspector of Probation.
Mr Jones believes too many low-risk offenders are being automatically recalled to jail by probation officers, whether for offences such as shoplifting or for infringements of their licence conditions. Those recalled are filling up prison places unnecessarily, he said.
The number of recalled prisoners in jails had doubled in the past decade, to 13,000, and they now account for one in seven, or nearly 15 per cent, of the jail population in England and Wales. But Mr Jones said offenders’ underlying problems such as drugs or drink, homelessness or joblessness, would not be tackled by sitting in a prison cell waiting, potentially for months, for the outcome of a new court hearing. Instead he believes there should be the option for offenders to continue to be handled in the community for the “underpinning” causes of their criminality, pending the outcome of any further hearings.
A judge or magistrates could still decide to remand them into custody or release them on bail before determining whether to hand them a prison or community sentence, he said.
“I think we can probably find an approach here where, of course, if you think somebody’s at risk of committing a serious domestic abuse or a sexual or violent event, immediate recall to custody would be justified, but for other offenders, you could allow the usual judicial process to take its course,” said Mr Jones. “Sending people back to prison for a month isn’t going to solve the underpinning problems in their life. I think you could be trying to refer that person to other community services.”
He was highly critical of the state of the probation service overall. In a report published last week, ‘National Inspection – April 2025’, he says: “Our findings do not demonstrate that the service is adequately prepared to respond effectively to further change and challenge. Major shortfalls were found in service delivery, and work to keep people safe remains a significant cause for concern. Stronger leadership is needed to improve the delivery of the probation service’s two key objectives: protecting the public and reducing reoffending.”
The report acknowledges modest improvements in recruitment and staffing levels, with some action taking place to reduce workloads and create space for practitioners to develop knowledge and skills. However, progress remained slow, with a continued high shortfall of probation officers in some regions. In addition, opportunities for newly-qualified and trained staff to implement learning were still often undermined by high workloads and few experienced staff to support them.
Mr Jones added: “Much has been achieved by HM Prison and Probation Service in recent years amidst many challenges, but the improvement to service delivery on the ground remains insufficient. There will need to be further changes to improve the quality of services to reduce reoffending and protect the public. This will mean there need to be difficult decisions about what is done, with whom, to ensure those most at risk of further offending and causing serious harm are managed sufficiently.”
As a probation officer, I do not support this approach. Prison and probation are fundamentally different sentences, serving distinct purposes. Reducing short prison sentences should not be framed as an opportunity to “toughen up” community orders. Probation is about support, rehabilitation, and fostering change, not about increasing restrictions or surveillance.
ReplyDeleteA genuinely “bold” reform would be to end mandatory post-sentence supervision and make it voluntary, as well as to scrap recalls for all determinate sentences. This would allow probation to reclaim its rightful role as the rehabilitative arm of the criminal justice system, rather than functioning as an enforcement and punishment agency.
If Ian Lawrence and other union leaders had any real frontline experience in probation, they might better understand the impact and purpose of probation work.
Anything Ian Lawrence says is laughable talking strike he has not set a ballot out because he has not set out a proper dispute for or with members. He is a real actor not a a union leader. Why do we put up with him.
ReplyDeleteIf probation is only ever mentioned alongside prisons, it’s better left out of the conversation entirely. When prisons received their last pay rise I don’t recall probation getting a mention.
ReplyDelete"We are hiring 1,300 new probation officers, investing in technology to cut back on admin, and increasing focus on those offenders who pose the greatest risk to the public,"
ReplyDeleteSame old horseshit, different day/spokesperson/administration
They've been hiring thousands of new officers & re-focusing on dangerous offenders for years... with an ever decreasing impact, loss of professional standards & ongoing disasters which has cost, & continues to cost, lives.
June 2021:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/one-thousand-probation-officers-recruited-to-protect-the-public
" Probation Service recruits record 1,000 trainees in past year
staffing boost will improve supervision of offenders and help cut crime
further 1,500 to be recruited this year as services are unified "
July 2024:
https://www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article/prisons-crisis-probation-service-to-get-1000-extra-trainee-officers
" Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced that the Probation Service will hire more than 1,000 additional trainee probation officers over the next nine months, as part of a bid for "greater oversight and management" of offenders leaving prisons. "
Feb 2025:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/probation-service-to-cut-crime-by-focusing-on-dangerous-offenders
Mr. George Howarth, Hansard, Jan 1999
There are at present 274 trainee probation officers. A work force planning study is currently being undertaken, and this will provide national data on the number of new probation officers needed over the next five years.Under the previous training scheme for probation officers, the Home Office sponsored students on Diploma in Social Work courses. The numbers of students starting sponsored courses from 1990 to 1995 was:
1990: 336
1991: 434
1992: 451
1993: 470
1994: 305
1995: 300.
The scheme ended with the 1995 students. It should, however, be noted that research indicated that only about 60 per cent. of those sponsored went on to become probation officers."
a puff piece from 2009 about post-dipsw probation officer training:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cep-probation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RT10Pres-Agen-09-Smi.pdf
“They said the government may have to divert funding from prisons towards probation and community solutions.”
ReplyDeleteIs IL and Napo going to call out the Prison Reform Trust on this? Probation is already a community-based service. Referring to the need to “divert funding towards probation and community solutions” implies that probation currently lacks purpose or relevance, which fundamentally misrepresents its role.
https://skillsforjustice.org.uk/case-study/ministry-of-justice-training-probation-officers
ReplyDelete"We recently helped the MoJ with some of their leadership & management requirements..."
That went well then...
"A national inspection by HM Inspectorate of Probation has examined how effectively HM Prison and Probation Service is working to support, enable, and drive the delivery of probation services in England and Wales, resulting in an overall rating of ‘Requires improvement’."
Wonder what the travel bills are for hmpps staff?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.aol.co.uk/news/network-rail-bosses-spend-10k-090000448.html
"Managers at Network Rail spent £10,000 a week on plane tickets within Britain last year instead of taking the train.
Staff at the partly taxpayer-funded company took more than 1,000 flights within the UK in a year despite the railways being promoted by train companies as an environmentally-friendly alternative to flying.
The total bill for internal flights came to £136,000 in 2024, according to data disclosed under freedom of information laws.
That was despite its official expenses policy saying the train should always be used where possible.
The quango spent a further £368,000 on 1,966 international flights.
The most-used internal route for Network Rail staff was between London City Airport and Glasgow, which was used 209 times last year.
There were also 104 plane journeys between Luton Airport and Glasgow and 69 between London Gatwick and Glasgow."
The annual report 23/24 gives us some figures:
2018/19
domestic flights - distance travelled = 180,121 km
intl business flights = 2,151,980 km
2023/24
domestic flights = 87,713 km
intl business = 1,356,228 km
but not the actual spend in ££'s as far as I can see.
"Lawrence said probation workers going on strike was a possibility if the pay offer was too low."
ReplyDeleteThe pay offers have been 'too low' since forever, but probation staff haven't had much success in that department & nowadays so few are in a union that napo/unison count for nowt in the eyes of hmpps. The unions haven't exactly covered themselves in glory since the departure of Judy McKnight way back when, with a series of own goals & shafting of their own members (no pun intended Jonathan) with losses of Ts&Cs, prejudicial restructuring of pay grades, pulling out of a perfectly good judicial review - then signing off on TR, which included accepting hundreds of job losses & agreeing a redundancy package written in disappearing ink.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/05/probation-officers-strike-protest-privatisation
"Thousands of probation officers across England and Wales are due to stage a 24-hour strike from midday on Tuesday in protest at plans to privatise 70% of their work.
The National Association of Probation Officers (Napo) said it expected 7,500 of its members to take part in what is only the fourth such strike in the probation service's 106-year history.
Ian Lawrence, Napo's general secretary, said: "These are unprecedented times for our members as they fight to save the 106-year-old probation service."
And the result? TR.
https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2015/08/probation-staff-set-for-second-strike/
”The first strike sent a very clear message to the employers that UNISON members are serious about getting a decent deal on pay for 2014,” said Mr Priestley - and what happened next...? Nowt.
https://www.napo.org.uk/napo-and-unison-probation-workers-day-protest-over-pay
"Embargo: 00.01hrs Friday 18 May 2018
Probation staff in England and Wales, who work for the National Probation Service (NPS) and the 21 privatised community rehabilitation companies (CRCs), are today (Friday) staging a day of protest to call for a long overdue pay rise.
Their unions – Napo and UNISON – say that the 18,000 probation staff have been treated more harshly than other public sector workers, and received just a single 1% pay increase since 2009."
Meantime, in the recent bbc piece napo's lawrence also said: "We think senior leaders in [the service] have a responsibility to let ministers know the gravity of the situation"
But as we know, HMIProbation have shown with surprising & unambiguous clarity (for a change) that hmpps' "senior leaders" are fooking useless. How can lawrence rely on senior leaders' taking responsibility for probation staff pay when they can't take responsibility for anything they've done, viz-dismantling a perfectly good probation service?
Jones, hmip, april 2025: "The criminal justice system faces ongoing challenges and, unfortunately, our findings do not demonstrate that the Service is adequately prepared to respond effectively."
Hmmm, anyone remember the [g]olden days?
"Probation staff set to strike
by Personnel Today 8 Jan 2003
Probation staff in England and Wales are to strike over concerns about their workload. The union for court staff, Napo, said the supervision of offenders was in danger of collapse.
Two-thirds of Napo’s 6,000 members have voted to walk out on 29 January, while 86 per cent voted to work to rule.
Napo claims probation staff workloads had increased by 50 per cent over the past 10 years, but staffing levels had only risen by 10 per cent. Probation staff are busier due to initiatives like group work courses for offenders and drug treatment orders, Napo said."
Or even further back:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1990-01-24/debates/ada8f0d5-c955-495e-84fa-6e781eef4047/ProbationService
One would think that a bright future lay before the probation service. I believe that to be true. One would also think that members of the service would approach the 1990s in optimistic mood. That, I am afraid, is far from the case...
Thank you a great piece.one area had a redundancy policy which exceeded the TR trap of crap from Lawrence . His incoherent get out clauses for employers which should have not have been agreed would and could have helped our position in those unfair dismissals because that's what redundancies are. A union leader agreeing to redundancies should have been sacked no re elected. Napo members are not up the issues facing them. Less so with Ian Lawrence busily taking pay for nowt.
DeleteLast summer was the one time Probation striking might have achieved something and the union blew it by agreeing enhanced overtime, and I don't know anyone who got this authorised at all, and back dated shite pay increase by a few months.
DeleteI would like the union to do a foi request to see which grades actually get OT as I suspect it's mainly SPO's and above
The House of Lords debate in january 1990 with the text linked was when we really failed to refute the ridiculous ideas involved in "punishment in the community" I recall at about that time at the Napo Lakes Branch professional conference having a furious debate with the then head of the Probation Department at The Home Office -unlike predecessors like David Faulkner he just did not understand the basis of probation and as such as him were advising ministers like Earl Ferrers - it is little wonder that we definitely went backwards from then onwards - as Home Secretary Michaeel Howard when the Conservatives were struggling to cope with the rise of Blairism we later had the nonsense of him at a stroke cancelling all training for prospective probation officers - when eventually it came back under Labour it was divorced from shared training with Social Workers - I was part of the generation of probation officers who moaned and then struggled to cope with the massive - very poorl;y managed increase in work with the start of ACRs which contributed to probation workers (no longer all officers) needing to redirect their efforts to post release prisoners who correctly felt probation supervision as an imposition rather than a way of avoiding custody.
DeleteWhilst we are talking figures, the latest audited accounts show that for NAPO and its members, the costs associated with employing the General Secretary in 2024 came to £120,213 up from £113,355 the preceding year. Nice work if you can get it!
ReplyDeleteIt’s a pity that the GS isn’t paid by results, he could be giving money back.
That's a lot of lolly. 12k per month . Less annual leave 30 days. He gets 3k per week. Has no office no meeting less travel. This is job title no longer a role. The officers should cut the post but guess redundancy for the title will wipe out Napo. Stuck with a boil we cannot lance. What lovely pit he weaved with his cronies who helped. Treasurer the dimwits and Wannabees. You made a fine mess.
Deletehttps://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/introduction-trade-unions
DeleteWhat a trade union is
A trade union is an organisation made up of members (a membership-based organisation) and its membership must be made up mainly of workers.
One of a trade union's main aims is to protect and advance the interests of its members in the workplace.
Most trade unions are independent of any employer. However, trade unions try to develop close working relationships with employers. This can sometimes take the form of a partnership agreement between the employer and the trade union which identifies their common interests and objectives.
Trade unions:
negotiate agreements with employers on pay and conditions
discuss major changes to the workplace such as large scale redundancy
discuss members' concerns with employers
accompany members in disciplinary and grievance meetings
provide members with legal and financial advice
provide education facilities and certain consumer benefits such as discounted insurance
Probation nonsense now just a punishment
ReplyDeleteHaving totally fucked up probation - & justice in general - romeo is on the warpath again in her new role.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/home-office-giaa-compliance-weaknesses-pac-perm-sec-plans
"Home Office permanent secretary Dame Antonia Romeo has told MPs that her department will require a culture change to avoid repeats of the multi-million-pound failings related to asylum accommodation in recent years... "
*** “I think there’s further work to do there. And that is, in a way, a process issue,” she said. “It’s about the risk registers, what is the flow-through, how regularly are you meeting? We do have an executive committee strategic-risk deep-dive every quarter. We look at the risk register every month. That’s not enough because, of course, it’s in the culture.” ***
So successful was she in her previous role that the recent HMIProbation National Inspection 2025 states:
"The report makes eight recommendations to HMPPS, including to produce a coherent business plan, to ensure significant risks to probation service delivery are identified and acted upon, to provide regional leaders with greater discretion to commission and contract-manage organisations that meet the needs of people on probation, and to develop digital systems that enable practitioners to access, plan, deliver, and record their work in a timely way."
Of course, multi-million pound failures are her speciality, most notably the TR project. romeo in 2014: “My job as senior responsible officer is to make sure we deliver the benefits of the programme...We’re seeking to allow those that move out to the CRCs the freedom and innovation to bring in new and better ways of doing things."
https://www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article/moj-launches-overhauled-probation-service-in-transforming-rehabilitation-reversal
"the Ministry of Justice announced in 2018 that the reforms would be reversed after it emerged that the payment-by-results model, which was intended to drive down reoffending rates, had cost £467m more than projected and led to worse outcomes."
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/article/comment/probation-outsourcing-case-study-failure
https://committees.parliament.uk/work/3970/transforming-rehabilitation-progress-review-inquiry/news/98308/rushed-prisoner-rehabilitation-reforms-causes-higher-costs-and-poorer-outcomes/
The egotistical megalomaniac has all the traits of a trumpian fraudster, e.g. stating the bleeding obvious while utilising meaningless phrases & corporate bolloxspeak:
- “These issues are cultural issues, so there’s two things that one needs to do," she said. "The first is to make sure that the right processes are in place.”
- Romeo said the area she is giving most initial focus to is how accountability is being joined up to conversations happening at the strategic level by the department’s executive committee and the board.
- “The question is, how do you make it such that everybody feels incentivised to worry about compliance, to worry about assurance, to do the checks? To make sure they’re flagging things up the chain?”
aka bullying/monstering your staff & flushing £billions of public funds down the pan.
- She said there were clear areas of weakness where the department needed to go further, citing compliance, risk control, and linking the behaviour in business areas to top strategic oversight.
HMIProbation again: “Stronger leadership is needed to improve the delivery of the probation service’s two key objectives: protecting the public and reducing reoffending. These should be seen as complimentary and embedded across all delivery outcomes, and we did not see this cohesion at a national level.”
[sources cited: civil service world & hmi probation]
Thank god that this vile individual is moving on. She’s only been ‘up north’ for a year, but leaves a trail of destruction and division in her wake. Interesting that she’s only working two weeks notice… I’ll leave it there…
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0eledy0yz5o.amp
A former probation officer and senior civil servant is set to be named as deputy mayor of policing and crime for South Yorkshire.
DeleteKilvinder Vigurs has been selected by South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard as his preferred candidate for the role.
Ms Vigurs began her career as a probation officer in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and most recently has served as Regional Probation Director in Yorkshire and the Humber.
She said: "I am absolutely committed to spending my first few weeks going out to talk to people. You can read things, but you can't feel the emotions people have."
As Deputy Mayor, Ms Vigurs will work with Coppard to oversee and improve policing and criminal justice services, to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour and to commission services to support victims and reduce offending.
She will deliver the Police and Crime Plan, chair the Local Criminal Justice Board, chair the Safer Roads Partnership, and have close oversight of the Violence Reduction Unit.
In recent months, South Yorkshire has made national headlines following rioting at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Manvers, near Rotherham, and the fatal stabbing of teenage school boy Harvey Willgoose.
Ms Vigurs said: "The first thing I need to do is talk to communities and ascertain what they think.
"We need to talk to parents whose children have been victims of knife crime, we need go out to the communities who are experiencing daily anti-social behaviour that makes their lives a misery.
"Clearly the media headlines are the bad news but I also think there is some good news to be sharing as well."
In her new role she will also need to deal with the legacy of South Yorkshire Police's handling of events at the Orgreave coking works in 1984, the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal and the Hillsborough Disaster.
Ms Vigurs said she promised to keep talking to CSE survivors to "make sure lessons have been learned" and said she supported the calls for an inquiry into Orgreave.
Another area for her to focus on is the "fundamental accounting error" which led to a £65m hole in South Yorkshire Police's finances, with Coppard saying the results of an inquiry into the matter set to be made public later this year.
Coppard, who will remain accountable for all the functions of Police and Crime Commissioner, said: [Kilvinder's] wealth of experience, her priorities, her values and her sheer determination to help people will help to change South Yorkshire for the better."
Ms Vigurs' appointment is subject to a confirmation hearing by the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel on Thursday 15 May
https://cloud-platform-e218f50a4812967ba1215eaecede923f.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/sites/32/2025/02/Yorkshire-and-The-Humber-Regional-report.pdf
DeleteYorkshire and The Humber
Fieldwork started July 2024 Score 5/24
Overall rating Requires improvement
1. Organisational arrangements and activity
R 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
R 1.2 Staffing Requires improvement
2. Service delivery
R 2.1 Public protection Inadequate
R 2.2 Desistance Inadequate
R 2.3 Court work Inadequate
R 2.4 Unpaid work Inadequate
R 2.5 Resettlement Inadequate
What saved them from overall 'inadequate' rating?
R 2.6 Victim work Outstanding
She did a lot of damage in london the centre of the national collective mess and vile sums her up well. She is the product of accelerate support of course another gross error in selecting leadership. Meritocracy always ignored by this defunct leadership generation.
DeleteI just saw sky news and the Napo leader . He seems confused and is speaking on behalf of release assesment which is irrelevant to field po . He didn't say anything useful seems to pander to having successful meetings in management. Let's see what the review says shortly but I don't expect this guy will have any clue to respond adequately.
DeleteSome early release details is important for location and protection issues but anything to reduce our actual workloads in the team.
DeleteTime was, when a Probation person went on to a post of influence , you'd be optimistic that the values and consciousness of Probation would be getting a boost and a champion.
DeleteSuch is the damage to our morale and our profession that the elevation of our erstwhile leaders, aka betrayers is just more despair
Yes quite the sky programme with timpson was not promising. He kept wobbling and conceded to keep women and babies in a jail. It was clear between the lines more shafting as he was gleefully on additional jail space. Idiot.
DeleteTrue, @21:21 - [with a very few exceptions] senior probation/hmpps people of today have no conscience or shame, let alone 'consciousness' of how appalling their behaviours & attitudes are. Nor any notion of how utterly incompetent & irresponsible they are. The reality of various inspections, reviews, investigations - or just plain, simple statistical fact - runs off their slopey shoulders like water off a duck's back.
Delete*** Probation Services - a year in reports:
Kent, Surrey and Sussex Fieldwork started: 22 January 2024 Score 5/24 (21%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
R 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Norfolk PDU Fieldwork started: 26 February 2024 Score 2/21 (9.5%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Inadequate
Suffolk PDU Fieldwork started 12 February 2024 Score 4/21 (19%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
P 1.1 Leadership Good
Hertfordshire PDU Fieldwork started: 15 April 2024 Score 4/21 (19%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Northamptonshire Fieldwork started: 11 March 2024 Score 02/21 (9.5%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough PDU Fieldwork started April 2024 Score 1/21 (4%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Inadequate
Essex South PDU Fieldwork started: 29 April 2024 Score 5/21 (24%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
P 1.1 Leadership Good
East of England Fieldwork started June 2024 Score 5/24 (21%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
R 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Bedfordshire PDU Fieldwork started: 20 May 2024 Score 4/21 (19%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Essex North PDU Fieldwork started 13 May 2024 Score 04/21 (19%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
P 1.1 Leadership Good
Barnsley and Rotherham Fieldwork started July 2024 Score 3/21 (14%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Doncaster PDU Fieldwork started June 2024 Score 3/21 (14%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Sheffield PDU Fieldwork started July 2024 Score 3/21 (14%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Leeds PDU Fieldwork started August 2024 Score 3/21 (14%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Wakefield PDU Fieldwork started August 2024 Score 6/21 (28%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
P 1.1 Leadership Good
Bradford & Calderdale PDU Fieldwork started September 2024 Score 1/21 (4%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Inadequate
Kirklees Fieldwork started August 2024 Score 03/21 (14%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
North Yorkshire PDU Fieldwork started September 2024 Score 4/21 (19%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
York PDU Fieldwork started September 2024 Score 3/21 (14%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
North and North East Lincolnshire PDU Fieldwork started October 2024 Score 03/21 (14%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Hull and East Riding Fieldwork started October 2024 Score 4/21 (19%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
P 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Yorkshire and The Humber Fieldwork started July 2024 Score 5/24 (21%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
R 1.1 Leadership Requires improvement
Derby City PDU Fieldwork started February 2025 Score 7/21 (33%)
Overall rating Requires improvement
P 1.1 Leadership Good
Derbyshire PDU Fieldwork started February 2025 Score 2/21 (9.5%)
Overall rating Inadequate
P 1.1 Leadership Inadequate
24 PDU reports published May’24 to May’25… average % score = 16.5%
Embarassing? Resignation-worthy? Nope, just the basis for promotions & moves to better paid positions &/or recognition by The King
No not embarrassing or resignation worthy. All this does well is demonstrate the national average . Now if an area excelled on the current model of resourcing then we could raise an eyebrow of expectation. If it's crap across the board how on earth could they take any account of their failings . No pressure is no pressure. They will in review though use this factor against carrying on many of our current duties. Labour are reviewing pip payments to disability also general benefits overall. They won't fund any soft touch probation. The public unrest starmers U turning on immigration is signal enough people feel poorer than ever no social cohesion and the right wing identify minorities as the drain in resources as unskilled and over here why. Things are not what they were.
Delete6/24 PDUs score over 20%, while just 1/24 gets 33%
DeleteThe inspections measure the day-to-day work of probation service providers using the following categories:
* Organisational arrangements & activity
leadership, staffing, services
* Service delivery
assessment, planning, implementation & delivery, reviewing
hmpps probation-related Budget 23/24
Probation England net spend = £1,000,439,000
Community Interventions = £99,000
Reducing Reoffending/Accommodation = £172,264,000
Probation Change = £61,502,000
Total ~ £1.23billion
"Statement of purpose - HM Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The role of HMPPS, within England and Wales, is to carry out sentences given by the courts, in custody and the community, and to rehabilitate people in our care by addressing education, employment, accommodation and health and substance misuse needs... Probation colleagues have managed increased workloads and pressures due to the prison capacity challenges..."
According to HM Inspector's reports, for the most part it realises, on average, less than 20% of its expected role - this costs the taxpayer about £900millions in unmet tasks while those in the most senior positions continue to pocket £millions in salary, bonuses & pensions between them.
No senior staff are held accountable for organisational failure while frontline staff are punished on a daily basis with impossible workloads, pisspoor pay, bullying, the threat of SFOs & no-one of any calibre to represent their woeful situation, e.g. even their union GS, the most senior workforce representative, abdicates responsibility & says he expects hmpps senior managers to speak up for his members. Ha!!
How long is this supposed to continue?
https://news.sky.com/story/more-people-should-be-given-this-chance-the-probation-centres-transforming-offenders-lives-13365632
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with various comments here that kilvinder vigurs ruined london probation....was in many a patronising meeting with her....she led by force and bullying....I visibly saw the culture change for the worse under her tenure.....heard many stories about her belittling attitudes and inability to listen...I was openly and belittling berated by her in a meeting where she got full attention to "dress me down" with no opportunity for me to respond....I heard stories of people being locked out of meetings if they were more than a few minutes late....and yet felt she was the biggest champion for "stamping out bullying in the workforce" and was one of the biggest drivers of it.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what Yorkshire and Humber colleagues have felt over the past year?
I see her position is not confirmed until Thursday....we have a chance to save the people of Yorkshire from this awful decision while hopefully preventing her return back to probation.
Worked in various organisations including private practice and police and hadn't experienced or witnessed such aggressive bullying until probation. Many unskilled managers equated bullying with management, including good people being forced out and careers damaged. Threats were made and lies were told - immature, pointless and vile.
Deletehttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/probation-inspection-reports
ReplyDeletechoose your area & their strangely familiar responses, for example:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d96e345bad4b1a7f01ed54/PDU_Action_Plan_response_Letter.pdf
"Thank you for your inspection reports for Probation Service Yorkshire and the Humber (PS YatH) and for the 11 PDUs within the region, where you made a total of 45 unique recommendations... While I acknowledge that there is still much work to be carried out in every PDU, I am encouraged that positive outcomes were reported ..."
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/681df0c7f16c0654b1906071/Derbyshire_and_Derby_City_PDUs_-_inspection_response_letter.pdf
"Thank you for your inspection reports for Derby City and Derbyshire PDUs, where you made a total of 11 recommendations.... Whilst I acknowledge that there is still much work to be carried out at both PDUs, I am encouraged that positive outcomes were reported..."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8rej5jv626o
ReplyDeleteAlongside the obvious concerns about justice & the functionality of the CCRC, this case must once again raise issues about probation staff working with cases who maintain their innocence.
"Peter Sullivan was jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years... Now 68, Mr Sullivan leaves HMP Wakefield having spent more than 38 years in prison... "
It must also bring the issues surrounding IPPs back into focus.
This Orwellian approach must be reconsidered as a means of determining 'risk', i.e. admit to something & you're less of a risk than if you don't admit to something? Plenty of people have been happy to admit they've done X or Y, yet have gone on to commit further serious offences.
Delete"Mr Sullivan's solicitor, Sarah Myatt, previously told the BBC that Mr Sullivan had "never lost hope" that he would be acquitted.
She said he continued to maintain his innocence despite the fact he would have had a much stronger case to be freed on licence if he had told the parole board he accepted what he had done.
Ms Myatt added: "He said 'I cannot admit to something I haven't done', even though that meant that the parole board would consider things in that way." "
Some political figure was on the wireless yesterday saying that he was concerned that if the CCRC didn't operate as they have been then they would be inundated with sex offenders claiming they're innocent.
Again, plenty of people who commit all kinds of serious offences will say whatever it takes to minimise/deny culpability or, if it suits their agenda, will make limited admissions to gain access to release or more favourable treatment.
Its not a subtle, reasonable or intelligent approach to say that denial is bad, admission is good.
Two daft peddlars of lies & deception were openly praising serial killer of justice services, antonia romeo, on the radio today
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002c36b
In similar news:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce80nl1k0p3o
"More than a thousand inmates will be released early to free up spaces in prisons in England and Wales, the justice secretary has announced, as the government grapples with an overcrowding crisis.
Under the move, offenders serving one to four years who are recalled to prison for breaching their licences, will be released after 28 days.
Shabana Mahmood said a £4.7bn investment would fund more prisons, but said it would not be possible to "build our way out of this crisis".
A senior Ministry of Justice (MoJ) official said the government would "run out of prison places in just five months' time" if action was not taken. "
Shabana Mahmood: "You cannot build your way out of a prison crisis".
ReplyDeleteAlso SM: "We are funding a prison expansion with £4.7 billion..."
Oh you guys, donkey's led by donkey's. I cannot overstate my utter contempt for you.
Probation is full to capacity, in fact above capacity. But hardly a mention or consideration. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce80nl1k0p3o
ReplyDeleteMore knee jerk reactions to reduce the prison population….Way back in 1987 when I first started in probation the prisons were full and in crisis. 35 years later they remain in crisis and with no real strategy (fear of looking soft on crime), our mediocre government has turned to a raft of ideas that continue to miss the point…The only way to ensure a continued reduction in prison numbers is to incarcerate less people. Alas ideological posturing has only served to undermine any coherent and long term approach to managing the justice system. There are a number of countries that have succeeded in reducing/maintaining low levels of crime whilst reducing their prison population. Social policy needs to be framed by evidence and not tawdry political point scoring. This Government has no vision or long term strategy. Having purged the Labour Party through the faux anti-semitism scandal, it is now denuded of any critical thinking and prefers to position itself as Reform lite….witness the panic over the Sentencing Guidelines. So nothing will change because there are no ministers capable of thinking outside of a box that has been firmly in place for longer than I care to remember.
ReplyDeleteRumour that MoJ is being moved out of London and Petty France office will close. Is it so?
ReplyDeleteFrom Law Society Gazette:-
DeleteThe Ministry of Justice’s headquarters at 102 Petty France will close for good as part of the government’s agenda to make the civil service less London-centric, the Cabinet Office has confirmed.
The government wants 50% of UK-based senior civil servants to be based in the English regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by 2030, as part of its ‘Places for Growth’ programme. Cross-government 'regional hubs' will be set up in Greater Manchester, York, Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Bristol, Cardiff, Belfast, Sheffield, Darlington and Tyneside.
The Cabinet Office yesterday announced that 11 buildings, including 102 Petty France, will close as part of a ‘Plan for London’. The 1970s development 102 Petty France is home to the Ministry of Justice, Government Legal Department, Crown Prosecution Service and Law Commission.
The Cabinet Office said: 'The Plan for London focuses on reshaping our estate to match departmental workforce plans that allow for efficiency savings; helping to create workplaces which meet the needs of a modern workforce; and ensuring London remains a vibrant Civil Service location, including career development opportunities across all functions and professions.
‘Plan for London will support the Civil Service to become more productive and agile by reducing the London workforce, delivering admin savings by closing 11 buildings in this SR including 2 core buildings (including the specific building closures of 102 Petty France and 39 Victoria Street).’
Robert Eagleton, the FDA’s national officer for the Ministry of Justice, told the Gazette: 'The closure of 102 Petty France is creating significant uncertainty for staff, and the Ministry of Justice needs to swiftly clarify where staff will be moved to.'
Fran Heathcote, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said there must be guarantees for London-based staff of no compulsory redundancies, no compulsory relocations and access to more flexible working arrangements so they can continue their careers should they wish to do so.
'PCS will be pressing the government to ensure those guarantees are forthcoming, and for a properly agreed transformation programme on a realistic timescale,' Heathcote said.
I see and hear the comments from the PCS and FDA. They both appear to be up to date with events and devising a strategy to defend jobs, terms and conditions.
ReplyDeletePerhaps other unions could follow suit instead of tub thumping.
Why things never change, despite all the changes:
ReplyDeletehttps://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/13667/pdf/
Public Accounts Committee
Oral evidence: Improving resettlement support for prison leavers, HC 1329
Thursday 8 June 2023
"Chair: I am sure, Ms Romeo, that you will be very welcome to visit with Mr Carden, but we will see where we get to by the end of the session. I mentioned in my opening marks that reading the Report feels a bit depressing somehow; it feels like groundhog day and we have gone backwards in some areas. It would be helpful to start if you, Ms Romeo, could tell us honestly from your perspective, looking at all these outcome measures—housing, employment, drug addiction and so on—which ones are you most concerned about at the moment? What is top of your list of worries? I will come to Ms Rees as well.
Antonia Romeo: The first thing to say is that one is always looking at a whole range of things, as you have identified. You are looking at the top measure and then the intermediate measures.... One of the single most
important things that has happened in this space in recent years is that over a decade, the 12-month reoffending figure has fallen from 50% to 38%... On the individual metrics, I am sure we will be getting under the skin of lots of this, but we are looking at three things. We are looking at employment, accommodation and substance misuse. On employment, there are very encouraging recent results. We are now in a position where we have 30% employed six months after release, according to most recent data... On accommodation, it is pretty static. We are trying to look at that. We are doing lots of evaluation, which Amy and Jim will want to talk about, of how we can ensure we understand what works in accommodation... Broadly, there are some positive things and some areas where we need to understand more what is working... The final thing I will say is — I know Amy will want to add to this — post-covid, there are quite a lot of apples and pears going on here...
Chair: We also realise, of course, that the inspectorate has changed the way that it is measuring on probation. It is apples and pears; we are alert to that issue.
Antonia Romeo: Indeed. Finally, it is quite difficult in an inspectorate system where you are inspecting different prisons or probation areas each year, because while you can look at the aggregate and get a sense from trends, you cannot look exactly at those numbers because it depends on the type of institution and organisation that you have been inspecting in those years."
And there we have clear examples of why romeo is worth protecting & handed eye-watering amounts of public money in salary, pension & bonuses.
Here comes the loyal lieutenant:
"Amy Rees: I think my boss has given a really good summary. We would say, at a basic human level, we need to et people a job, a home and then try to support them with substance misuse. We are really focused on those things. I think we have made some impressive innovations and seen some impressive progress. In terms of concern, I think our vision for all of those services is right, but what we need to work on is consistent delivery in every patch and in every corner. That requires us not just to recruit staff—where I think we have made good progress—but for staff to be embedded and experienced, which will take us a little bit of time."
I'd just like to end by highlighting this example of critical senior-level thinking & reasoning, again demonstrating the value of handing these people so much of our hard-earned taxes:
"Chair: How are you going to set the metrics from 84 days to, say, six months or a year? How are you going to measure success?
Amy Rees: The key measure that we will look at in that sense is how many people we get into settled accommodation at the end of those 85 nights... Some people get released straight into settled accommodation, but if people are using that service, we will measure how many we manage to transition into settled accommodation."
Pure fucking genius!
A more recent pile of enabled piffle:
ReplyDeletehttps://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/15467/pdf/
Justice Committee
Oral evidence: Work of the Ministry of Justice, HC 750
Tuesday 4 March 2025
Chair: Welcome, all of you. I will leave it to you to decide between yourselves who answers the questions that we put, unless a member of the Committee specifically wants an answer from an individual...
Dame Antonia Romeo: Thank you. MOJ delivers a large range of quite complex and highly specialised services. The majority of our budget is spent on the pay bill for people, costs and capital costs—that is prison build and so on...There are a number of things. The vast majority of our spend is either on people or construction or estates. It is ICT; it is on service delivery. We have some areas of what could be termed discretionary spend. Those tend to be in the areas of delivering policy — for example, victims’ funding, community accommodation services and reducing reoffending budgets.
Chair: ... Given what you said about priorities, why is it that the most significant increase in the last year has been in “Policy, Corporate Services and Associated Offices” of your various budgets? That has gone up by £336 million, or 36%, from estimates.
Dame Antonia Romeo: Could I ask what page of the report you are on, or are you on another note?
Chair: Yes.
Dame Antonia Romeo: I don’t think that is talking about money. You are talking about some numbers.
Chair: Yes, I am talking about what is under the heading “Policy, Corporate Services and Associated Offices”. Comparing the supplementary estimate with last year’s expenditure shows that that had gone up more than any other area.
Dame Antonia Romeo: I will ask James to come to the specifics of the supps. You might be referring to numbers."
And on & on & on it goes. The collapse of ISG is discussed:
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/contractors/isg/isg-collapse-to-cost-prison-service-more-than-300m-28-01-2025/
"Chair: You talked about the £700 million that has effectively gone out of the prison building programme, which is unfortunate.
Tessa Munt: When do you anticipate having some idea of the costs of the loss?
Amy Rees: Probably in the next three to six months. We will have an idea every time we re-let one of the contracts, but there are quite a few to do."
* Tessa Munt: Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Wells and Mendip Hills
Here’s an idea ? Stop recalling people for the most minor infractions and adopt a trauma informed approach ?, Thats which YOTS are all generally rated as good and outstanding and probation inadequate
ReplyDeleteYots don't have the same caseloads numbers, can't recall and get paid more on average so you can't really compare. That said, I agree recalling for minor infringements of a licence has gone way to far but this is the fault of SPO' being shit scared of an SFO or being told off by there Heads
Deletehttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/16/prison-service-officers-relationships-inmates-corrupt-staff
ReplyDelete"John Podmore, a former governor of Belmarsh prison and an honorary professor at Durham University, said although there had been an increase in reported corruption cases, “I still think it’s tip-of-the-iceberg stuff”.
At Five Wells, a private prison that opened in March 2022 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, Podmore said: “The first year or so they employed 750 prison officers. Two years later, they were left with 200 – they are not staying.
“I’ve worked all around the world, and prison officer training in England and Wales is the worst in the world; it is the shortest in the world.”
In some countries, he said, training could last for two years, in some cases with qualifications at degree level, “but here, what have they done? They’ve made it shorter and shorter.... You can become a prison officer just by filling in a form.”
He said recruitment and vetting was poor, which risked allowing in those “who want to join for criminal purposes”, while “the vast majority will be so badly trained, so badly led, so badly supported, it’s like throwing the sheep to the lions”. "
Probation will be next to hit the headlines; but no doubt they'll manage to hide the senior managers' corruptions & hang frontline staff out to dry - again.
The corruptions surrounding TR, EVR, etc etc ad nauseaum were neatly buried in plain sight. Examples include:
Sir Richard Heaton: "At the time Transforming Rehabilitation happened, everyone was very excited about the pilots that had happened in Doncaster and Peterborough, and it was thought that if only you incentivised companies to do great things on reoffending, they would get on and surprise us all and do great things. Contained in that projection was what now looks to be optimism bias, if I am honest."
Or this exchange from Public Accounts Committee, Oral evidence: Transforming Rehabilitation: progress review, Wednesday 13 March 2019
Q95 Shabana Mahmood: Finally, on the employees of Working Links, what action have you taken in respect of pensions?
Sir Richard Heaton: I assume the staff have been TUPE-ed over in the ordinary way, but I can write to you if there is a particular point on that.
Q96 Shabana Mahmood: Yes, I think pension liabilities and what would happen were discussed previously, so if you could—
Sir Richard Heaton: I will write to you on that.
Heaton knew damn fine well that staff were NOT tupe'd over because the SoS used a Staff Transfer Scheme:
https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2014-0870/OMA_2007__Probation_Services__Staff_Transfer_Scheme_2014.PDF
And when the much anticipated redundancies came & the CRCs refused to pass on the EVR monies they had been gifted by MoJ:
Andrew Selous: "While we have no plans to reclaim any monies allocated to CRCs from the Modernisation Fund, we have robust contract management arrangements in place to ensure that they are used for the purposes for which they were provided. Contract management teams are in place in each Contract Package Area to oversee each CRC operation."
The contract management teams, of course, did SFA.
Exactly so. The multifarious serial liars, cheats & egomaniacs in the higher echelons of MoJ/noms/hmpps have achieved nothing but the creation of a clusterfuck. They have corrupted, diminished & ultimately destroyed the probation profession; alongside which they have totally undermined the prisons & the wider justice system in the UK.
DeleteThey have shamelessly lied to various govt committees the public.
romeo claims "...over a decade, the 12-month reoffending figure has fallen from 50% to 38%..."
Govt stats showing "overall proven reoffending rates" are based upon "Proven reoffences are measured over a one-year follow-up period and a further six-month waiting period to allow for offences to be proven in court"
So, in year 2010 the rate was 26.7% & in 2015 it was 25%.
Then they changed the data sets, so it became quarterly. The last quarter of 2020 showed an overall rate of 23.1%; of 2021 was 25.4%; and the most recent data released (for 2023) shows a figure of 27.5%.
And the elected career politicians sitting on those committees swallow the blatant lies hook line & sinker because it suits them. Where's the assessment, the ruthless dissection or corroboration of facts? Who's actually over their brief rather than pocketing public £££'s while prioritising 2nd or 3rd or 4th income streams (directorships, media appearances, book-writing, podcasts, etc).
Where are the media? Who is inquisitive enough to give a fuck about the damage being done to "little people's" lives, livelihoods & the misuse/misappropriation of £billions of public funds?
romeo is but one of so many privileged, highly educated civil servants who are full of weasel words & an over-inflated sense of their own abilities. They know how to play the system because they ***ARE*** the system. Its not, as claimed by the PR bullshitters on R4 (referred to elsewhere on here) because romeo is a "high profile woman"... its because she's another highly skilled bullshitter who knows the game being played, and she's good at that game. The system likes her & her ilk hence they reward her with riches & gongs & power.
The probation, prisons & justice system staff are mere pawns in their multi-dimensional game, as are those who their system processes; we are simply those things one might feel comfortable sacrificing in pursuit of personal gain.
Where do we go from here? More prisons, more prisoners, more finger-pointing, increased levels of contempt & disdain.
Advise, Assist & Befriend? Nah...
Divide, Deride & Keep 'em Inside.
1903 good points. The non recovery of redundancies money was a clear Napo error in understanding the way employers act. Napo agreed cuts to staffing via a redundancy agreement that had no required obligation. Napo failed to challenge in law the employers dodging of the transfer terms because they realised Lawrence had messed up. They then collided to pass to blame to contract holders. The contract managers were to my knowledge incredibly poorly skilled and inexperienced fools two of which were well known in my area as problem people with zero ability who got those jobs. It made it clear by a redline the employers contractors had nothing to fear from contract managers at all.
DeleteSeriously? Mahmood wants 'offenders' on unpaid work to fill potholes and 'clean bins'! So basically taking the jobs of those already fixing the roads. And 'cleaning bins'? I'm sure members of the buplic will love having their bins cleaned outside their houses by convicted burglars! Maybe a quick bit of restorative justice could take place at the same time! I think I'll opt out of that but could be handy for a quick 'check in' with a person on probation. Honestly Mahmood, at least think of the logistics before announcing your latest brainwave!
ReplyDelete