tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post7362153212724176694..comments2024-03-29T06:40:58.606+00:00Comments on On Probation Blog: Guest Blog Jim Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-48379405218297415762014-07-16T22:14:55.299+01:002014-07-16T22:14:55.299+01:00All hail Joanna. Really great piece. I and my da...All hail Joanna. Really great piece. I and my daughter went to see the recent Hunger Games film, and had a lively discussion about the critical point when satire is overtaken by reality. the strategic and personal dilemma is between chanelling energy at opposing this governments reckless and relentless pursuit of its nihilistic ideology, vs offering an alternative vision. Or, frankly, just getting out of here. I'm a dedicated #hardworking servant of the public: get me out of here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-28257135758728187662014-07-16T17:21:02.577+01:002014-07-16T17:21:02.577+01:00Thanks anon at 12.43. I didn't know that and h...Thanks anon at 12.43. I didn't know that and have asked Jim to change it.Joanna Hughesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-32375602365249144342014-07-16T16:56:45.429+01:002014-07-16T16:56:45.429+01:00Well spotted - Joanna tells me the sub-editor has ...Well spotted - Joanna tells me the sub-editor has been shot.Jim Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-86997886079946738322014-07-16T13:05:29.483+01:002014-07-16T13:05:29.483+01:00Yes we are part of what Naomi Kline called disaste...Yes we are part of what Naomi Kline called disaster capitalism. You smash the state/ public sector create chaos and send in the privateers. Its all about making money off the backs of the poor and the workers. It started in Chilli in 1973 with the death of Allende, it was perfected in Russia and Iraq and now its moved into the domestic sphere in the West and at home with probation, education and the Health Service.<br /><br />PapaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-71364049078902816122014-07-16T12:43:29.214+01:002014-07-16T12:43:29.214+01:00I think it is an unwritten rule Joanna not to disc...I think it is an unwritten rule Joanna not to disclose the identity of those writing in Private Eye otherwise they might become personally liable to be suedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-47933681742994465692014-07-16T11:36:41.204+01:002014-07-16T11:36:41.204+01:00Excellent analysis - I hope there is s further cha...Excellent analysis - I hope there is s further chapter by someone close to the front-line - TR what actually happened - Or perhaps - what happened the sifting, reprogramming and the failure of business as usual as a standpoint to control the speed of the transition.<br /><br />Meanwhile - this needs great exposure - I plan to repost it in the Napo Forum, unless someone else does that first or objects fairly soon.<br /><br />Thank you Joanna and 'Jim' - I Googled "Katniss What-Not" but did not enquire further once I discerned she is fictional - which is what I would have hoped for this whole TR nightmare - a sort of 'Animal Farm' type cautionary tale of how NOT to make and implement policy of a vital public service, that seriously affects the actual lives of real people.Andrew_S_Hattonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09115192522317353139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-36153978093500191942014-07-16T09:19:42.461+01:002014-07-16T09:19:42.461+01:00Chris Grayling was prevented from turning legal ai...Chris Grayling was prevented from turning legal aid into "an instrument of discrimination" today, after three judges found his reforms to be unlawful.<br /><br />In a devastating judgement which could bring the residency test requirements to a halt, the judges found the lord chancellor had radically overstepped the proper limits of his powers and was trying to create a discriminatory legal system which was incompatible with equality under the law.<br /><br />“Using powers that were never his to exercise, the lord chancellor has attempted to refashion the legal aid scheme into an instrument of discrimination so that many of the cases parliament itself identified as most worthy of support could never be taken," John Halford of legal firm Bindmans, which fought the case, said.<br /><br />"The court's judgement on that attempt is emphatic: it is simply unacceptable in a country where all are equal in the eyes of the law.<br /><br />"Legal aid is, and must remain, the means to safeguard equality in our courts, regardless of people’s origins, nationality or place of residence."<br /><br />Grayling's proposed reforms would have banned anyone who had been in the UK for less than a year from receiving legal aid.<br /><br />Critics warned the proposals would prevent some of the most vulnerable people in society from legal protection.<br /><br />The judges imagined the case of a severely learning disabled adult, who had been "forced to live in a dog kennel outside the house, had been beaten regularly by his brother and mother, and starved over an extensive period of time". Under Grayling's plans, he would have been denied legal aid.<br /><br />Individuals who were resident abroad who had been subject to "serious abuses" at the hand of British armed forces would also be denied legal aid.<br /><br />The joint human rights committee recently warned the reforms were illegal under international law and called on the lord chancellor to exclude children from its provisions, but he refused to budge. There were also concerns it could strip trafficked women and domestic abuse survivors of legal protection.<br /><br />Today's judgement is a much bigger problem for Grayling however, because it found he exceeded his statutory powers when devising it.<br /><br />The court found that regulations made under an act of parliament must be consistent with the policy and object of the act.<br /><br />But it concluded that the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 was intended to prioritise legal aid to the cases of greatest need, while Grayling's reforms would have had the opposite effect.<br /><br />And in an even more devastating passage, the judges found it to be discriminatory.<br /><br />While they accepted that the government was entitled to act in a discriminatory manner on policy areas such as welfare, it could not do so when the issue in question was equality before the law, because it is a fundamental cornerstone of Britain's system of government.<br /><br />"It is and was beyond question that the introduction of such a test was discriminatory. Indeed, that is its declared purpose," the ruling reads.<br /><br />"Within the system provided in schedule 1 of the Legal Aid Act, the United Kingdom is not permitted to discriminate against non-residents on the grounds that to do so might save costs.<br /><br />"Certainly it is not possible to justify such discrimination in an area where all are equally subject to the law, resident or not, and equally entitled to its protection, resident or not.<br /><br />"In my judgement, a residence test cannot be justified in relation to the enforcement of domestic law or the protection afforded by domestic law, which is applicable to all equally, provided they are within its jurisdiction.<br /><br />"In the context of a discriminatory provision relating to legal assistance, invoking public confidence amounts to little more than reliance on public prejudice."<br /><br />Jim Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-46917620481080886972014-07-16T09:15:47.441+01:002014-07-16T09:15:47.441+01:00The huge public services outsourcing company Capit...The huge public services outsourcing company Capita has been confirmed by the justice secretary, Chris Grayling, as the main contractor for the next generation of electronic tagging of offenders.<br /><br />The company has been managing the tagging of 100,000 offenders each year on an interim basis since April, when G4S and Serco lost the contracts as a result of overcharging allegations, which led to the two companies repaying nearly £180m.<br /><br />Grayling said the new six-year tagging contract would allow the introduction of a new generation GPS satellite-tracking tags for some offenders by the end of this year.<br /><br />While Capita will manage the overall contract a Redditch-based company, Steatite, will develop and manufacture the GPS tracking tags. Airbus Defence and Space will provide satellite mapping and Tefonica will supply the network.<br /><br />A Ministry of Justice spokesman said the new tags would allow dangerous and repeat offenders to be tracked around the clock and could also be fitted to prisoners who are given temporary release from prison to monitor their compliance and conditions.<br /><br />The current tagging contract which has cost more than £700m since 2005 enables about 100,000 offenders to be tagged each year. Tags are currently used to monitor whether offenders released from prison under home detention curfew or under court curfew orders remain at an address. They are also used to monitor bail conditions.<br /><br />Grayling said the new technology would give Britain one of the most advanced GPS tagging systems in the world: "This technology will allow us to keep a much closer watch on the most high-risk and persistent offenders who cause so much harm to our communities."<br /><br />The MoJ said all four companies "faced strong international competition to win the contracts". G4S and Serco were barred from bidding because of the ongoing police investigation. The MoJ claimed that the new contract would be delivered at a lower cost than the present contract and would deliver savings of £20m per annum in its second and third year of operations.<br /><br />The ministry cited a "net present cost" of £228.8m for the six-year contract with Capita. Last August, the company said the contract would be worth £400m to them in revenues over the initial six-year term. The other three companies are to paid a total of £36.8m in net present cost.<br /><br />The new contract will be expected to include a new group of offenders – those being released from short sentences under 12 months who are to be supervised on release for the first time under Grayling's probation reforms.<br /><br />The ministry spokesman said that the department would have far greater oversight over costs and charging than under the previous G4S/Serco contracts including direct access to the company's systems.Jim Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-54578560933227499752014-07-16T08:29:07.769+01:002014-07-16T08:29:07.769+01:00http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2014/07/15/devastat...http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2014/07/15/devastating-blow-to-grayling-as-judges-halt-his-legal-aid-re hope this link works Jim. Grayling judged to have over-stepped his powers with legal aid reformAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-37327007347372351982014-07-16T07:54:49.587+01:002014-07-16T07:54:49.587+01:00No I think a cunning David Cameron has decided Chr...No I think a cunning David Cameron has decided Chris Grayling can lie a bit longer in the messy bed he's so carefully made for himself. Jim Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00258147767051200157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8578343158425987632.post-50548529958102083622014-07-16T07:37:18.680+01:002014-07-16T07:37:18.680+01:00Further reshuffle today - its not over yet. Each d...Further reshuffle today - its not over yet. Each day a big name has gone Clarke on Monday, Gove on Tuesday maybe Grayling today??Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com