The View from the Top

To say these are worrying times for probation staff would be putting it mildly. Since the Michael Spurr letter to Probation Chiefs, NAPO have responded angrily and there is understandably talk amongst some members of balloting for industrial action. The theme of this years AGM is somewhat ominously 'resistance.' Not all members feel this approach is sensible and there are signs of old tensions between moderates and radicals coming to the fore once more. But what do the bosses think about it all? More importantly, what do they intend doing about the mess we seem to be moving inexorably towards?

A key person in all this is Sue Hall, Chief of West Yorks and current Chair of the Probation Chiefs Association. Back in May she wrote an article for the in-house magazine giving her thoughts on what the future was looking like, and to be frank it makes for pretty depressing reading.

"For me this is one of the most important but unanswered questions at the moment. You will search in vain in the Green Paper to find a vision for trusts - and the word 'probation' does not feature once in the MoJ Business Plan, even in the section on rehabilitation revolution. We know it is likely we  will retain responsibility for advice to courts and for supervising the most dangerous offenders. Everything else is potentially up for grabs, to be sorted out by competition or Payment by Results. In theory we could end up with probation trusts having a residual role, just one of a range of providers. Nothing reflects this better than the title of our new Director - the Director of Probation and Contracted Services! In the current arena probation trusts have to make their own future. If we believe that the public sector should have a core role in providing probation, we will have to fight for it."  

Sue goes on to say that she feels trusts will begin to look very different from each other and she would be surprised if there were still 35 in three years time as cuts and competition 'dig in'. She predicts that if probation is to remain a profession, there will have to be a fight to keep proper training arrangements and that there will have to be registration for probation officers, as with doctors, nurses and social workers. Interestingly the issue of 'registration' is shortly going to become an issue for the police as well. So, a whole new set of QANGO's then! I seem to remember this government started out having a bonfire of those, but that seems an awful long time ago now. Sue ends up saying that she's not pessimistic about the future of probation - Really?