Clinks Members' Policy Briefing | August 2018
- Policy work at Clinks
- Government announcements
- Publications
- Blogs
- Extra information
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Clinks responded to the HM Government’s consultation on transforming the response to domestic abuse. Recognising that domestic abuse is often a key factor in women’s involvement in the criminal justice system (CJS), we stressed the need for a shared approach across government to responding to victims of domestic abuse and the importance of early intervention and prevention. Clinks also responded to the All Party Parliamentary Group on women in the penal system’s inquiry into the sentencing of women. Our response was informed by organisations working with women in contact with the CJS.
Clinks’ Head of Policy Jess Mullen attended an away day of the Young Review independent advisory group, following the appointment of Iqbal Wahhab as Chair. It was agreed that the review would expand its remit to include all black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups that are over represented or experience poorer outcomes than non-BAME people in the CJS. We also worked with the Young Review to respond to the Criminal Justice Joint Inspection (CJJI) Business Plan 2018/19 Consultation. Our response welcomes the CJJI proposal to undertake a scoping and feasibility study on ethnic disproportionality in the CJS, and suggests some additional factors the CJJI should consider when developing this.
Clinks has responded to the Health and Social Care Committee inquiry into prison healthcare, drawing on evidence gained through our work in the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance, and our members working with people in prison. Our response focussed on the challenges prison healthcare services face in providing care equivalent to that offered in the community, and the role the voluntary sector can play in addressing this. Clinks’ Hazel Alcroft gave further oral evidence to the committee.
Jess Mullen, Clinks’ Head of Policy attended the July meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Penal Affairs. Rory Stewart MP, Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice, gave a speech which explored the challenges facing prisons.
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Strengthening probation, building confidence. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced an eight-week public consultation on the future of probation services. Clinks called for an open consultation on the future of probation in our recent Track TR report, so we warmly welcome this announcement. As part of the MoJ’s market and stakeholder engagement activity for this consultation, Clinks is hosting a series of events for the voluntary sector, which will help inform our response. The consultation closes on 21st September 2018 and we encourage members to respond. For more information Clinks’ Jess Mullen, Head of Policy, has written a blog examining the government proposals in more depth.
Civil Society Strategy: building a future that works for everyone. The government has published its Civil Society Strategy, which provides a blueprint for its long-term approach to working with civil society. There is much to welcome in this, including a recognition of the importance of charities speaking out on behalf of those they support, a recognition of the value of grant funding, and a commitment from Rory Stewart MP, Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice, to supporting the ‘end-to-end’ role of civil society in the criminal justice system. The strategy also outlines a future vision for ‘collaborative commissioning’, accepting that the contracting of public services has led to a focus on outputs over the need of people accessing services.
Justice Secretary delivers a speech on prisons. David Gauke MP, Secretary of State for Justice, delivered a speech to the Centre for Social Justice, in which he said he wanted to see more use of community sentences and that short term sentences should only be used where ‘absolutely appropriate’. He made a number of announcements, including a £30 million investment to improve prison conditions and a commitment to the role of workplace Release on Temporary License. Clinks’ Head of Policy, Jess Mullen asked the Minister about the department's plan to review the Incentives and Earned Privileges policy and whether the voluntary sector would be explicitly consulted. The Secretary of State responded that the department values the sector and will seek to engage with it on an ongoing basis.
Funding for supported housing: government response to two consultations. The government has announced that they will retain funding (for rental costs) for supported housing, including for short term accommodation within the benefit system. Alongside this, the government will work with providers, local authorities, membership bodies and resident representatives over the coming months to develop a robust oversight regime for supported housing and will work to ensure quality and value for money across the whole supported housing sector.
Progress on prison drugs pilot. Justice Secretary David Gauke MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, has announced progress on the £9m Drug Recovery Prison pilot at HMP Holme House. Funded jointly by the Ministry of Justice and NHS England, the pilot takes a two-pronged approach to tackling drugs in prison, with a focus both on increasing security and detection, and improving access to specialist health care. Experiences and evidence from the pilot should inform the work of the recently formed Drugs Taskforce which is working with law enforcement and health partners in government to address drug misuse by people in prison, and focuses on establishments experiencing the most significant challenges.
Prison Population 2022: planning for the future inquiry. The Justice Committee held an oral evidence session on the prison population with witnesses Lord Justice Treacy and Richard Garside, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies; Harvey Redgrave, Crest Advisory; and Rachel Tuffin OBE, What Works Centre for Crime Reduction, College of Policing to discuss sentencing. Lord Justice Treacy, Chair of the Sentencing Council, responded to a variety of questions around how current sentencing practice affects different people including women, BAME people, those with mental health difficulties, young people or care-experienced people. Richard Garside, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, argued that a focus on impact and effectiveness for rehabilitation was more important than how ‘tough’ community sentences were deemed to be, both by judges and the public.
Community Sentence Treatment Requirement Protocol. Edward Argar MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at Ministry of Justice and Jackie Doyle-Price MP, Under-secretary of State for Health and Social Care, wrote to the Justice Committee to inform them of a new draft Community Sentence Treatment Requirement Protocol. This aims to increase the use of community sentences with mental health, drug and alcohol treatment requirements and sets out what is expected from agencies to improve access to treatment for people in contact with the criminal justice system. It is currently being tested at five test bed sites: Milton Keynes, Northampton, Birmingham, Plymouth and Sefton. This protocol has been developed between the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and Public Health England.
Statutory Instrument to amend the Prison Rules 1999. Rory Stewart MP, Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice, wrote to Bob Neill MP, Chair of the Justice Committee, about the impact of banning smoking in prisons. He says that investigations have not found evidence of a decline in prison safety and security attributable to the roll-out of the smoke-free policy in prisons across England and Wales. NHS England has commissioned UserVoice to undertake an evaluation of prisoner experience of the implementation of smoke-free policy, due for publication later this year.
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Clinks publications
RR3 Special Interest Group on Commissioning Family Services: How to improve commissioning. The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) has published this paper to support future commissioning processes by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS). It sets out five core principles for better commissioning: market engagement; market stewardship; developing high quality services; service user involvement; and equalities and makes 15 recommendations.The RR3, chaired by Clinks, is formed of senior experts from the voluntary sector and provides guidance and feedback on MoJ policy developments. The RR3 convened a time-limited Special Interest Group (SIGs) to offer an opportunity for voluntary organisations to work with HMPPS on the commissioning of family services for prisons.
We have published the minutes from the last Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) meeting on 28th June 2018. During the meeting the group received a policy update from Ministry of Justice (MoJ) officials and discussed the Female Offender Strategy, the Education and Employment Strategy and new commissioning models for people with protected characteristics. The RR3 is a voluntary sector advisory group to the MoJ chaired by Clinks CEO Anne Fox. The group also now act an advisory group to the Reducing Reoffending Board, chaired by David Lidington MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office, which aims to establish a cross-government approach to reducing re-offending.
Criminal justice system
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales: Annual Report 2017-18. Peter Clarke, the Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales, has released his annual report, in which he describes witnessing some of “the most disturbing prison conditions we have ever seen – conditions which have no place in an advanced nation in the 21st century”. The report stresses that it found evidence of hard work by many prison service staff to improve the treatment and conditions for people in prison and welcomes the new protocol for urgent action from the government in prisons, young offender institutions and secure training centres where the outcomes for those held, particularly in terms of safety, are exceptionally poor.
The economic and social costs of crime. The Home Office has set out estimates of the monetary costs of crime, claiming the total cost of crime in England and Wales in 2015/16 is estimated to be £59bn. Not all crime is covered, as the focus here is predominately on more serious victim-based offences, with estimates based on three areas of cost: costs in anticipation of crime; costs as a consequence of crime; and costs in response to crime.
How to start reducing the prison population. The Criminal Justice Alliance has proposed eight “pragmatic and incremental” ways to reduce the prison population in a new briefing addressed to Rory Stewart MP, Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice. They highlight that the implementation of the Lammy Review recommendations will keep hundreds of black, Asian and minority ethnic people out of prison, while also calling for greater use of community sentences for women convicted of non-violent offences. Proposals also call for reforms to recall and remand and that the Ministry of Justice should consider legislative intervention to convert post-tariff IPP sentences to determinant sentences
Black, Asian and minority ethnic people
The effectiveness of rehabilitation services for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people: a rapid evidence assessment. HM Prison and Probation Service has produced a summary of existing evidence on the effectiveness of rehabilitative interventions for BAME people. They find that BAME people face a number of barriers when accessing services, including both experiences of racism or discrimination, or fear of racism and discrimination. For some BAME people who access services that are not culturally relevant, they can experience misunderstanding and feelings of isolation. The findings suggest that services that are culturally aware, are delivered by staff who are representative of the people they are supporting, and that are able to recognise the importance of cultural identity, can go some way to address these issues and increase engagement in services.
Substance misuse
Failure by Design and Disinvestment: the Critical State of Custody-Community Transitions. A new report from Blenheim highlights failures to support people with substance misuse needs when transitioning from custody into the community. Only 30% of those engaging with substance misuse services in custody continue to engage in treatment within the first 21 days of being in the community, and 38% of those seeking continued treatment upon release either received no medication or did not get the type or as much as they needed. Blenheim urges the UK Government to guarantee that criminal justice and treatment services are adequately and sustainably resourced. They argue for urgent reinvestment in mechanisms such as the Drug Intervention Programme, to ensure custody and community treatment services are fully joined up.
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Bringing Welsh issues to the table. Martin Blakebrough from Kaleidoscope has been recently recruited onto the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group, for his expertise on substance misuse and criminal justice policy in Wales. Martin has written on the Clinks blog about the unique context of criminal justice policy in Wales, where devolved issues like health and education interact with a justice system still managed by central government. This context creates a need to work not just across departments, but also across governments. Martin discusses the way in which integrated working has been promoted through the Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015, and the anticipation of further devolution of powers over policing and youth justice to the Welsh government.
The Art of Recovery: the role of the arts in recovery from addiction. Former Clinks Policy Officer Elaine Fischer attended an event to celebrate the 30th birthday of Geese Theatre Company, a team of theatre practitioners who facilitate drama-based group work to support people in contact with the criminal justice system. Elaine writes on how the arts can support recovery from addiction and desistance, particularly by creating a sense of community and belonging for participants.
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Get involved Become a Member | Follow Clinks | Join Mailing List
Contact Us www.clinks.org | info@clinks.org | 020 7383 0966
Written monthly by...
Will Downs
Clinks
© Clinks, 2018
Registered office: Clinks, Tavis House, 1-6 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9NA
Registered charity: 1074546 | Company limited by guarantee in England & Wales: 3562176