Clinks Light Lunch | Issue 397 | 3rd July 2015

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In this week's edition....

CLINKS OPPORTUNITY: voluntary sector experts sought

Clinks is seeking 10 senior experts from the voluntary sector working in criminal justice to form the Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) leadership board. The RR3 has existed since 2011 with the purpose of building a strong and effective partnership between the voluntary sector, the Ministry of Justice, and the National Offender Management Service to reduce re-offending. The chair for the group and its secretariat is provided by Clinks. Find out more here

CLINKS VACANCY: Development Officer - Families

Clinks has an exciting opportunity to lead Clinks’ work on families of offenders. This will include providing a lead on policy, promoting the work of families organisations to key stakeholders, and increasing their influence and voice. The closing date for applications is 22nd July. Find out more here 

CLINKS RESOURCE: updated TR webpages

We have updated our Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) webpages. While there is no new information to share from the Ministry of Justice, we have restructured the pages to ensure that the information continues to be well organised and easy to access. in this section of our website, you can also find details of our project to track the impact of TR on the sector. Visit the webpages here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: awards for prisoner rehabilitation

Prison Reform Trust is pleased to announce the launch of the Robin Corbett Award for Prisoner Rehabilitation, which celebrates outstanding rehabilitative work with prisoners done by a small charity or community group. Nominations are invited from prison governors and directors, with the emphasis on work that fosters personal responsibility and calls on people in prison, and ex-offenders, to help others through mentoring and such like. The closing date for nominations is 30th October. Find out more here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: new women’s centre opens

POPS has launched the Farida Women’s Centre in Oldham. The Centre has been set up to provide a range of services and support to women offenders/ex-offenders and their families at all stages of the Criminal Justice System. It provides advice, guidance and referrals for issues such as housing and accommodation, employment and training, debt, children and families, domestic violence and mental health. Find out more here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: prisoners’ family and friends service scoops award

Emailaprisoner, which helps family and friends communicate easily with prisoners to maintain relationships that are key to reducing reoffending, has been awarded ‘Best Citizen App’ and has also been recognised with the award of the overall 2015 Digital Leader at the National Digital Awards. Founded by Derek Jones, an ex-offender, Emailaprisoner is an international success story operating through the UK, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. Find out more here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: research paper wins prestigious honour

RAPt's recent research paper 'Predicting recidivism for offenders in UK substance dependence treatment: Do mental health symptoms matter?' was recently awarded the prestigious honour of ‘Outstanding Paper of 2014’ by the Journal of Criminal Psychology. To celebrate the achievement, the publishers of the journal, Emerald Insight, have now made it freely available to the public for one year. Download the paper here

CLINKS MEMBER’S NEWS: UN Committee on the rights of the child

The Howard League for Penal Reform put a submission to the UN on the UK’s compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Policy Advisor, Jenny Edwards said: "The Howard League was awarded special consultative status with the United Nations in 1947. We have submitted evidence to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on deteriorating safety levels in children’s prisons, ahead of the periodic review of the UK government’s compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child." View the submission here 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: learning from serious incidents with young people

HMI Probation has published 'An Inspection to Assess the Effectiveness of the Reporting, Monitoring and Learning from the Youth Justice Board's Community Safeguarding and Public Protection Incident Procedures' which found that despite some promising practice, more needed to be done to learn lessons from serious incidents involving children known to Youth Offending Teams. Download the report here

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: changing prisons, saving lives

The ‘Harris Review: Changing Prisons, Saving Lives' provides an independent review into self-inflicted deaths of 18-24 years olds in National Offender Management Service (NOMS) prison custody, led by Lord Toby Harris. Lord Harris said: “listening to the harrowing stories of families who have lost their loved one through a self-inflicted death in custody has been a humbling experience, and one that the panel and I will remember for a long time. We will also remember the frank, insightful, and often very brave, accounts given to us by the young adults who were, or who still are, in custody.” Download the report here

COMMISSIONING: services to prison visitor’s centres

Bookings are now being taken for two market engagement events for the commissioning of services to prison visitors’ centres [14th July, London & 20th July, Manchester], as mentioned in last week’s Light Lunch. To secure a place at one of the events, please email the name of your organisation, the number of attendees (max. two per organisation) and your preferred date and location to procurement.operationalservices@noms.gsi.gov.uk

CLINKS MEMBER'S EVENT: Liaison and Diversion services

Do you want to provide Liaison and Diversion (L&D) services? Nacro, Revolving Doors Agency and Centre for Mental Health, as part of the Offender Health Collaborative (OHC), are delivering a series of WebExs (online meetings) [8th, 9th and 13th July] to promote awareness of L&D and understand the market appetite for providing services. Liaison and Diversion services offer an exciting opportunity to change the lives of the most vulnerable people who come into contact with the Criminal Justice System. NHS England intends to roll out L&D services across the full English population by April 2017. They recognise that providing services that deliver outcomes to communities and service users requires a mixed economy of providers, with strong voluntary sector representation. Find out more here

CLINKS MEMBER'S EVENT: veterans in the Criminal Justice System

'Being a veteran in the Criminal Justice System' is a NoOffence! event [14th July, Liverpool, from £50] that will explore the recent Ministry of Justice statement that "every prisoner coming into custody will be asked if they have been a member of the armed forces". The day will ask what difference this will actually make to the experience of veterans both within the Criminal Justice System and upon leaving the system. Delegates will also discuss how important the identity of a veteran is; does the shift from military to civilian life and the associated shift in identity play a part in the numbers of veterans within the Criminal Justice System; how do professionals within the system navigate this identity, how do they perceive veterans within criminal justice and how does this perception impact on practice? Find out more and book your place here 

CLINKS MEMBER’S EVENT: introducing restorative justice to the judiciary

'Restorative justice - a national event for the judiciary' is a Restorative Justice Council event [9th October, London, free] that will offer an insight into restorative justice, the benefits it can bring and the options for its use within the jurisdiction of the court. Delegates will learn what restorative justice involves, which cases are appropriate and will hear directly from victims and offenders who have taken part in the process. Light Lunch readers are welcome to attend, with places not limited to the judiciary. Find out more and book here 

NON-MEMBERS’ EVENTS & TRAINING

  • 'Joining up prison education: integration and re-integration' | 24th July, London, free | Details 

PUBLICATION: effective resettlement of young people

‘Effective Resettlement of Young People: Lessons from Beyond Youth Custody’ is a new Nacro report that reveals how the system of helping young people leaving custody is failing hundreds of young people every year. It highlights how reoffending rates remain stubbornly high and warns that more needs to be done to help these young people get their lives back on track. Download the report here

PUBLICATION: gender-sensitive approaches to youth offending

'Exploring the impact of gender-sensitive approaches to youth offending' identifies five principles for building a gender-sensitive response to youth offending in general, and abuse between young people specifically, built upon policy and practice encountered in New Zealand, Australia and Brazil. Principles include changing and engaging communities, creating safety, enabling youth leadership and acknowledging the cultural tapestries of young people's lives and communities. The report was written by Carlene Firmin as part of her Winston Churchill Fellowship. Download it here 

BLOG: offender health commissioning

Russell Webster has posted a blog about Public Health England's (PHE) 'Health and Justice Report' for 2014. It details the work of the PHE Health and Justice Team which is responsible for providing expert public health advice, guidance and support tools to NOMS and NHS England to support commissioning for offenders. Read Russell's insight into this report here 

OPPORTUNITY: support a prisoner family research project

'Prison & the Family' is a research study looking at the lives and experiences of families with a Mum in prison. The research examines how processes within women’s prisons are perceived to impact on mothering and the family, from the perspectives of family members both inside and outside prison. At present, the study is trying to identify two groups of family members in the community to take part in an informal interview as part of the research; caregivers of female prisoners’ children (under 18 years) and young people (aged 15-18) who's Mum is in prison. If you are working in an organisation interested in supporting the researcher to identify family members, and/or would like more information about taking part, then please visit the website

CLINKS MEMBERS' VACANCIES

Member vacancies this week include: a Female Independent Health Advocate with Wish [Sheffield], a Mentor with Switchback [London], a Projects Coordinator with IARS [London], a Student Support Worker with Clean Break [North London], 2 x Support Assistants and 2 x Support Workers with Foundation [North Tyneside], a Support Worker with Changing Lives [Blyth] and a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner Trainee with Lancashire Women’s Centres [Lancashire]. For further information about these vacancies, and many more, click here

TIPS OF THE WEEK

  • Tip of the week I: Possibly of interest to prison service colleagues: if you wear a uniform at work, and have to wash, repair or replace it yourself, you may be able to reclaim £100s of tax from the past four years. Find out more here 
  • Tip of the week II: Get a Boots meal deal every Monday from 10am to 3pm for £1 via the O2 Priority Moments app. Simply show the code from the app to staff at the checkout. Details 
  • Tip of the week III: Get two nights' accommodation, meals and drinks at a choice of UK hotels from just £89 per person. Details

EXTRA INFORMATION

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Contact Us www.clinks.org | info@clinks.org | 020 7383 0966

 

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