Clinks Members’ Policy Briefing | February 2015
In this month's edition...Policy news
What if…there was no voluntary sector? We have published our 2014 annual review, looking at what has been achieved, and thinking about the year ahead; providing insight into the important work of our growing membership and highlighting some of the services that change thousands of lives every day. We show where we are giving voice to the voluntary sector on issues that matter for them and their service users. To make it easier for you to connect with everything we are doing, Clinks has created a user-friendly webpage to explore our work which you can access here.
Parole Board for England and Wales: Triennial Review report The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has carried out a Triennial Review of the Parole Board for England and Wales which acknowledges a continued role for it as an Executive Non Departmental Public Body. Clinks submitted evidence to the review highlighting the importance of the Board’s continuing role as an independent body and also argued that this should remain a national and not a local function. Finally, we suggest that the Parole Board could increase its engagement with the voluntary sector in order to benefit from the sector’s expertise. To read our full response to the consultation click here.
Styal prison opens new open unit A unit has been set up just beyond the prison gate at HMP Styal that will house 25 female offenders in open conditions.
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling gave a speech on Conservative justice policy This keynote speech gives details of current prison policy including information relating to secure colleges, and outlines that mental health ‘is the next big challenge that we have to address in our Criminal Justice System.’ The speech was delivered at an event jointly hosted by the Prison Reform Trust and Centre for Social Justice on 26th January 2015, and follows similar speeches given by Labour’s Sadiq Khan and Liberal Democrat minister Simon Hughes.
Partnership working
Making partnerships work for you: A brief guide for the voluntary sector This guide highlights some of the issues that could arise in developing partnerships, and some of the benefits voluntary sector organisations should be looking to secure from partners. It includes important principles that will apply in new Transforming Rehabilitation arrangements across sectors, across other contracting opportunities, and in other areas of your work. Written by ACEVO and Candour Collaborations, in partnership with Clinks, the guide also offers advice on how to consider the partnerships that you are entering into, or the ones you would like to develop.
Criminal Justice Statistics
Breakdown of reoffending of offenders released from short custodial sentences This briefing presents a breakdown of already published information to show the proven reoffending by offenders released from short custodial sentences (less than 12 months) in 2012. The statistics, published by the MoJ, are broken down by type of reoffence and month of reoffence in the 12 month follow-up period.
Reoffending by offenders on Community Orders This report gives findings on levels of reoffending among people who received community orders. Published by the MoJ, the report also looks at the factors associated with reoffending, including the person’s needs, attitudes and their relationship with their offender manager.
The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on reoffending This statistical report shows that short-term custody, without supervision on release, was consistently associated with higher rates of proven re-offending than community orders and suspended sentence orders. The report is published by the MoJ and analyses data from Offender Assessment System (OASys) assessments, probation and re-offending, and tax and benefit systems.
Proven reoffending statistics quarterly bulletin This report, published by the MoJ, gives proven reoffending statistics for England and Wales between April 2012 and March 2013. It shows proven re-offending statistics for adult and juvenile offenders who were released from custody, received a non-custodial conviction, received a caution or received a reprimand or warning.
Interim re-conviction figures for Peterborough and Doncaster PbR pilots In this bulletin published by the MoJ, the interim figures for HMP Peterborough correspond to 6 month re-conviction figures. They cover offenders released in the first 18 months of the cohort 2 period (the entire cohort 2 comprises 24 months). For HMP Doncaster, this bulletin presents interim figures corresponding to 12 months re-conviction rates for the first 6 months of the cohort 2 period (the entire cohort 2 comprises 12 months).
Safety in custody bulletin This report shows statistics about deaths, self-harm and assaults in prison custody in England and Wales. The statistics, published by the MoJ and National Statistics cover a 12 month period to the end of September 2014 for self-harm and assaults; and a12 month period to the end of December 2014 for deaths.
Offender management statistics quarterly: July to September 2014 This bulletin provides the latest statistics about offenders who are in prison or being supervised in the community in England and Wales. It covers flows into and out of these services as well as the caseload of both probation and prisons at specific points in time. Published by the MoJ and National Statistics, key findings include: the prison population has continued to increase, at an annual growth of around 1%; the number of individuals released on temporary licence (ROTL) has continued to fall; and the number of people starting community orders fell by 7%.
Youth Justice annual statistics 2013 to 2014 This publication gives data for the number of young people in the Youth Justice System in England and Wales in 2013/14, their offences, their outcomes and the trends over time. Published jointly by the MoJ, the Youth Justice Board (YJB) and National Statistics, the main findings include: the average population in custody has reduced by 21% in the last year; the number of first time entrants to the system fell by 20% in the last year; and the number of proven offences committed by young people that resulted in a caution or conviction reduced by 8% in the last year.
Justice Data Lab statistics This report gives the latest findings from the Justice Data Lab, and summarises the requests for re-offending information through the Justice Data Lab for the period 2nd April 2013 to 31st December 2014. Published by the MoJ, the report also provides links to the individual reports published to date.
Women and girls
Working it out: employment for women offenders This briefing paper summarises research on employment opportunities and outcomes for women offenders; identifies the particular barriers they often face; and highlights good practice in the community and in custody. Published by the Prison Reform Trust, the briefing highlights that women’s centres, by providing services and supervision to women on community orders, are ideally placed to support women to build the skills, training and confidence they need whilst maintaining community links.
Empower, resist, transform This collection of essays argues that women facing criminalisation and gender-based violence are repeatedly failed by society. They describe the shortcomings of criminal justice approaches that often replicate and reinforce inequalities, and offer a critical and gendered analysis to the challenges of radically scaling back criminal justice. The essays are published by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, as part of the Justice Matters project.
Multiple and complex needs
Hard Edges: Mapping Severe and Multiple Disadvantage in England This report draws together previously separate datasets from homelessness, offending and substance misuse treatment systems. It also takes into account available data around mental health and poverty. Published by LankellyChase Foundation with Heriot-Watt University, the report delivers the latest and most comprehensive statistics on people facing severe and multiple disadvantage in England: where they live, what their lives are like, how effectively they are supported by services, and the economic implications of the disadvantages they face. Nathan Dick, Head of Policy and Communications at Clinks, blogged about the report; read it here.
Comprehensive services for complex needs: a summary of the evidence This report assesses the evidence for three programmes designed to work directly with people facing multiple and complex needs: multisystemic therapy; wraparound; and the link worker model. Published by Revolving Doors Agency and Centre for Mental Health, the report demonstrates that some of the most excluded and disadvantaged people in society can be effectively helped through better, more targeted support.
Criminal Justice System
Integrity matters: An inspection of arrangements to ensure integrity and to provide the capability to tackle corruption in policing This report sets out Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies (HMIC) findings on the capability of police forces in England and Wales to tackle misconduct. The report found no evidence to suggest corruption is endemic within the police service in its inspections and says that the overwhelming majority of officers and staff are honest and professional. However, there were some issues of concern around consistency and some forces lacked the capability to proactively seek out and prevent corruption.
Prison Service Journal: 217 This issue features articles based on the 2014 Perrie Lectures entitled ‘Making sense of life sentences.’ Titles of articles include: Reforming Life Sentences by Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Beith; Life sentences in custody and beyond by Clinks Trustee Lucy Gampell; and an interview with Juliet Lyon, Director of the Prison Reform Trust.
Foreign National Offenders
Managing and removing foreign national offenders This report by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts says that there has been a failure to improve the management and removal of foreign national offenders. The report makes a number of recommendations, including the Home Office should set out how it will improve the management of foreign national offenders, the specific measurements against which it expects to be held accountable and the progress it expects to make against each measure in the future.
Travellers
Learning lessons on Traveller deaths in prison This bulletin gives details of the specific issues and barriers faced by Travellers in prison and gives recommendations or lessons to be learned to ensure the needs of this group are met. Published by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, the recommendations include: prisons ensuring that they identify and record Travellers at reception; prison equality groups (or equivalent) should have both a prisoner and staff member representing the needs of Travellers; and prisons should ensure that information and support to maintain family ties are given to prisoners and families.
Blogs
Keeping the spotlight on women and girls in the CJS The recently published Criminal Justice Joint Inspection report into girls in the Criminal Justice System (CJS), finds that the needs of women offenders remain overlooked due to the low numbers within the CJS. Written by Louise Clark, Local Development Officer at Clinks and Nicola Drinkwater, Policy Officer also at Clinks, the blog looks at other recent reports that echo this message and that make recommendations to ensure the spotlight is kept on this issue.
Could social investment be a useful tool for the sector? In this Clinks guest blog, we hear from Christine Chang at Big Society Capital who has just published a short paper reflecting on how social investment could be used to support organisations in the UK working in the CJS and with the people it affects.
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