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Clinks Members' Policy Briefing | June 2018
- Policy work at Clinks
- Government announcements
- Publications
- Blogs
- Extra information
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Clinks attended the launch of the Ministry of Justice’s Education and Employment strategy at HMP Isis on 24th May. The strategy promises a new focus on work as having the potential to provide a foundation for a better life for people who have been in contact with the criminal justice system and includes a commitment to:
- Consult governors and employers on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through release on temporary licence
- Launch the New Futures Network to engage and persuade employers to take on ex-prisoners, with experts placed in every geographical prison group in a phased roll-out across England and Wales
- Empower governors in England to commission the education provision most likely to meet employers’ requirements and prisoners’ needs.
You can read Justice Secretary David Gauke’s speech to launch the strategy here. Jess Mullen, Clinks' Head of Policy, has written a blog to provide a summary of what’s in the Education and Employment strategy, what it means for the voluntary sector and how far its proposals go in unlocking opportunities for people in the criminal justice system. Alongside the launch of the strategy, the Ministry of Justice also published materials to encourage and support employers to employ people who have been in prison.
Clinks has signed a joint letter, alongside 13 other voluntary organisations, to Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport and Civil Society Tracey Crouch, setting out what we want to see in the government’s new cross-departmental Civil Society strategy. Clinks has responded to the government’s consultation on its Civil Society strategy, informed by a consultation event with our members. Our response sets out how the strategy can ensure that government works effectively with and supports voluntary organisations working in the criminal justice system. We will publish this in due course.
We held our women’s networking forum meeting, in partnership with Agenda, on 8th May. During the meeting we gave an update about government policy and developments and heard from Rachel Kinsella, Lecturer in the Policy, Evaluation and Research Unit at Manchester Metropolitan University about evidencing impact. We consulted attendees about the all-party parliamentary group on women in the penal system’s inquiry into the sentencing of women. We submitted our response to the inquiry and will publish it on Clinks’ website soon.
In October 2017, Clinks held a joint workshop with Crisis focused on the solutions needed to end homelessness for people in contact with the criminal justice system. The results from this workshop, alongside the information gathered during their Have Your Say policy consultation exercise across Great Britain’s three nations, have fed into the plan to end homelessness, which will be launched in June. Participants felt that prevention was the most important part of tackling homelessness in the long term, and that councils needed to focus their efforts on proactive prevention measures.
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Ministry of Justice consultation: parole decisions The Ministry of Justice is reviewing the law, policy and procedure relating to parole decisions. It is holding an open consultation which covers: the transparency of Parole Board decision making; victim involvement in Parole Board hearings; and law, policy, guidance and practice relating to challenges to Parole Board decision making. The deadline for submissions is 28th July 2018.
Oral evidence: prison provision in Wales The Welsh Affairs Committee heard oral evidence from Chief Inspector of Prisons, Peter Clarke, and Acting Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Elizabeth Moody. They discussed a range of issues including: the advantages and disadvantages of supersize prisons; the challenges people in Welsh prisons are experiencing in relation to accessing prescription drugs compared to people in English prisons; and issues of overcrowding.
Supplementary written evidence from Rory Stewart, Minister of State for Justice Following his appearance at the Justice Select Committee on 17th April to give oral evidence for their Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) Inquiry, the Minister has submitted supplementary written evidence. He includes information about contract management of Community Rehabilitation Companies, highlighting that based on figures for 2018/2019, this contract management function operates with an annual budget of approximately £4,900,000 and 80 staff in England and in Wales currently four staff are employed for this purpose, with an annual budget of £237,000. He also answers a question related to the involvement of voluntary organisations in TR, and states that the department are committed to promoting ‘the wider social sector involvement in probation.’
Westminster debate: Use of stop-and-search on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities A House of Commons debate on the disproportionate use of stop-and-search on BAME communities took place on 23rd May. Concerns were raised about how this erodes the trust young people from these communities have in the police and creates tension as well as making them less likely to provide the police with intelligence to help them fight crime. The Minister for Security and Economic Crime, Ben Wallace, said the situation has improved since the government introduced measures such as the 'Best Use of Stop and Search' scheme but recognised that every community is different and the importance of looking at the statistics at police force level.
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Criminal justice system
Ministry of Justice single departmental plan The Ministry of Justice has published its departmental plan setting out its objectives for 2018/19. It emphasises the importance of ‘getting the basics right’ in terms of ensuring prisons are safe, through introducing a key worker system and using incentives to encourage prisoners to reform, for example. It pledges to ensure a sustainable prison population through building confidence in community sentences and improving the quality of community sentence requirements. The departmental plan highlights that the Ministry of Justice will: introduce a cross-government ministerial group for reducing reoffending; implement an accommodation strategy; and work to meet the specific needs of female, young, black, Asian and minority ethnic people.
Criminal justice system statistics quarterly: December 2017 The Ministry of Justice has published its annual criminal justice statistics for 2017. The total number of people formally dealt with by the criminal justice system last year was 1.64 million, a record low. The proportion of people in the criminal justice system with a long history of cautions and convictions (15 or more) increased by 8% from last year and now accounts for 36% of people who have offended. The custody rate for people tried by jury (which includes violent and sexual offences and robbery) has been increasing since 2010, from 23.9% to 31.8%. Over the last 10 years, the average custodial sentence length for these offences has increased from 15.2 months to 20 months.
Do offender characteristics affect the impact of short custodial sentences and court orders on reoffending? The Ministry of Justice has published a report which finds reoffending was reduced for those serving court orders (community sentences and suspended sentences) compared to short custodial sentences. These effects were greater for: people with a large number of previous offences; people aged 18-20 and over 50; and people with ‘significant’ psychiatric problems.
Chief Inspector of Prisons demands urgent action from Justice Secretary to tackle violence and poor safety at HMP Exeter Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke issued an “urgent notification” notice for HM Prison Exeter, the second time this process has been used since it was introduced in November last year. This was following an inspection which found high levels of violence and self-harm and a serious failure to tackle safety issues. Justice Secretary David Gauke now has 28 days to reply explaining how conditions at HMP Exeter will be improved as a matter of urgency.
Inspection standards HM Inspectorate of Probation has launched a set of inspection standards, ratings and initial schedule of probation inspections. Following on from the consultation last year, which Clinks responded to, the standards are designed to drive improvement in youth offending and probation services. Inspectors are now able to rate the services they inspect, which will assist in the targeting of improvement activity.
Publication: Early progress in transforming courts and tribunals The National Audit Office has published a report which says that HM Courts and Tribunals Service "faces a daunting challenge in delivering the scale of technological and cultural change necessary to modernise the justice system and achieve required savings". It is therefore behind where it expected to be at this stage of its reform programme, which includes planned changes to make greater use of virtual courtrooms and reducing the number of full-time equivalent staff.
Procurement
The crisis in public sector contracting and how to cure it 3SC has published a report which highlights the challenges many small voluntary organisations experience in relation to current procurement processes. The reports states that what 3SC is “pushing for is more sensitivity in how services are procured and, within that, an explicit commitment, from Government, for third sector and smaller organisations to secure a reasonable share of the public procurement pie”.
Women
Still Dying on the Inside: Examining deaths in women's prisons Inquest has released a report about the deaths of women in prison, of which there have been 94 since 2007. The report says there has been a lack of action from successive governments and recommends that resources are redirected from criminal justice to welfare, health, housing and social care and that steps are taken to divert women away from the criminal justice system.
Mental health
Independent Review of the Mental Health Act: interim report The Department of Health and Social Care has published the interim report of the Independent review of the Mental Health Act. The review was set up to look at how the legislation in the Mental Health Act 1983 is used and how practice can improve. The interim report gives an update on the review’s findings and the areas it will explore next, which include how to streamline and speed up the process of transfer to and from hospital for prisoners and immigration detainees; the potential to reduce inappropriate use of custody for people with acute mental illness; and how to streamline and speed up decisions on release for transferred prisoners serving life or other indeterminate sentences.
Employment
More carrot, less stick: proposals for a radical reassessment of the use of release on temporary licence (ROTL) in prisons to support work, training and resettlement This Prison Reform Trust briefing analyses the current use of ROTL, highlighting that its use has significantly fallen in recent years and suggests ways in which a transformation might be brought about. It makes a series of proposals including: a presumption that prisoners in resettlement prisons should benefit from ROTL, subject to first achieving a period of negative drug tests; a reduction in the lie down period for eligibility for ROTL when moving to a new prison from three months to one month; and full use of ROTL being made for all resettlement purposes, including childcare resettlement licences.
Black, Asian and minority ethnic people
Trapped in the Matrix Amnesty International has published this report looking at the Metropolitan Police Service’s Gangs Matrix, which is a database of suspected gang members in London. The report raises concerns about how individuals come to be placed on the database, how the information is shared with other agencies, such as housing associations and schools, and the adverse effect being listed on the Matrix can have for the young black males who are disproportionately impacted.
Youth justice
Youth Justice Board (YJB) for England and Wales Strategic Plan 2018‒21 The YJB’s strategic plan sets out its vision and four aims for the youth justice system: to reduce the number of children; to reduce offending by children; to improve the safety and wellbeing of children; and to improve outcomes for children in the youth justice system. It explains how it will achieve these through: listening to children and practitioners; collaborating with minsters and strategic partners; and strategic programmes, such as the secure schools pilots.
Secure schools vision The Ministry of Justice has published a policy paper on its vision for secure schools. They will have 60-70 places and be located according to demand and close to the communities they serve. The first two will be in the North West and South East of England. The paper states that they will be more like schools that are secure than prisons that offer education, with visible security features kept to a minimum. They should provide holistic provision with personalised plans and integrated care, health and education services. They will be run on an academy school model, with the head teacher having high levels of freedom and accountability. The vision is that the schools should offer a smooth transition to the community, through temporary release and upon discharge.
Draft: How to apply guide for Secure Schools The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has published draft non-statutory guidance on applying to open secure schools. It sets out the government’s vision for secure schools as well as how prospective providers can submit their application and what it should contain. The MoJ invites comment on the model and asks specific questions on three aspects: inspection; what the major cost elements of the school budget would be and how much should be set aside for contingencies; and what aspects external performance measures should monitor. The deadline for comments is 30th July. The MoJ will hold an event in July, where potential providers can meet the Secure Schools team, and learn more about and influence the development of the secure schools model.
A life sentence for young people Unlock has published a report on the impact of criminal records acquired in childhood and early adulthood. It calls for a distinct system for children and a nuanced approach to young adults. Their survey of 318 people finds old and minor criminal records from childhood are routinely disclosed throughout adulthood, working life and beyond. Unlock recommends the government reviews the current system and implements a more proportionate regime.
More than a roof overhead Howard League for Penal Reform has published a report on what home means to children in trouble with the law. Following consultation with children in custody, the report says home is more than just shelter but a place where children can feel loved, cared for, safe and comfortable. The report says that it is essential to listen to children and to meet these needs if they are to settle into communities successfully and lead crime-free lives on release from prison.
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Health and wellbeing of women in prison: the destination’s great but how do we get there? This Clinks guest blog from Naomi Delap of Birth Companions looks at Public Health England’s recently published standards to improve the health and wellbeing of women in prison. It shares Birth Companion’s ideas on how some of the significant change which is needed across the criminal justice system might be achieved. She writes 'Women are still reporting being hungry, not having access to basic provisions such as breast pads, and waiting months for a decision on whether they will have a place on a Mother and Baby Unit.'
Under represented, under pressure, under resourced We have published the transcript of the presentation given by Clinks’ Chief Executive Anne Fox to launch our latest trackTR report. She says that the policy intention to involve the voluntary sector at the core of probation services has not been achieved and services are under-funded, with contracts at risk of failure and/or being subsidised by the voluntary sector. Voluntary organisations who took part in TrackTR believe the reforms have had a negative impact on their services and service users with unhelpful targets focused on volume rather than outcomes. The lack of clarity around what government should be funding has also affected the sector’s ability to raise funds from other sources. Clinks sets out 11 recommendations to address these challenges.
Two different countries, two different approaches Clinks’ Policy Officer Oonagh Ryder reflects on her visit to a youth custody institution run by the voluntary organisation Diagrama in Ciudad Real in Spain. She concludes by saying “in many ways, the Spanish context is very different to England. The increased autonomy of regional governments and devolved budgets encourage more joined-up work; services for children cannot be run for profit, meaning that commissioning processes must be made accessible for non-profit organisations; and restrictions on the length of sentences for children encourage a more future-focused approach.”
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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...
Elaine Fischer
Clinks
© Clinks, 2017
Registered office: Clinks, Tavis House, 1-6 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9NA
Registered charity: 1074546 | Company limited by guarantee in England & Wales: 3562176