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Clinks Members’ Policy Briefing | October 2016
In this month's edition...
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This month we have been working with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to understand their priorities under the new Secretary of State, Liz Truss. There is a renewed focus on safety, particularly staff safety, from the department and the key parts of Michael Gove’s prison reform programme are continuing to develop. Liz Truss outlined the direction of her leadership in her speech to the Conservative party conference on 4th October.
On 28th September, Clinks launched the Farmer Review of how family engagement in men’s prisons can reduce reoffending. Commissioned by the MoJ, the review is being led by Lord Farmer, working in partnership with Clinks. We are currently seeking written evidence from prisoners, families, organisations and professionals to inform the review. The call for evidence is open until 17th October. Clinks’ Chief Executive, Anne Fox, has written a blog introducing the review.
Earlier in the month, Nathan Dick, Clinks’ Head of Policy and Communications, gave evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee as part of the inquiry into support for ex-offenders. Nathan highlighted the importance of providing the right support to those who are outside of the labour market due to circumstances such as mental health problems and drug addiction, the impact of accommodation shortages and the difficulties faced by housing charities. AClinks’ members Unlock, Revolving Doors Agency and Working Chance also gave evidence.
The House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts has published its inquiry into Transforming Rehabilitation. It concludes that the reforms have not managed to open the probation system up to a wider group of providers, especially smaller voluntary sector organisations. The inquiry welcomes the recommendation that the Ministry of Justice and National Offender Management Service assess the health of the voluntary sector’s relationship with probation services. Our press release emphasises the importance of the voluntary sector to rehabilitation after prison and highlights the barriers that voluntary organisations have faced in engaging with Transforming Rehabilitation.
We have responded to the Justice Select Committee inquiry into prison reform, suggesting that the need for voluntary sector involvement in the early adopter prisons be recognised. We have also responded to the Lords Select Committee on Charities, highlighting the findings of our state of the sector report and the voluntary sector’s role in probation services.
We are currently preparing for our national conference and AGM, on 2nd November in London. To find out more and book a place, visit our website.
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Transforming our justice system This joint statement by the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals was published on 15th September. It announces a programme of reform to modernise Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. The statement puts forward three key principles for reform stating that the court system should be just, proportionate and accessible. It commits to the digitisation of the Criminal Justice System, with less need for face-to-face hearings and more paperwork to be available online. It also announces that the Ministry of Justice will unify the criminal courts under a single leadership structure and continue to explore the use of problem-solving criminal courts. The Government is consulting on these proposals until 27th October. You can respond to the consultation on their website.
Prison safety: Government’s Response to the Justice Select Committee’s Sixth Report of Session 2015-16 Liz Truss has responded to the Justice Select Committee’s report on prison safety, detailing what action the Ministry of Justice is taking. Her response states that the Government will publish a comprehensive prison safety and reform plan this autumn, which will include steps to improve safety and security. It also lists a number of current developments, including enhanced recruitment and training of prison officers, work to prevent the use of illicit phones in prisons and trialling of technology to combat drugs in prisons.
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Clinks publications
Clinks’ response to the consultation on Women in the Criminal Justice System in London: A Health Strategy Clinks responded to a consultation by the London Health in the Justice System and Other Vulnerable Adults Strategic Clinical Network on their draft strategy for improving health outcomes for women in contact with the Criminal Justice System in London. The response welcomes the overall direction of the strategy, which acknowledges the need for greater collaboration across the whole system to enable continuity of care, the need for a gender sensitive response to vulnerable women and a focus on building women's resilience, self-confidence and ability to manage their own health. The response also highlights the importance of including voluntary sector organisations as key strategic partners in order to achieve the ambitions set out in the strategy.
Clinks’ response to the Government’s consultation on new policy directions for the Big Lottery Fund: distribution of National Lottery money in England and UK-wide funding programmes In this response, Clinks suggests that the Big Lottery is mindful of the economic context in which its funding is utilised and considers the impact of changes in public spending on people’s lives and on voluntary sector organisations. It highlights the importance of considering the potential impact of withdrawal from the European Union on available funding for the work of the voluntary sector and emphasises the challenges facing some Clinks members due to the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, increasing the need for them to access core funding from a range of sources.
Clinks’ response to the Charity Commission’s consultation on the power to disqualify from acting as a trustee Clinks has worked alongside partners, such as Unlock and the Prison Reform Trust, to raise concerns on behalf of the voluntary sector about new powers granted to the Charity Commission under the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 to disqualify people with certain convictions or cautions from acting as trustees or being employed as senior managers in charities. The response makes a number of recommendations in relation to the Act of 2016, including ensuring that the Act complies with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, that the Charity Commission does not overstep its role in safeguarding, that guidance is published at least six months before the Act comes into force to enable charities and those with previous convictions to fully understand how they can comply with it and that an impact assessment of the Act is completed.
A summary of Clinks’ response to the consultation on the Carers Strategy This response to the NHS’s Carers Strategy draws attention to the specific difficulties facing carers of those in prison. It discusses the lack of consistency in involving family members in planning for a prisoner’s release and providing information about formal services in the community. It also suggests that prisons should make better use of release on temporary licence in order to support carers to maintain contact with their loved ones during a prison sentence. It argues that those caring for people who use new psychoactive substances will need additional support.
Criminal Justice System
An Inspection of Through the Gate Resettlement Services for Short-Term Prisoners HM Inspectorate of Probation has published a report investigating the effectiveness of through the gate resettlement services since the implementation of Transforming Rehabilitation. The report found that the strategic vision for Transforming Rehabilitation has not been realised, the needs of individual prisoners were not properly identified and planned for, not enough was being done to help prisoners to get ready for release or to manage risks, and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) had concerning rates of reoffending and recall to prison and unsatisfactory initial outcomes for basic needs. It recommends that the Ministry of Justice and the National Offender Management Service review the contractual requirements so that they better incentivise CRCs to develop their approach to the successful resettlement of prisoners.
Oral evidence to the Justice Select Committee: The work of the Secretary of State On 7th September, Liz Truss, the Secretary of State for Justice, gave evidence to the Justice Select Committee on her approach and priorities in her new role. She outlined three key aspects of her work: making prisons places of safety and reform, making sure the system works for all, and introducing a British Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act. She was questioned on a number of topics including reducing the prison population, Islamic extremism in prisons and the impact of Brexit on the justice system. She also discussed the importance of outcomes and stated that the Ministry of Justice will work with the Department for Education and the Department of Health on prevention to address the root causes of offending.
Life in Prison: Food This HM Inspectorate of Prisons findings paper is part of a series which focuses on daily life in prisons and young offender institutions (YOIs) holding young adults aged 18 to 21 years. The paper finds significant problems with the quality of food in prison, the amount prisoners receive and the times food is served, as well as insufficient provision for Muslim prisoners in particular. It recommends that the National Offender Management Service sets out minimal specific nutritional values and the conditions under which food is eaten in a binding Prison Service Instruction (PSI) regulation, ensures that governors place greater emphasis on providing opportunities for self-catering, and ensures that governors arrange meal times to reflect what is considered the norm in the community.
Connections: A review of learning from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Prison Reform Fellowships From 2010-2015, the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust funded Travelling Fellowships with a particular focus on prison reform across the world. This report, published by the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, takes the theme of connections and highlights some of the learning from these fellowships. It explores the theme through five sub-themes - family, constructive peer relations, problem-solving approaches to justice, a sense of self and responsibility, and arts and media - and looks at practice in different countries across each of these areas.
Wales
Justice in Wales: Principles, Progress and Next Steps This report, published by the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, sets out the key principles to be considered by the Justice Working Group. This group has been set up by the UK Government to consider the practical implications of increased devolution for Welsh law. The report discusses the Welsh context for each aspect of the Criminal Justice System, including the courts, the youth justice system, prisons and probation. Its recommendations include a formal concordat or memorandum, with a view to enhance clarity and co-operation between the Ministry of Justice and the Welsh Government, the devolution of administrative responsibilities over youth justice to ensure accountability, clarity and coherence and the establishment of a Standing Commission on Justice in Wales to keep arrangements under regular review.Families
Bridging the Gap: A Review of the Pact Family Engagement Service This review was carried out by the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology. It examines the processes and impact of Pact’s specialised casework service based in prison, which aims to build and maintain contact between prisoners and their family members. It finds that the Family Engagement Service makes a unique contribution to family engagement and is held in high esteem by all stakeholders - prisoners, family members and prison staff. The review recommends that Pact be utilised to contribute to the training of other professionals (such as social workers and prison officers), that staff from other voluntary agencies are familiar with Pact’s service and that Pact works closely with the visitors’ centre. It also suggests that prisons provide sufficient resources to ensure that family engagement work continues to operate in line with the principles for desistance focussed practice and that Pact ensure their staff are equipped to work with prisoners at risk of self-harm or suicide.
Women
A thematic inspection of the provision and quality of services in the community for women who offend This HM Inspectorate of Probation report provides key facts on women who offend and explores services for women who offend following the implementation of the Transforming Rehabilitation programme. It finds that probation staff are doing some excellent work, but are hampered by a lack of accommodation and funding for women. It recommends that the Ministry of Justice makes clear the sources and amounts of funding available to service providers, that the National Offender Management Service undertakes a national review of compliance against the gender-specific contractual requirements and that probation providers should provide clarity and focus to the strategic management, accountability and planning of services for women.
Home truths: housing for women in the criminal justice system This report, published by Women in Prison and the Prison Reform Trust, finds that 60% of women in prison may not have homes to go to on release, that hostel accommodation may expose women to potentially risky situations and that there is a lack of clarity and consistency about responsibility for housing women who have offended. It recommends that the Government implement a cross-government strategy to ensure that the housing pathway out of offending is delivered effectively by service providers in the Criminal Justice System and that local authorities provide appropriate single-sex housing for women on their release from prison. This housing should have direct access to health and other services that women need to facilitate reintegration into the community. The report also recommends that prison and probation services, in partnership with statutory and voluntary sector agencies, should ensure that through the gate support is available for woman in the lead up to and at the point of release.
Youth justice
Accommodation of homeless 16 and 17 year old children working with youth offending teams This HM Inspectorate of Probation report examines accommodation for homeless 16 and 17 year olds working with youth offending teams in England and Wales. In the 49 case studies used in the report, all the young people had experienced disturbing life events and had needs that could not be met solely through the provision of accommodation. The report recommends that the vulnerability of homeless 16 and 17 year olds is fully recognised by staff and that services are tailored to their individual needs, including their emotional well-being, that accommodation provided is safe and appropriate to their individual and assessed needs and Directors of Children’s Social Care develop systems to monitor and reduce the number of failed accommodation placements experienced by 16 and 17 year old homeless children.
Great Expectations: Towards better learning outcomes for young people and young adults in custody The Prisoners’ Education Trust have published this report in the wake of the Coates and Taylor reviews, focusing on the educational needs of young people and young adults. The report highlights the diverse needs of young people in custody and emphasises the specific issues facing young adults. Taking a holistic approach to the provision of education in custody, it outlines the barriers to learning outcomes and makes several recommendations for improvement, including adopting a broad definition of education linked to a clear theory of change, appointing a lead person at the Ministry of Justice to take forward this area of work and starting resettlement early on in a young person’s sentence to ensure a smooth transition to the community.
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The 10 (updated) Commandments of Payment by Results Following a substantial literature review, Russell Webster has updated his 10 commandments of payment by results. He has created an infographic to provide support to commissioners and those looking to bid for a service. Russell writes, “We still don’t have a clear indication of whether PbR as a model works or not; but we have a much better understanding of the factors which make some schemes successes and others failures.”
MEAM welcomes bold new strategy on poverty The Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) coalition – formed of Clinks, Homeless Link and Mind – has published this blog welcoming the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s new strategy We can solve poverty in the UK. The strategy sets out a comprehensive picture of the scale and challenge of poverty and highlights the specific challenges faced by people experiencing multiple and complex needs. The accompanying report to the strategy features York’s work using the MEAM Approach – a framework to help local areas design and deliver better coordinated services – and the Big Lottery Fund’s Fulfilling Lives programme.
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