Consultation launched: Strengthening probation, building confidence
The Ministry of Justice has announced an eight-week public consultation on the future of probation.
Clinks welcomes this announcement. Our TrackTR research on the voluntary sector's engagement in Transforming Rehabilitation shows that the voluntary sector is under represented, under pressure and under resourced and calls for the Ministry of Justice to openly consult on the purpose and structure of probation - we are pleased they are now doing so.
Clinks’ Chief Executive Officer, Anne Fox, said:
"It is timely for the Ministry of Justice to take the decision to terminate current contracts in 2020 and take steps to stabilise current arrangements. Research from Clinks and others indicates that probation services, and the voluntary sector's role in them, are currently unsustainable and not able to deliver to the quality we would like to see.
"Looking to the future, this is an opportunity to address serious limitations in the current system and ensure that the voluntary sector’s knowledge and skills are properly utilised in support of the high quality probation services needed. We will however need to be confident that the final proposals adequately address the current problems in the system and do not represent tweaking around the edges. We look forward to working with the Ministry of Justice to ensure this is not the case."
The governments' consultation acknowledges that the current system has presented challenges for the voluntary sector, despite the central role which was outlined in the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms. We hope that this consultation signals the start of a genuine co-design process for future commissioning and partnership arrangements between probation services and the voluntary sector so that the lessons of the current system are learnt from.
Find out more...
- Read our blog exploring the proposals and their implications for the voluntary sector
- Read our press release
- Read the Ministry of Justice’s full consultation document.
Come to the events...
- Book on one of Clinks’ events for the voluntary sector to find out more about the proposals and feed in your views [20th August, Bristol | 22nd August, York | 28th August, London | free]
- Book on one of Ministry of Justice’s events happening this week for those interested in providing probation services in the future [2nd August, London | 3rd August, Manchester | free]. HM Prisons and Probation Service in Wales is organising separate events. Register on the Bravo portal to see the details.
Look out for...
- A detailed Clinks briefing for members on the proposals
- A Clinks consultation response (We encourage other voluntary sector organisations to respond too. The deadline is 21st September).
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