In this month's edition...
Clinks offers support on health and justice to re-appointed health minister
Following the outcome of the general election, Clinks has been working to determine the direction of policy and priorities for the new government. We will continue to provide our network with timely updates and work to respond to national policy developments on behalf of our members and the people they support. One area of stability has been the re-appointment of all ministers at both the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Clinks has written to each minister in the MoJ, and to Nadine Dorries MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Patient Safety at DHSC, to congratulate them and to offer our support in working together to improve outcomes for people in the criminal justice system.
Sentencing council launch drug offences consultation
The Sentencing Council is consulting on the sentencing guidelines for drugs offences in England and Wales. This consultation specifically focuses on the sentencing of offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, and is informed by research on sentencing trends, which can be seen in The Sentencing Council’s recent report: Investigating the association between a person’s sex and ethnicity and the sentence imposed at the Crown Court for drugs offences. The Sentencing Council is seeking views on issues including the principal factors that make the offences more or less serious, additional factors that should influence the sentence, and the types and lengths of sentence that should be passed. The deadline for submission is 7th April. Read more here
Additional £35million for Violence Reduction Units
18 out of the 41 police and crime commissioners will receive an additional £35 million to continue funding specialist teams to tackle violent crime in their area. Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) bring together different organisations including police, local government, health, community leaders and other key partners to prevent serious violence by understanding its root causes. Work already under way from VRUs includes new virtual reality technology to teach young people about the dangers of getting involved in serious violence and putting community leaders in hospital Accident and Emergency departments to provide support to those involved in violence when they are most vulnerable. Read more about the additional funding for VRUs here
If you would like more information about any of these articles, or would like to include some of your own content (particularly events, resources, and blogs) relating to health and justice please contact Clinks’ Health and Justice Policy and Development Officer, Zahra Wynne, at Zahra.Wynne@clinks.org
Creative Festivals planning event
The London Arts in Health Forum is hosting a January planning event [31st January, London, free] prior to three festivals taking place throughout May 2020, to discuss and plan for the festivals and facilitate networking. The three festivals will focus on topics including creativity and wellbeing, mental health in young people and, ageing. The organisers would welcome events and activities in May that relate to any health, wellbeing or wellness issue or creativity more broadly. Read more and book your place here
Rethinking housing and health
The Faculty for Homeless and Inclusion Health is hosting its 8th national symposium on homelessness and health [11th and 12th March, London, price dependent on organisation], bringing together the latest international and national evidence and best practice in health, housing and public services for excluded people. The event, which runs over two days, will feature speakers such as Lord Victor Adebowale, and people from a variety of health, voluntary sector, social justice, and policy backgrounds. Topics will include women’s experiences of homelessness, substance misuse, safeguarding women involved in sex work, and integrated services for people experiencing homelessness. Read more and book your place here
National Probation Service staffing, workloads and facilities
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) has published a report on the central functions supporting the National Probation Service (NPS). From July 2018 to May 2019, HMIP inspected all seven divisions of the NPS. These regional inspections found many areas of good practice but also room for improvement. The report noted that priority needs to be given to addressing the many unresolved health and safety issues within probation premises. It also found only 63% of managers regard their staff as skilled in responding to and assessing those with diverse needs, such as black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people and those with mental health issues. Read the full report here
Sentencing for drug offences
The Sentencing Council has published findings from analysis of sentencing data to consider the association between someone’s sex and ethnicity and the sentence imposed at the Crown Court for supply, possession with intent to supply, and conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of classes A and B. The findings suggest that after controlling for many (but not all) of the main factors that sentencers are required to take into account, a person’s sex and ethnicity were associated with different sentencing outcomes. Black and Asian people were found to be more likely to receive an immediate custodial sentence for these offences than white people, and Asian people were found to receive longer sentences than white people. Read the full report here
The separation of children
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) has published the findings of its thematic inspection into the separation of children in young offender institutions. The inspection found that the experience of most children who had been separated amounted to solitary confinement. In the worst cases, children left their cells for just 15 minutes a day and were unable to access basic necessities including daily showers and phone calls. Some of the report’s recommendations were aimed at NHS England and Wales, including children who require a mental health assessment to receive one without delay, and children assessed as needing a mental health bed to be transferred within two weeks, as per national NHS guidelines. Read the full report here
The care of people who are transgender
The Ministry of Justice and HMPPS have published operational guidance on the care and management of individuals who are transgender, following on the from policy framework that was published in July 2019 in replacement of the 2016 Prison Service Instruction. The framework and operational guidance ‘ensures that transgender individuals are treated with respect and sensitivity while they are in custody, and that the safety of anyone in our care, transgender or not, is prioritised.’ Processes outlined in the operational guidance include those relating to local case boards for all people who disclose their transgender identity, risk assessment and risk management and gaining informed consent to disclose someone’s gender identity. Read the framework and operational guidance here
Community mental health
The Care Quality Commission, NHS England, and the Office for National Statistics have published a report on the findings of the 2019 community mental health survey. This looks at the experience of people who use community mental health services and evaluates their experiences of key areas including accessing care, crisis care, support and wellbeing – and how this varies for different groups of people. The report specifically notes the inequalities in those more likely to experience a mental health condition, including people in contact with the criminal justice system. This report shows that people’s experiences of mental health services remain poor across most of the areas mentioned above and many of these areas have shown a consistent declining trend since 2014. Read the full report here
The misuse of fentanyl
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has published a new report on the misuse of fentanyl, a powerful opioid that is increasingly being found in heroin supply. The report found that deaths registered as fentanyl-associated in England and Wales increased from 6 in 2008 to 74 in 2018, out of 2,917 drug-misuse related deaths. Recommendations from the report include harnessing a greater understanding of the growing fentanyl issue, by commissioning research. The risks from fentanyl are potentially significant for people in contact with the criminal justice system, with just over half of all adults in treatment in a secure setting reporting problematic use of opiates in 2019. The full report is available to read here
Public health commissioning in the NHS
NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care have published the NHS public health functions agreement 2019 to 2020, which outlines key annual public health functions to be exercised by NHS England. NHS England remain responsible for commissioning services for healthcare for people in secure and detained settings and have continued to commission for priority areas including services for stopping smoking, substance misuse, blood borne viruses, and physical health checks. Key deliverables for health and justice in 2019-20 include improving the uptake rate of the Health Checks in Prison Programme to the eligible population in adult prisons, and working closely with Public Health England to deliver a HPV vaccination pilot programme in a selected cohort of prisons. Read the full publication here
Trauma, challenging behaviour and restrictive interventions
The Centre for Mental Health has published a policy briefing on the impact of restrictive interventions in schools for children who have experienced trauma and are exhibiting challenging behaviour. It states that challenging behaviour is often a symptom of trauma, and that restrictive interventions can have a negative impact on mental health, which then often drives further challenging behaviour. This can in turn cause more trauma – for example, young people with a diagnosis of conduct disorder are more likely to be involved in criminal and antisocial activities, which are associated with a higher risk of trauma. The briefing supports the concept of trauma-informed schools, which seek to minimise the risk of adding to students’ traumatic experiences and help students to heal from past trauma. Read the briefing here
Children, young people and young adults
The Francis C Scott Charitable Trust is offering either a one-off grant of up to £4000 or multi-year grants exceeding £4000 to support charitable organisations who are working to enable young people from the most deprived areas of Cumbria and North Lancashire to achieve their potential in life. The Foundation is particularly interested in effective approaches to addressing the needs of children, young people and young adults (up to 24 years old) living in Cumbria and North Lancashire in areas including people suffering from mental health problems, those leaving the criminal justice system, and homelessness and its underlying causes. Applications close five weeks before the Trustees meeting in mid-March. Contact the Trust directly for deadline dates. Read more and apply here
Return to civilian life
Forces in Mind Trust focuses on ‘transition’, a term used to describe the process where service men and women, as well as their families and dependants, make their individual preparations to leave the Armed Forces and return back to civilian life. The trust is offering grants to assist with issues relating to health and wellbeing and mental health, with a particular interest in ex-service personnel in the criminal justice system. Read more about the funding opportunities and Forces in Mind here
Who the voluntary sector supports
Clinks conducts annual research on the voluntary sector working in the criminal justice system. Following the launch of the State of the sector 2019 report, Clinks’ Policy Officer Lauren Nickolls has written a blog looking at the people that the voluntary sector supports. Findings from the research demonstrate the multiple disadvantages and range of challenges faced by people in contact with the criminal justice system. Two thirds of organisations said that they support people with substance misuse issues, and over half said they support people who are homeless. With rising demand and reducing funding, a number of systemic issues are forcing people into more vulnerable positions and leaving them at crisis point. Read the full blog post here
The services provided by the voluntary sector
This is the second in a series of blogs to help Clinks members digest the key findings from the state of the sector 2019 research. This blog takes a closer look at the services being provided by the sector. The research found that the top three primary areas of work delivered by voluntary organisations are: attitudes, thinking and behaviour (60%); emotional support (57%); and education/training/learning (53%). Additionally, 46% organisations cite mental health and 20% physical health as primary areas of work. The majority of referrals for voluntary sector services are from prisons (74%), but 37% come from local health services. You can read the blog here
Moving hearts and minds
Clinks organised an event: ‘An insider’s view of prisons and probation in 2019’ in December 2019, which was hosted by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, William Russell. The event looked to showcase the vital work of voluntary sector criminal justice organisations to an audience of funders. This blog gives an overview of the event, which featured presentations, a short play and music from Clinks’ members who gave an insight into the lives of the people that they work with every day. The audience heard about the multiple disadvantages that people in contact with the criminal justice system often face – and the impact of poverty, abuse, mental ill health and substance misuse on their lives. Read the blog and learn more about the event here
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This regular bulletin provides Clinks members with the latest news for voluntary organisations involved in the health and care of people in the criminal justice system. It currently has 2,372 subscribers.
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