![Health and Justice bulletin](/sites/default/files/emails/Health-and-Justice_2.png)
In this month's edition...
We’d like to welcome Spencer Bundschuh, who has joined Clinks as the Health and Justice Policy and Development Officer in September. He is joining our policy team to support Clinks’ influencing work to represent and advocate for the voluntary sector in criminal justice.
The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) convened a meeting of its Special Interest Group on Covid-19 in August. This was attended by officials from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to discuss regime reform, the Stage 1 Framework and structured on-wing activity. Find the meeting notes here
Cabinet reshuffle and ministerial changes
Last week, a ministerial reshuffle saw Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP appointed as Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice; and Victoria Atkins MP appointed as Minister of State in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Tom Pursglove MP and James Cartlidge MP have both been appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the MoJ. Maggie Throup MP has been appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Health and Social Care, with responsibilities including health inequalities, prevention and primary care. Clinks will write to all relevant ministers, offering our support to help them engage effectively with the voluntary sector working in criminal justice in the design and delivery of services. See more about ministerial appointments here
New membership of the Health and Wellbeing Alliance
The government has welcomed new members to the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) Health and Wellbeing Alliance, of which Clinks is a member, alongside National Voices, Age UK, Barnardo’s, Friends, Families and Travellers, Homeless Link, Samaritans and many more. Backed by £2 million a year, the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance works together to promote good health and tackle inequalities across the UK. The refreshed 19 Alliance members will ensure strong representation across a broad range of lived experiences. They will represent the views of social care workers and older people, people bereaved by suicide, children and young people, those with mental health conditions, LGBTQ+ communities and racially minoritised communities, including Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities. Find out more here
Spending Review
The Chancellor has launched the Spending Review 2021, which will conclude on 27th October 2021 alongside an Autumn Budget and set out the government’s spending priorities for parliament. At the Spending Review, the government will set out how it aims to Build Back Better, deliver the priorities of the British people and continue to support businesses and jobs through ensuring strong and innovative public services - including by investing in the NHS, education, the criminal justice system and housing. Read more here
Women in prison inquiry hears evidence on health
The Justice Committee inquiry on women in prison held an evidence session looking at women’s health in prison. The witnesses were Jenny Talbot, Chair of the National Women's Prisons Health and Social Care Review; Dr Cath Durkin, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust; and Dr Amanda Brown, GP at Her Majesty’s Prison Bronzefield. Witnesses spoke about the prevalence of complex physical and mental health needs amongst women in prison, including issues stemming from or exacerbated by experiences of homelessness, substance misuse and trauma. Witnesses suggested community alternatives to prison such as Community Sentence Treatment Requirements should be better utilised, and encouraged better sharing of health information across agencies. Read the transcript or watch the session here
Health and justice network
Join Clinks for the next health and justice network meeting [19th October, online, free]. This meeting is for organisations that deliver health services to people in contact with the criminal justice system, including mental and physical health services, substance misuse services, pregnancy and maternity services, services for older people, and services relating to learning disabilities. These meetings discuss health needs and inequalities facing people in the criminal justice system and how voluntary sector services address them. Information gathered at these meetings can be used to inform Clinks’ policy work. Read more here
Clinks Annual Conference
Bookings are now open for our annual conference and AGM 2021: Building a better future [23rd-25th November, online, free]. At this critical moment, there are opportunities for voluntary organisations in the criminal justice system to not only recover, but to learn from how services have adapted, build on new ways of working, and ultimately shape a better future for the people we support. Our annual conference is packed full of workshops, talks and panel discussions, with the chance to hear from key policy makers and voluntary sector leaders. Speakers will be announced in October. Find out more and book your place here
Explaining Health Reform
The Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) coalition has published a briefing examining ongoing structural changes to public health and social care reform, including looking at the Department of Health and Social Care’s Health and Care Bill, which is currently going through parliament. The briefing sets out how these upcoming health reforms in England might impact people facing multiple disadvantage, examining central health function reforms, changes to the local structure of health bodies and how services will be commissioned. This is the latest of a series of “policy into practice” briefings that analyse the likely impact of national policy developments on people facing multiple disadvantage. MEAM is a coalition of Clinks, Homeless Link, Mind and associate member Collective Voice. Read the briefing here
Impact of Covid-19 restrictions on women in prison
The Prison Reform Trust has published a briefing on the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on women in prison. The briefing is heavily based on evidence collected directly from women in prison from May 2020 to May 2021 and includes many first-hand accounts from those directly affected. It highlights in particular the negative mental health and wellbeing impact of restricted regimes which saw women often locked up for 23 hours a day without access to work, training or rehabilitation, and without visits from family and loved ones. The briefing highlights examples of helpful practices in different prisons, including on access to healthcare under restricted regimes, and also makes a number of recommendations on how women’s mental health can best be supported as regimes recover. Read the briefing here
Prison, probation, and the pandemic - coming out of Covid-19
Following a series of virtual events discussing the transition out of Covid-19 for those in prison and on probation earlier this year, User Voice has published a report summarising the events and the findings of its engagement with 23,000 service users over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the peer-led solutions put forward as a result. User Voice brought together its National Service User Council and sector leaders Amy Rees, Director General of Probation and Wales, Stephen O’Connell, Deputy Director of prisons and Kate Davies, Director of Health and Justice, Armed Forces and Sexual Assault Referral Centres for NHS England. Read the full report here and watch the event videos here
Families of Prisoners
POPS (Partners of Prisoners and Family Support Group) has published a report which shines a light on the challenges facing families with a loved one in prison during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Get it Off Your Chest report is part of a campaign launched in May 2021 which aimed to provide space for families of prisoners from across the UK to feel heard, and to be able to share their thoughts, hopes and concerns in a safe and supportive environment. The content of the report has been driven entirely by the families who contributed to the campaign. It covers lockdown, health and release, recognising the diversity in experiences of families supporting a loved one through a prison sentence. Read it here
The criminal justice aspects of the Judicial Review and Courts Bill
Transform Justice has prepared a briefing on the criminal justice aspects of the Judicial Review and Courts bill. The briefing looks at how plans to expand online conviction processes could threaten defendants’ rights to a fair trial and effective participation. Defendants - many unrepresented - will enter their plea online, potentially without understanding their options or the huge implications of pleading guilty. Automated justice may particularly disadvantage disabled and low-income defendants. Read the briefing here
Covid-19 and Probation Updates
All national pauses put in place earlier this year across the Probation Service in response to Covid-19 have now been lifted. This now enables wider delivery for more people on probation, although detailed risk assessments remain in place. With the easing of restrictions in Wales, which took place on 7th August, the Probation Service is currently evaluating what this means for Exceptional Delivery Models within Wales in line with Public Health Wales and Welsh Government guidance. Stay up to date on Covid-19 and the criminal justice system through our dedicated webpage here
Restorative thinking at work
Restorative Thinking has produced a short e-Learning Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course: Restorative Thinking at Work [Anytime, online, cost dependant on number of participants and level of support needed]. The course is for people working in social care, healthcare, housing, community services, education and prison and probation services, and those managing the wellbeing of their team/s. The course offers flexibility for workforce training, with all staff having their own link to the course, and the opportunity to return to the course as often as needed. Learning outcomes focus on improving relationships and communication to support a better way of working within and between teams and with people who engage with your services. Find out more here
Dependency and recovery in London
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Probation Service are considering running a call-off competition through the Probation Service Dynamic Framework for a provider of a dependency and recovery service across the London probation region. The MoJ will be conducting market engagement to explore opportunities for the delivery of this service. There are four elements within this that the MoJ wishes to explore: provision of cannabis and other psycho-active drugs as ‘unstructured’ interventions; provision of Alcohol Brief interventions; provision of wraparound support and brokerage services for relapse prevention, engagement and screening services; and improved liaison with treatment services. Further information can be found on the MoJ esourcing portal via PQQ_205 here
The CSTR programme in action: Northamptonshire
Third in a series of blogs on the Community Sentence Treatment Requirements (CSTR) programme, this blog by Clinks and Nacro focuses on the Northamptonshire site, looking at how it became a CSTR site, what the team has learnt, and how service users benefit from this change. For our third and final site visit in March 2021, Clinks met with Angie Kennedy, CEO of C2C Social Action, an organisation that supports people through the criminal justice system, and her team at the Northamptonshire CTSR site. This site provides a women’s specific CSTR programme with C2C Social Action running a women’s centre where they deliver the CSTRs. Read more here
Prison Leavers Innovation Challenge
In May 2021, the Prison Leavers Innovation Challenge set the tech sector six ‘challenge statements’ to solve, based around some of the key areas which can impact prison leavers on release. The outcome of the Innovation Challenge has now been revealed and nine suppliers have been awarded up to £25,000 funding to develop their solution over the next eight weeks. Proposed solutions include an app to help people leaving prison keep track of medical appointments and an online tool to assist with screening for brain injury. Suppliers include a range of consortia across the tech sector, voluntary sector and academia, including several Clinks members - The Disabilities Trust, St Giles Trust, Offploy and The Shannon Trust. Find out more on Russell Webster’s blog here
Get involved Become a Member | Follow Clinks on Twitter
Contact Us www.clinks.org | info@clinks.org | 020 7383 0966
About Clinks Health and justice bulletin
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 2,428 subscribers.
To submit content, or have comments or ideas about how this ebulletin could be improved, please email nicola.drinkwater@clinks.org
Click here to manage your subscriptions. For assistance, email info@clinks.org
![Clinks logo](/sites/default/files/emails/clinks_logo_strap_rgb_med-res_0.png)
© Clinks, 2021
Registered office: Clinks, Block C, 5th Floor, Tavistock House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JJ
Registered charity: 1074546 | Company limited by guarantee in England & Wales: 3562