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In this month's edition...
On Monday 6 February, Clinks published State of the sector 2022. This report explores the landscape of the criminal justice voluntary sector, as it emerged from the pandemic into an increasingly challenging operational environment. Our annual State of the sector research enables us to understand what organisations are experiencing and how developments in the criminal justice landscape and wider external environment are impacting them and their service users. Following the report's publication, Clinks' CEO, Anne Fox, chaired a meeting of Third Sector Strategic Partnership Board. At the meeting she presented our findings and led discussion with officials, funders, and other voluntary sector representatives on how the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) could better support voluntary organisations to deliver services, and the extent to which the challenges faced by the sector also affect the MoJ and HMPPS.
In January, Clinks co-signed the joint Civil Society Group Spring Budget submission 2023, which urged the government to take a number of steps to enable the voluntary sector to keep supporting communities in both the immediate and long term. These include supporting households by reducing benefit deductions, ensuring that all grants and contracts are uplifted in line with inflation, and cover the true cost of delivering commissioned public services; and providing grants for charities to improve energy efficiency.
Clinks are aware of concerns across the sector regarding delays to HMPPS grant and contract awards. HMPPS have informed us that, due to additional financial governance required as part of the government’s Efficiency and Savings Review announced in the Autumn Statement, they are unable to confirm a number of the planned grant and contract outcomes and awards at the current time. Incumbent contract and grant holders who are concerned about continuity of services for grants and contracts that are being recommissioned should receive information from their grant and contract managers. Any bidders currently engaged in ongoing competitions will receive information via the e-sourcing portal where there is an impact on the planned award dates. Exact arrangements will differ on a case-by-case basis and HMPPS have confirmed to us that they are working to address outstanding issues. For all other providers under contract or grant funding arrangements there are no changes at this present time. Clinks are continuing to raise with HMPPS, as a matter of urgency, the impact of these delays on the sector and the need to ensure investment in the voluntary sector into the next financial year and beyond. If you are concerned about this, please contact support@clinks.org.
The Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) has convened a special interest group on future regime design, advising HMPPS as they develop a new National Regime Model for prisons. A second meeting of the group took place on 20 January, where voluntary sector organisations advised on what role the voluntary sector could play in the new regime. A summary note from the meeting will be available on the Clinks website. The note from the first meeting in September is now available.
In February and March Clinks will be hosting a series of Stronger Voice expert seminars and a communications coffee morning. Find out more about the Stronger Voice expert seminars on our events page or via our socials on Twitter & LinkedIn. As part of the Stronger Voice project, 20 organisations have received free coaching from communications specialists. Thank you to all the organisations who applied for those opportunities.
Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan | We welcome the publication of the Ministry of Justice's delivery plan for the female offender strategy. It will allow for a renewed focus on meeting the needs of women in the criminal justice system (CJS). It outlines the plan for supporting women in the community, as well as a way of tracking progress and holding government to account on this commitment. As a member of the Women in the Criminal Justice System expert group, Clinks has fed into the delivery plan, highlighting the importance of considering intersectionality and the needs of racially minoritised women, and the need for clear data and metrics to measure progress. We are also pleased to see published progress updates on the Farmer Review for women and the Concordat for women in or at risk of contact with the CJS. Access all publications here.
Update on Neurodiversity action plan | The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published a six-month update on its Neurodiversity action plan following the independent review of neurodiversity in the criminal justice system. Progress has been made on the six recommendations, which included better data screening and specialist training for frontline staff. Another recommendation called for better working between agencies and other statutory and voluntary sector organisations. In response to this, the MoJ has run an Operational Working Group and Cross Government Working Group, to establish stronger relationships and adopt a consistent approach to supporting neurodivergent people at every stage. They have completed a series of voluntary sector round tables and lived experience forums, which fed into informing best practice, deliverables, and key initiatives.
Ethnic Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System | New research examining the independent effect of ethnicity on remand and sentencing outcomes has been published. It reveals that racially minoritised people are treated more harshly than White defendants in the court system. The report states that the extent of disproportionality varies considerably between ethnic subgroups within the Asian, Black, Mixed and White ethnic minority groups. Black Caribbean young men are far more likely to receive a custodial sentence compared with young men from all other groups. A custodial sentence is 41% more likely for Chinese defendants, 22% more likely for White and Black African defendants, between 16%-21% more likely for defendants from Asian groups, and between 9%-19% more likely for in the Black group compared with White British defendants. The research shows that even if racially minoritised people share the same demographic, social and case characteristics as those who are White British, they will not have equal criminal justice system outcomes.
Ministry of Justice Departmental Overview | The National Audit Office published its 2021-22 departmental overview for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), which includes the priorities for prison, probation, and court services. Regarding finances, the MoJ’s total expenditure was £12.4 billion, with 42% of this related to staff costs. The report remarks on the growing disparity between the demand and supply for criminal justice services which, according to the MoJ, results from the imposition of longer sentences following the introduction of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, as well as the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers. They suggest this could result in an additional 729,000 cases entering the system in the next decade. Staffing pressures will have a major impact on supply, as 7,250 permanent staff left HM Prison and Probation Service in 2021-22, a leaving rate of 12.6%.
Prisons
Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile: January 2023 | The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) has released the latest set of statistics on the criminal justice system in its flagship report. It examines sentencing and the use of custody, the state of prisons, people in prison, health in prison, rehabilitation and resettlement, as well as prison systems in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This edition’s “Long View”, tracks changes in the parole system, and what PRT Director, Peter Dawson, calls an example of “the willingness of successive governments to add to their problems, generally in the face of all evidence about how to reduce them”. The briefing shows that in relation to racial disparity, racially minoritised people are more likely to receive a custodial sentence than White people, and Black men are 26% more likely than White men to be remanded in custody.
London Probation Service Action Plan | HM Prison and Probation Service has published its action plan for the London Probation Service in response to HM Inspectorate of Probation’s inspection. All 30 recommendations have been agreed to or partly agreed to. In order to ensure that necessary interventions to improve desistance and reduce reoffending and risk of harm are provided in all cases, the Barking, Dagenham and Havering Probation Delivery Unit (PDU) has agreed to invite Commissioned Rehabilitative Services providers and intervention colleagues to attend team briefings, to promote the services and programmes available to practitioners. In addressing the disproportionality in the quality-of-service delivery to racially minoritised people on probation, the Lewisham and Bromley PDU will undertake an audit of the Integrated Offender Management cohort, with the aim of improving access to intervention pathways.
Adult custodial remand | The Justice Committee published its report into the role of adult custodial remand in the criminal justice system. The report outlines 28 recommendations for the government to address, articulating concerns regarding the increasing size of the remand population, as well as the length of time people are spending in custody on remand. It calls for greater support, adding that people on remand should not be deprioritised for services such as mental health assessments, drug treatment, education, training and employment due to their lack of release date. The report notes that those held on remand have a similar need for resettlement support as the sentenced population, and thus urges an update to contracts with resettlement providers. Clinks submitted evidence to the inquiry and you can read our response here.
Changes to transgender prison policy framework | The Ministry of Justice has published further information on the changes to the transgender prisoner policy framework, which states that under new reforms, “transgender women with male genitalia” or those convicted of a sexual offence will no longer be held in the general women’s estate. Exemptions will be considered by Ministers in “only the most truly exceptional cases”. Transgender women currently in the women’s estate may be moved following a thorough assessment of risk. Those who are deemed unsafe in either the men’s or women’s estate can be held in a specialist unit. There is no clear timeframe for when an updated policy framework will be published, and it remains uncertain based on this information if there will be any significant changes to the current policy.
Lords question on the Chaplaincy Service | In a recent Lords oral question, the role of the chaplaincy service was discussed. Lord Bellamy stated that prison chaplaincy no longer reflects the breadth of faith and belief of those in prison. The government have proposed to replace the chaplaincy council with a chaplaincy faith and belief forum, which would represent all faiths and includes non-religious pastoral carers. Lord Bellamy explained that the role of the chaplaincy will sit within the government’s push for better alignment between prison and probation, adding that the Chief Probation Officer will be a member of the new council, and a new pilot will see prison chaplains attending approved premises.
Probation
Independent serious further offence reviews | HM Inspectorate of Probation released independent serious further offence reviews in the cases of Damien Bendall and Jordan McSweeney. Both cases exposed a number of deficits in relation to the practice of HM Prison and Probation Service, as well as the impact of high workloads and staff shortages faced by practitioners. In relation to Jordan McSweeney, evidence showed that his mental health and neurodiverse needs were not explored sufficiently, and as a result were not fully understood. The report recommends the development of a London-wide initiative on neurodiversity and investment in trauma-informed training for staff.
Probation service officer progression pilot | HM Prison and Probation Services published its findings and recommendations from a process evaluation of a new Probation Services Officer (PSO) progression pathway, trialled in England. The progression pilot tested an accelerated 13-month work-based training pathway for existing PSOs, without previous Level 5 qualifications. Learners and stakeholders reported the pilot offered a much-needed career progression opportunity for existing PSOs, and most respondents said they were satisfied with their overall experience. Concerns were expressed regarding the compressed timescales, and a second iteration of the progression pathway has been extended to 15 months to reflect those concerns.
North East Probation Service Action Plan | An action plan has been published in response to the HM Inspectorate of Probation Inspection of the North East Region Probation Service. It outlines 18 recommendations which a number of Probation Delivery Units (PDUs), the North East Region, and HM Prison and Probation Services have agreed to complete. These include improving the quality of work and information sharing with other agencies in relation to risk-management; ensuring training is prioritised; conducting a strategic analysis of needs of people on probation and develop strategies to address local diversity issues; improving safeguarding enquiries as well as ensuring that commissioned rehabilitative service provision is meetings the needs of the people on probation in PDUs.
Effective Practice in Resettlement | The latest Academic Insight published by HM Inspectorate of Probation focuses on effective resettlement practice. Dr Matt Cracknell of Middlesex University describes the various ambiguities in policy and practice initiatives on how best to support people as they leave custody and outlines six key principles of effective support. These include early identification of needs, through-the-gate support, and resettlement plans that are produced co-productively and not solely focused on risk management. Another key principle outlines the need to be responsive to intersectionality and its impact on the resettlement process, in particular the fact that specific groups and communities face additional barriers to their reintegration.
Learning from investigation into deaths following release from prison | The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman released a bulletin summarising their learning and evaluation of the 12-month pilot into the investigations of people who died within 14 days of release from prison. The 13 learning recommendations aim to inform future practice for those working in prisons and probation. These include ensuring continuity of care and treatment following release for people with long-term health conditions to help prevent natural deaths. In relation to reducing self-inflicted deaths, handover and information sharing between prisons and probation prior to release is vital, to ensure an awareness of risk of suicide and self-harm.
Women
The Farmer Review for Women Progress Report | The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published an update on its progress on the Farmer Review for Women. Lord Farmer’s commissioned report, The Importance of Strengthening Female Offenders’ Family and other Relationships to Prevent Reoffending and Reduce Intergenerational Crime, was published in June 2019. Since its publication, 27 out of the 33 recommendations around early intervention, community solutions, and better custody, have been completed to date. In relation to ensuring support for family ties is included in contractual requirements of probation providers, the MoJ assure that family services are a key part of the specification for women’s services available on the Dynamic Framework. Outstanding recommendations include ensuring that Local Criminal Justice Boards take responsibility for building links and encouraging all services to take a joined-up approach. The MoJ will build on their existing work through development of local “How To” events to support local areas in developing a partnership approach.
The Concordat on Women in or at risk of contact with the Criminal Justice System | The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has published an update to the Concordat, which set out a model of joint work and aimed to encourage partnerships at both, and between, the national and local level. The report outlines actions taken in relation to several key areas including championing local achievements, ensuring gender-informed, trauma-informed, and responsive front-line services, as well as local and national investment. In relation to pool funding at a local level, the MoJ has engaged with key areas to identify challenges and opportunities facing women and are using the new governance structures to respond to issues such as funding community provision and domestic abuse services for women. Next steps are for Whole System Approach (WSA) areas that receive funding from the MoJ to share evaluation dates for of their projects with the MoJ, and where appropriate, the analysis will be shared with other WSA areas to inform best practice.
Youth Justice
Youth Justice statistics 2021-22 | The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales has published its annual statistics, which outline a few positive long-term trends, including an all-time low in the number of children entering the criminal justice system, as well as the lowest figure on record for the number of children in custody. However, concerningly, the proportion of children held in custody on remand increased from 40% to 45%. Most children on remand are from an ethnic minority group (58%), and almost three quarters of children on remand did not receive a subsequent custodial sentence. Average custodial sentence lengths have increased by six months, and although this may be a result of more serious cases being heard after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the increase is a cause for concern given the continued issues facing the youth secure estate.
Children in custody 2021-22 | HM Inspectorate of Prisons has published a report analysing children’s perceptions of their experiences in custody. Racially minoritised children were more likely to report experiencing victimisation from staff (42% compared with 27% for White children), and children with a disability were more likely to report feeling unsafe (37% compared with 23% for children without a disability). The report stated that the effect of the response to the pandemic and slow recovery from restrictions yielded improvements in the perceptions of safety and care, with the reduction in the population giving staff more time to build relationships with children. However, gains in these key areas have been made at the expense of progress in education, or the ability to see friends and family.
Imprisonment of young people and school quality | The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has written an article on the link between quality of school, as rated by Ofsted, and rates of imprisonment for young people. Combining ONS analysis and quotes from people working with students at risk of becoming involved in crime, the article considers factors such as poverty, urbanisation and the impact of growing up in the care system. The report found that going to a lower-rated school is one of the many factors linked with a higher likelihood of someone being imprisoned. Students at lower-rated schools have 11% higher odds of going on to be imprisoned compared with those at higher-rated schools.
Funding
Further funding for projects supporting women in prison and their children | £90,000 of funding from the Welsh Government and HM Prison and Probation Service has been announced for the continuation of the” Visiting Mum” scheme which runs from HMP Styal and HMP Eastwood Park. Delivered by the Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT), the service was designed to help strengthen family ties by facilitating closer contact between mothers and children. This is vital given that there are no prisons for women in Wales, meaning custodial sentences are served in England, often at considerable distance from women’s families and homes. The service identifies those who are at risk of losing contact with their children and offers specialist support including arranging visits, parenting programmes, transport for children, and wraparound care for children after their visit.
The voluntary sector
Charities’ income during Covid-19 | The Journal of Social Policy published an article exploring the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the income of voluntary organisations. Analysing data that follows 91,000 organisations in England and Wales between April 2020 and March 2021, the findings show that the medial annual relative growth rate in organisations’ income decreased significantly as a result of the pandemic (12%). This was larger than in the wake of the 2007-8 financial crash. Smaller organisations have been most affected, seeing a decline in spending of 43%. Organisations who did not receive public funding showed a decline of 21%, compared with those which received public funding showing a 3% decline. The results also establish a sizable and distinctive decline in organisations’ expenditure, highlighting the impact of the pandemic on organisations’ activities.
Reflections on the Female Offender Strategy Delivery Plan | Former CEO of Women in Prison, Dr Kate Paradine, shared her thoughts on the Delivery Plan for the government’s Female Offender Strategy in a guest post for the Barrow Cadbury Trust. She stated that the Delivery Plan presents an opportunity to create lasting change. However, she admits there are gaps, referencing the absence of actions on how to address the double disadvantage experienced by racially minoritised women, stating that the “voices, strengths, and assets” of women do not feature in the way they should. The post highlights the importance of collaboration, like the work seen at Clinks, which has demonstrated how women’s specialist organisations are key partners in delivering impact. The new Plan represents an opportunity to ensure key stakeholders, and women themselves, are at the heart of reforms.
Green shoots of hope for probation services? | HM Inspectorate of Probation has published a blog about its recent inspection of Probation Delivery Units (PDUs) in the North East region. The inspectors found “green shoots of hope” with stable workforces, reasonable workloads, a positive and engaged staff culture, and strong, visible, and accessible leadership of the region itself. South Tyneside and Gateshead PDU achieved an overall rating of “Good”. This is the first PDU that has been inspected since the reunification that has achieved this rating.
Education in prisons | Charlie Taylor, Chief Inspector of HM Inspectorate of Prisons, has written a blog examining the main reasons why prison education is so poor. He explains that education is not a priority in prisons since governors’ expectations reflect the priorities of a prison service that is focused on safety and security above other areas of prison life. He determined that the curriculum is not suitable, for example, in reception prisons where people serve six-month sentences because many courses take a year to complete. Reading in prisons is not seen as the responsibility of education providers, meaning people with higher literacy needs are passed on to voluntary organisations, however this was dependant on the willingness of prison staff to unlock prisoners and find them space.
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This month's edition was written by...
Clinks Policy Officer Bronte Jack
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