In this month's edition...
State of the sector 2023
Clinks has launched its 2023 State of the sector survey. This is your chance to tell us about the challenges your organisation has faced over the last year, and help us to influence key decision-makers on your behalf while ensuring that our support meets the needs of the sector. We need up-to-date evidence to do this effectively, and that is why we are asking you to complete the survey.
Your input is needed to understand the current landscape of the criminal justice voluntary sector, collect the robust evidence we need to influence change, take a close look at the financial sustainability of the sector, and to celebrate its work. Read our blog by Rachel Tynan, Influence and Policy Manager, to find out more about how we use your responses and why your voice matters.
You can complete the State of the sector survey online. We will ask you about your organisation’s criminal justice work, including the clients you work with, commissioning, referrals, staffing, and volunteers. Please have numbers ready from the 2022/23 financial year. You can find out more about the State of the sector project by visiting https://linktr.ee/clinksstateofthesector.
Other policy work at Clinks
Clinks submitted evidence to the Public Account Committee’s inquiry into improving resettlement support for people leaving prison. This has now been published by the Committee and can be viewed on their website. In our submission, we drew on our 2022 State of the sector research, our previous report on the probation reform programme, and other reports and information gathered through our networks. We highlighted the challenges around the commissioning of day-one rehabilitative services and the difficulties for the sector around contract delivery, as well as highlighting the effectiveness of resettlement services, factors that might be affecting their performance, and future areas to improve resettlement progress.
This recent Clinks blog looks at the evidence for social prescribing and the approach being taken to support its growth across prisons and probation. Social prescribing is commonly used in healthcare settings, but can it be effective across criminal justice? Clinks is keen to identify examples of promising practice within the criminal justice system which we can promote to support the development and growth of social prescribing. If you provide a non-clinical service, activity, or intervention that supports people’s physical, mental, or emotional health, please help us to build our evidence base by sharing your experience, including any challenges, successes, or insights by getting in touch with the Policy team before 31 July.
Clinks’ Head of Influence and Communications, Sam Julius, presented to the Women in the Criminal Justice Expert Group meeting about barriers to employment for women leaving prison. Following this meeting, Clinks produced a paper for the Ministry of Justice on this issue, setting out the barriers women face, and some practical solutions to those from the sector. This paper will be published on our website in due course.
Offenders (Day of Release from Detention) Act 2023 | Royal Assent has now been given to this legislation, which will reduce the number of people being released from prison on a Friday or the day before a bank holiday, by giving prison governors discretion to release them one or two days earlier. This will allow people leaving prison more time to access key services before the weekend. Clinks welcomes this change, since it should help people leaving prison access vital services, including those delivered by voluntary organisations, during their first days in the community. Read our statement from Clinks’ CEO, Anne Fox.
Victims and Prisoners Bill | Consideration of the Victims and Prisoners Bill has now begun in Committee. The Committee began by hearing oral evidence from a range of witnesses, and then moved into line-by-line consideration of the Bill, where amendments may be made. The Committee has also now published a number of written evidence submissions that it received, in response to its call for evidence. Debate in Committee is due to be concluded on 13 July. Following that, the Bill will move on to Report Stage, where amendments can be made and debated in the House of Commons.
Bill of Rights Bill not being proceeded with | The Lord Chancellor, Rt Hon Alex Chalk KC MP, announced during Justice Questions on Tuesday 27 June 2023, that the government have decided that it will not proceed with the Bill of Rights Bill. Following that, Mr Chalk wrote to the Justice Committee to confirm this, and to note that the government remains committed to a human rights framework that is up to date and fit for purpose.
The quality of reading education in prisons: one year on | Following the joint inspection carried out by Ofsted and HM Inspectorate (HMI) of Prisons, reviewing reading education in prisons, the inspectorates have published a report looking at the progress made one year on. Based on inspections carried out by Ofsted and HMI Prisons between 1 October 2022 and 31 March 2023, the report looks at the original recommendations and considers the progress made against each of them. They found that progress against the recommendations made around assessment and the curriculum has been slow. With regards to the recommendation about strategy, most governors now have strategies in place, but not enough progress has been made in implementing them. It was also found that limited progress was made against recommendations around training and prison libraries.
What next for the youth justice system? | The Youth Justice Board (YJB) Chair, Keith Fraser, spoke at the Association of Youth Justice Service Managers Conference on 22 June, discussing the future for youth justice. In his speech, he touched on areas including policy decisions made by central government, local and regional decisions, evidence and data, and wider concerns and room for change. He concluded by setting out the longer-term trends he wants to see. These included that there is a full and total acceptance of the evidence, there is a continued focus on early intervention and support for evidence-based prevention and diversion projects, real alternatives for custody, especially for children on remand, diversity of thought and experience throughout the workforce, and changing the life-long judgement made about the character of children with convictions.
HMP Fosse Way officially opened | The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Rt Hon Alex Chalk KC MP, officially opened HMP Fosse Way on Friday 30 June, after it began accepting people at the end of May. It is a new Category C prison with 1,715 places. The government says the new prison will create 600 jobs, in addition to the 500 created during the prison’s construction. The prison has a number of workshops to help provide training to support people into employment on release. These include a concrete components workshop, an optical lab making glasses, and a driving simulator to help prepare people for getting an HGV permit. HMP Fosse Way is a private sector prison that will be operated by Serco.
Further rollout of rapid deployment cells to boost prison places | The Ministry of Justice has announced that a further 160 new modular prison cells will be opened at HMP Hollesley Bay in Suffolk to boost prison capacity. The government said these short-term measures sit alongside its prison building programme, delivering 20,000 new places. The rapid deployment cells have a lifespan of about 15 years, and the government said these would give prison governors more choice in how they manage people day-to-day. It also highlighted that non-urgent maintenance work is being staggered so fewer cells are unavailable at any one time, and where safe to do so, further cells have been made double occupancy, creating around 800 additional places.
Intensive supervision courts pilot | The Ministry of Justice announced its “Intensive Supervision Courts” pilot, which will form part of a new community sentencing approach to help reduce reoffending. The pilot, launched in Liverpool and Teesside, will see that when a person receives a community sentence, the judge will require them to attend regular review meetings to check they are following the requirements of their sentence. People will also have access to specialist substance use treatment services, and will receive intensive supervision from the Probation Service, which could include frequent and random drug testing. Support will also be given to access education, employment, and housing. This pilot forms part of the government’s 10-year Drug Strategy, and was made possible following the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
Race
Beyond a numbers game | The Criminal Justice Alliance (CJA) has published its report exploring racial diversity and inclusion in the criminal justice workforce, seeking to understand the barriers to progress, what can be done to drive forward change, and why it is important to do so. In this report, the CJA make a number of recommendations for change, including that the Ministry of Justice and Home Office should identify racial groups that are disproportionately impacted by more than one policy from across these departments, and publish an analysis of these cumulative impacts, and continue to do this annually. It also recommends the criminal justice voluntary sector develop plans to improve recording and sharing of workforce data to enable progress to be measured.
Race, migration, criminalisation, and mental health | Hibiscus published a report exploring the gendered experiences of Black, minoritised, and migrant women in contact with the criminal justice system. Based on focus groups and analyses of existing literature, evidence, and policies on the experiences of this group in the context of the impact of the pandemic, the report makes a number of recommendations. In order to make systems work to prevent the further criminalisation of victimised racially minoritised and migrant women, and those who may be in contact with the criminal justice system, recommendations include strengthening the Female Offender Strategy Deliver Plan to better identify and support the needs of these women, and implementing a firewall to end sharing of victims’ and witnesses’ data between the police and Home Office for immigration enforcement.
Resettlement
Hiring with conviction | Working Chance has published a comprehensive guide on how to recruit and support people with convictions. Designed for managers, HR professionals, and recruiters, the guide sets out why and how to recruit people with convictions, dealing with disclosure of a criminal record, criminal records and the law, and inducting and supporting newly recruited staff with convictions. It also includes a series of appendices which provide useful samples and templates that can support employers in efforts to recruit people with convictions.
The impact of criminal records on women | Unlock published a briefing exploring data from a Freedom of Information Request to the Disclosure and Barring Service. This revealed women were subject to 53% of all DBS checks over the requested period, and women made up 67% of the enhanced checks competed. Unlock explain this means women will be disproportionately impacted by existing problems with the way elevated checks are used, such as when ineligible checks are carried out. They call for the impact of a prison sentence on filtering to be made more proportionate. They also call for employers to be provided with better guidance on the way DBS checks are intended to be used, and better guidance and stronger enforcement to reduce the number of ineligible checks.
Pre-sentence reports
A process evaluation of the Pre-Sentence Report pilot | The Ministry of Justice has published a report presenting the findings from the data collection undertaken as part of the process evaluation of the Pre-Sentence Report (PSR) pilot. A mixed methods approach was used to gather feedback from court and probation staff, as well as members of the judiciary, on how the pilot was being implemented. The report’s key findings include that participants across all groups agreed that targeting priority cohorts led to appropriate support for vulnerable groups. However, there was less support for the risk of short-term custody cohort, which was felt to be too broad and confusing. Overall, there was support for the training offered to probation staff, but there were barriers reported to attendance and implementing learning, due to staffing pressures.
Prisons
Evaluation of the Social Workers for Mothers in Prison pilot | Pact has published the second interim report evaluating its social workers pilot, based on data collected between May 2022 and May 2023. It found that the Pact Social Worker provides specialist knowledge of safeguarding and of social services’ processes, priorities, culture, language, and terminology, which is of assistance to both mothers and prison staff. The social workers have been acting as a conduit of information between local authority practitioners and the prison, and between mothers and community practitioners. Follow-up surveys showed an increase in the proportion of mothers who felt they could trust children’s services to help their families, compared to at the start of the intervention. The report also makes recommendations for further improvements to the role of the social workers.
Survey of the Prison Operational Workforce | As part of its inquiry into the prison operational workforce, the Justice Committee published the findings of its survey of operational prison staff. Based on over 6,000 responses, indicating a response rate of 25% of Band 2 staff and 24% of Band 3 to 5 staff, the survey found that 73% of Band 3 to 5 staff do not feel valued for the work they do, and 90% of staff at those grades said their pay does not reflect the roles and responsibilities of their job. In addition, 84% of Band 3 to 5 staff said there were not enough staff to ensure people in prison can access purposeful activity, and only 37% of those staff agreed they are managing their workload well.
Serious further offences (SFOs)
Annual report 2023: serious further offences | HM Inspectorate of Probation has published its annual report into SFOs, looking to quality assure the SFO reviews undertaken by the Probation Service by reviewing a random sample. The Inspectorate noted a “disappointing reduction” in the number of SFO reviews being given a composite rating of “good”, with only 49% of reviews reaching this standard in 2022/23, compared to 66% in the previous year. The findings also show probation regions have not made progress in improving the overall quality of SFO reviews. Reasons for this decline included the resourcing of SFO review teams not always being sufficient, that probation regions continue to complete reviews internally on themselves, and that the SFO review document template does not meet the needs of all intended audiences.
Accommodation
Housing quality and affordability for lower income households | The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published a report on accommodation for lower income households. Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates, which cap maximum housing benefit entitlements, were increased in 2020, based on September 2019 rents. Since then, LHA rates have been frozen in cash terms and new let rents have increased by over a fifth, impacting affordability. The IFS found 23% of private rented properties on Zoopla had rents completely covered by housing benefits in Q2 of 2020, following the LHA increase. However, in Q1 of 2023, just 5% of private rented properties met that affordability measure. This decline in affordability also impacted the relative quality of affordable properties. This fall is likely to limit the access of some people leaving prison and with convictions to accommodation in the private rented sector.
Prison Education
Thematic review of reading education in prisons action plan | Following the thematic review of reading education in prisons, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has published its action plan. In this plan, HMPPS accepted all six recommendations made. These included the education, skills, and work offer including a distinct part of the curriculum offer dedicated to teaching reading, and specialist training and development on teaching adults to read. Other recommendations include prison governors making sure the library promotes reading for both pleasure and purpose, and provides appropriate texts for adults who are learning to read. The recommendations are due to be implemented by September 2023 at the latest.
Future of the Prisoner Learning Alliance | The Prisoner Learning Alliance (PLA) has published a letter from the PLA Steering Committee Chair, Tom Schuller, about the future of the network. This explains that the Prisoner Education Trust has taken the decision to end its financial support for the PLA after the end of 2023. Schuller explains work is being done to explore possible options for transferring some or all of the PLA’s functions to a “suitable fellow organisation” and ask PLA members to get in touch if they have suggestions for ways to continue all or some of the PLA’s activities. A decision on the future is expected to be taken by the September meeting of the PLA Steering Committee. In the meantime, the usual programme of webinars, newsletters, and other activities will continue.
Black remand prisoners held 70% longer than white counterparts in England and Wales | Figures obtained by The Guardian and Liberty Investigates show the mean number of days Black people spent on remand last year was 302 days, compared to 177 days for white people. Moreover, in 2022, Asian people spent an average of 262 days on remand, and mixed-race people, 262 days. The article also reports that Fair Trials found that of the 3,478 Black people remanded in custody in 2021, 14% were acquitted at trial. In the same year, 17,538 white people were remanded in custody, but only 8% were subsequently acquitted. The government said it is “going further than ever to tackle discrimination in the criminal justice system” including “new training to remove bias and increasing diversity in the judiciary.”
People with lived experience must be represented at board level | The Criminal Justice Alliance (CJA) has published a guest blog written by Nola Sterling, the ELEVATE CJS Project Manager. In this, Nola calls for the boards of organisations in the criminal and social justice sectors to be representatives of the beneficiaries they serve. Nola and the CJA seek to challenge the assumption that people with lived experience are limited in what they can offer, and so wants experts by experience to be recognised as invaluable contributors. To help achieve this, Sterling says that once new trustees are recruited thought must be given to providing equity, and examining the processes within board rooms, considering whether they create conducive environments for people with lived experience. In addition, less privileged trustees need to be given space to develop in the role.
Parole Board Chief Executive’s blog – June 2023 | The Parole Board CEO, Martin Jones, has written about the Board’s stance on recalls, including why they happen and how they are managed. He notes that in nearly 75% of cases, the Board decides that the person should be kept in custody for public protection. In addition, Jones highlights that 74% of the Board’s decisions are about people recalled to custody, and that a recall does not necessarily mean a serious further offence has been committed. When deciding whether people who have been recalled can be released again, Jones explains the Board uses the same release test, and considers the risk factors that might lead to reoffending, particularly highlighting access to accommodation.
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This month's edition was written by...
Clinks Policy Officer Franklin Barrington
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