Clinks Light Lunch | Issue 311 | 13th September 2013

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In this week's edition....

CLINKS REQUEST: your views on new sentencing guideline on fraud, bribery and money laundering

The Sentencing  Council is currently consulting on a new sentencing guideline for fraud, bribery and money laundering offences, which will include benefit fraud. The deadline for responses is 4th October 2013, and more information can be found here. Clinks is submitting a response to the consultation, and is particularly keen to ensure that the impact on women offenders and other protected groups is captured. If you would like to feed in, please email Clinks' Policy Assistant Nicola Drinkwater

CLINKS NEWS: Clinks at the Party Conferences

Late September marks the start of Party Conference season, with politicians, the media and campaigners gathering together to debate public policy in the run up to the next election. 2013 is a particularly important year for those seeking to influence party manifestos since these will need to be finalised before next year’s conference season. Clinks’ new Policy Manager, Ellie Cumbo, will be attending the Labour Conference in Brighton from 22nd-25th September, and the Conservative Conference in Manchester from 29th September-2nd October. Please get in touch with Ellie if you are attending too - ellie.cumbo@clinks.org

CLINKS EVENTS: regional roadshows

Book your place now for our regional roadshow events [Bristol, 23rd September | Manchester, 27th September | London, 7th October (BAME session only) | free].   Each day includes interactive sessions on sustaining BAME offender services, a Member Forum and a volunteering roundtable.  Meet with others working in your region and field of work to discuss the issues which matter to you, and see how Clinks can help. Find out more about the sessions and book your place here

CLINKS OPPORTUNITY: grants for innovative BAME services

Clinks, with funding from NOMS, are providing up to eight small grants of £1,500 each to support the development of innovative approaches to improving resettlement outcomes for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) offenders. Applications are open to umbrella organisations and service providers from the VCSE Sector in England and Wales. We particularly welcome applications from specialist BAME, user-led organisations and those that focus on particular BAME communities. For more information, click here

CLINKS TRAINING: Volunteering in prison

Do you work with offenders in prison, or would you like to learn how to support and train staff and volunteers to work with offenders in prison? Back by popular demand, our one day course [9th October, London, from £120] is developed from our 'Volunteering in Prison' resource pack, and is designed to support trainers and/or volunteer co-ordinators to manage and support volunteers and mentors. To find out more and book your place, click here

CLINKS TRAINING: Volunteering with offenders in the community

Does your organisation work with offenders in the community?  Would you like to learn how to support and train staff and volunteers working with offenders in the community?  Our very successful two day ‘train the trainer’ course [13th & 14th November, London, from £220] is developed from our 'Working with Offenders in the Community' resource pack and is designed to support trainers and/or volunteer co-ordinators who manage and support volunteers. The training of mentors also features extensively. To find out more and book your place, click here

CLINKS MEMBER'S NEWS: 2nd Chance in America

2nd Chance has travelled to Philadephia both as a finalist for a Beyond Sport Award and to share best practice on using sport to rehabilitate offenders. On Tuesday they presented to a packed audience and are looking forward to working in partnership with the City of Philadelphia, the Police Department and many great organisations to help create a long term vision for how sport can be used to tackle youth violence. As part of the presentation they also launched a brand new initiative, Beyond the Bars, using sport to rehabiliate offenders. Find out more here

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: inspection of life sentence prisoners

Most life sentence prisoners did not reoffend and were able to lead productive lives on release, said Liz Calderbank, Chief Inspector of Probation, and Nick Hardwick, Chief Inspector of Prisons yesterday, on the publication of 'A joint inspection of Life Sentence Prisoners'. One of the key transitional phases in the life sentence is the move from a closed prison to the relative freedom of open conditions. This inspection focused on that period along with the equally significant release on life licence to see how well life sentence prisoners were supported in preparing for release, reducing risk of harm and likelihood of reoffending, maintaining family and community links and resettling into society. Download the full report here

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: MoJ response to Legal Aid consultation

The government has responsed to the 'Transforming Legal Aid: Delivering a more credible and efficient system' consultation, which received nearly 16,000 responses. In their response document, 'Transforming Legal Aid: Next Steps', the Government opens up their proposals for further consultation. To read the response and take part in the consultation, click here

FUNDING: for work in sub-Saharan Africa

UK-registered organisations including charitable incorporated organisations, community interest companies limited by guarantee, industrial and provident societies and housing associations are eligible to apply for funding to carry out work in sub-Saharan Africa under Comic Relief's International Grants Programme. Grants of up to £800,000 are available for work that can achieve: Better Futures, Healthier Finances, Safer Lives, Stronger Communities or a Fairer Society. The first deadline for submitting a stage 1 proposal is 31st October. Full details here

FUNDING: for sustainable cities

The Sustainable City Awards recognise, reward and promote innovation and leadership in sustainability within organisations from the private, public and third sectors operating throughout the UK. Applications for the 2014 Awards must be submitted by 4th November. Find out more here

FUNDING: innovation, excellence and strategic development

The DWP's 'Innovation, excellence and strategic development fund' is now open for projects to start in April 2014. Voluntary sector organisations are invited to submit proposals that: test and develop innovative approaches to health and care; actively share and disseminate excellent practice; and improve collaboration and partnerships within the voluntary sector to provide better outcomes, greater efficiencies and sustainability. If you are a local group, you must be able to demonstrate that your work has a national significance. No upper limit is set, but they won't make a grant larger than 25% of a group's total income. The closing date for registration is 11th October, and 25th October for submitting an application form. Full details here

MEMBER'S EVENT: information session for those with a criminal record

Unlock are running a local information session for people with convictions [3rd October, 5pm - 7pm, Maidstone, Kent]. They will be explaining about the organisation and their Helpline, which provides confidential peer advice on overcoming the effects of criminal convictions. Helpline Advisors will be on hand to answer any questions you might have, and you can book a free one-to-one session the following week. Find out more here

MEMBER'S EVENT: for those working with care leavers

The Prince's Trust and The Care Leavers’ Foundation invite you to the annual conference of National Care Leavers' Week [29th October, London, free]. The conference will focus on the work of Access All Areas, an action group calling for all government departments to better consider care leavers in their policies. The conference is for everyone who has a passion for improving the lives of care leavers – young people, foster carers, social workers, personal advisers, practitioners, local and central government workers, academics, policy makers, decision makers, commissioners and MPs. For more information and to book, click here

MEMBER'S EVENT: art by offenders exhibition opens

This year’s UK Koestler Trust Exhibition opens at the Royal Festival Hall on the afternoon of Tuesday 24th September. Chief Executive of Koestler, Tim Robertson introduces the event: "Fresh from Celebrity Masterchef, Speech Debelle is curating a fascinating “bunker” design, which incorporates music with the art displays and runs through three contrasting atmospheric zones: you’ll be intrigued and amazed, I promise. Our other great innovation this year is to have the exhibition invigilated throughout its 10-week run by ex-offenders, whom we are employing and training specially for this task." Find out more here

MEMBER'S EVENT: rough sleeping

With welfare reform continuing to increase demand across homelessness services in the UK, Cymorth Cymru are bringing together speakers and delegates from across the UK nations to discuss policy, practice and innovation in working with rough sleepers. As well as a whistle-stop look at how legislation and policy is developing differently across the nations, the event [4th October, Cardiff, from £102] will look at self directed support and individual budgets; the issue of migration; issues and innovations in the face of welfare reform; the role of social finance; data from StreetLink and how other nations are utilising the StreetLink approach; and much more. Find out more and book your place here

MEMBER'S TRAINING: for befrienders

Prisoners' Families and Friends Service's befrienders provide emotional support to a woman who is a wife, partner, mother or other relative of a prisoner. The purpose of the relationship is to reduce the woman’s social isolation and to empower her to take increasing control of her life. Training for potential befrienders will be in London on the 30th September, 14th October, 21st October, and 28th October. For more information, click here

PARTY CONFERENCE FRINGE EVENTS

Liberal Democrats, Glasgow, 14th - 18th September

  • 'Justice: Cuts We Can Believe In' | Howard League | 15th September, 8pm, Crowne Plaza | Link
  • 'Increasing choice, improving recovery: transforming mental health recovery outcomes for BME communities' | Centre for Social Justice| 16th September, 1pm, SECC Glasgow | Link
  • 'Going beyond the headlines: Listening to young people in criminal justice' | Howard League | 16th September, 6pm, SECC Morar | Link

To feature your Labour and Conservative Party Conference events in next week's Light Lunch, please send the name of the event, date, time, location and a weblink to joe.gardham@clinks.org

OFFENDER HEALTH: briefing on the Francis Inquiry

Voluntary Organisations Disability Group have produced a two part briefing on the Francis Inquiry into health and social care. Part 1 introduces the background to the Inquiry and the evolving policy response. Part 2 considers some of the implications of the Francis Inquiry and other recent reviews, for social care providers, and attempts to draw together some of the overarching 'improvement themes' that providers should be aware of. The briefings are not intended as a detailed analysis of Francis but instead offer social care providers a broad narrative explaining why these reforms are as relevant to them as to health services. Download them here

PUBLICATION: refugee and asylum-seeking women

'Abused No More: The Voices of Refugee and Asylum-seeking Women' is a new book, by Clinks Member IARS, that explores specific challenges that refugee and asylum-seeking women face when accessing GP and solicitor services, such as problems with registering with GP practices, a need for longer consultations with GPs and the prevalence of refugee women paying for legal help from private solicitors as a result of a lack of awareness of their entitlements to legal aid. A hardcopy can be purchased for £9.99 from IARS’ Charity Bookstore

PUBLICATION: women in the CJS

Networks has been a Creativity Works project based in Bristol, which integrated professional artists within five different settings; Teign Ward (a women’s medium secure unit), HMP Eastwood Park (mother & baby unit), One25 (reaches out to women trapped in street sex work), Rethink (women affected by mental illness), and Bristol Drugs Project. Artist-facilitators delivered two sets of parallel arts courses of eight weeks to over 50 women involved with the Criminal Justice System or facing mental health issues. Find out more here

RESOURCE: online magazine published

The August edition of Unlock's theRecord is now out, and features include: 'One conviction or multiple offences? The DBS filtering process'; 'Scottish Government consult on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974'; and 'Strange City, Fresh Start, New Life'. Read more here

CLINKS MEMBER'S VACANCIES

Vacancies posted by Clinks Members this week include: A Development and Partnerships intern with Revolving Doors Agency [London], a Programme Manager [Kent], Assistant Programme Manager [South East] and a Youth Engagement Officer [South West] with User Voice, an Administrator with Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation) [Stoke-on-Trent], 3 x Support Workers at Elmore Community Services [Oxfordshire], a Business Support Officer with Media for Development [London], an Integrated Family Support Worker/Engagement Worker with Pact [HMP Stafford], a PA at St Giles Trust [Camberwell, London], an Assistant Volunteer Co-ordinator at West Yorkshire Community Chaplaincy Project [Leeds] and a CEO at Work This Way [home-based South East]. For further information about these vacancies and many more, click here

TIPS OF THE WEEK

  • Tip of the week I: Heritage Open Days, funded by English Heritage, is an annual event which allows free access to 4,600 sites usually closed to the public, or which normally charge for admission. Thisyear it is Thursday 12th - Sunday 15th September. Details
  • Tip of the week II: Go London Maryleborne to Birmingham Moor St with Chiltern Railways for just 50p return! Details
  • Tip of the week III: For £99 two people can stay overnight at the Metropole Hotel, Powys, saving 60% on usual cost. Deal includes Welsh breakfast, 6 course tasting-menu dinner, champagne, and use of spa facilities. Details

EXTRA INFORMATION

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Clinks

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