Agenda item

Ms Juliet Wharrick, National Probation Service (NPS), advised that she was head of Ealing, Harrow and Hillingdon local delivery.  She noted that the NPS and London Community Rehabilitation Company (LCRC) had been established on 1 June 2014 and that the transformation programme that had taken place over the last year had been challenging.  The NPS was now part of the Ministry of Justice's Offender Service and was therefore better aligned with the court system.  However, the NPS was made up of seven divisions which did not align with local authority areas.  It was noted that the NPS was now in a 'stabilisation period' and was completing an effectiveness, efficiency and savings programme to align with the cuts being undertaken by other areas of the public sector. 

The NPS was a public body which was tasked with dealing with the most high risk offenders that served longer sentences (there were approximately 15k) - in Hillingdon, the NPS case load was approximately 350.  It was responsible for undertaking court based assessments (risk assessment / management) and producing the associated reports. 

Ms Wharrick advised that the provision of housing for individuals who had served long term sentences was particularly challenging as there were not enough approved premises and they often had little in the way of family support.  Concern was expressed that placing offenders in a House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) with other offenders would not necessarily help them to leave their criminal past behind.  Ms Wharrick stated that the NPS did not have access to housing and therefore had little control over where these offenders lived so often had to use the one bedroom accommodation that was available.  However, through MAPPA (Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements), the NPS continued to work hard in the placement of sex offenders. 

Ms Niamh Farren, Assistant Chief Officer Hillingdon and Hounslow at the LCRC, advised that ownership of the LCRC transferred to MTCnovo on 1 February 2015.  MTCnovo was a joint venture involving MTC (Management Training Corporation - a private American company) and novo (a consortium of public, private and third sector organisations).  The LCRC was the largest of the 21 CRCs in the country and managed approximately 25,000 medium and low risk cases. 

Members were advised that the LCRC ran accredited programmes and senior attendance centres, led on Integrated Offender Management (IOM), delivered Community Payback and provided support services such as housing, education, training/employment, mentoring and Restorative Justice.  A 'Through the Gate' resettlement service had recently been introduced for prisoners with less than 12 weeks left in custody.  As prisoners with shorter sentences were deemed more likely to reoffend, it was anticipated that this early intervention to address their behaviour would reduce the likelihood of them reoffending.  The Committee noted that the recent introduction of new legislation had meant that all offenders were now subject to a supervision order, irrespective of the length of their sentence

Improvements introduced by MTCnovo included:

·         streamlining administration - to free frontline staff from dealing with paperwork and enable them to focus on direct work with offenders;

·         new IT systems - to increase the organisation's efficiency and effectiveness and enable more flexible working; and

·         from 7 December 2015, working with offenders in cohorts - to target rehabilitation work more effectively to reduce reoffending: 18-25 year old males; 26-49 year old males; 50+ year old males; women; and those with mental health and intellectual disabilities as their primary presenting need.  It was noted that, with regard to the women cohort, there tended to be fewer female offenders, they were often more complex cases (e.g., they may have suffered domestic violence) and therefore needed a multi agency approach. 

As the changes made to help reduce re-offending over the last 18 months had not yet come into effect, Ms Farren noted that she would only be able to talk about what the impact was likely to be.  However, she was confident that the staff had been engaged throughout the transformation process and the right staff were now in the right place.

It was noted that there had been some slippage with regard to achieving the first quarter targets for 2015/2016 in relation to: 90% of offenders completing their Unpaid Work Requirement (86% achieved) and 90% of offenders successfully completing their programme requirement (86% achieved).  Ms Farren advised that these targets had been difficult to set as the 2015/2016 period straddled the move from a cluster arrangement to a cohort arrangement.  She noted that the move to cohorts would make it easier to extract Hillingdon-specific data and that she would pass this information to Mr Shaylor for circulation to the Committee.  Members were assured that Hillingdon was performing well. 

The Committee noted that there were currently approximately 1,000 people in custody, on licence, etc in Hillingdon.  They were advised that the Community Payback scheme had been integrated into all of the cohorts and that responsibility for the scheme had returned to LCRC from Serco.  Members recalled the Mayoral initiative which had involved Community Payback participants clearing the canal towpath in Hayes.  Ms Farren advised that the LCRC would welcome update requests from the Committee in relation to Community Payback and noted that the organisation could now be responsive to requests from local authorities for specific projects to be undertaken for a community benefit. 

Members were advised that the LCRC remained committed to maintaining partnership working, particularly in relation to IOM.  To this end, the organisation would be introducing a more strategic approach to stakeholder relations. 

RESOLVED:  That:

1.    Ms Farren provide Mr Shaylor with Hillingdon-specific data for circulation to Members in relation to:

a.    offenders completing their Unpaid Work Requirement; and

b.    offenders successfully completing their programme requirement; and

2.    the report and presentation be noted.