Agenda item

/London Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) - Inspection Results update/Probation reform

·        Probation reforms and implications for the Safer Communities Partners

·        Results from the CRC inspection and next steps

·        Relevant to priority 5 of the Community Safety Strategy

 

Kauser Mukhtar

Contracts and Partnerships Lead – North Area London CRC

 

Minutes:

The Contracts and Partnerships Lead – North Area, London CRC spoke to her slides. The full Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) report published in August 2019 was circulated with the agenda.

 

London CRC was the first Community Rehabilitation Company in the country to achieve a ‘good’ or ‘requires improvement’ in all ten areas inspected. Some of the actions required had already been taken. The new case management system, Omnia, meant that case reviews and audits were carried out more regularly.

 

The Head of Housing Management, Barnet Homes asked about the impact of liaising with other agencies on criminogenics. The Reducing Offending Officer, LBB stated that BOOST (Burnt Oak Opportunity Support Team) had reduced reoffending and currently some work was being undertaken with black and minority ethnic (BME) service users. The scheme was also looking at a programme to support the gypsy and travellers’ community and service users who had had gang involvement. He would share further information with the Board.

Action: Reducing Offending Officer

 

The Reducing Offending Officer reported that Amanda Lunness, Partnership Network Coordinator, had been seconded to the Troubled Families Programme to make sure that vulnerable adult service users were engaging with it. She would also be appointing a Lead for Adult MASH (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub).

 

The Assistant Director Community Safety and Regulatory Services noted that it would be helpful if CRC could provide an update at the meeting of SCPB on 3 April. She was interested in the service users in transition from juvenile to adult services and was keen to know what kind of service would be provided by the NPS for offenders in Barnet when the service is renationalised. Some borough-based data would be helpful including the number of offenders managed by NPS, repeat victimisation rates and substance misuse orders. Also the issue of transitional safeguarding had been raised at the Adults Safeguarding Board and it had been suggested that the Integrated Offender Management (IOM) team use the IOM scheme to bridge the gap - the risk of exploitation did not disappear at age 18. In Barnet 100 individuals had moved from the youth to adult services in the past year and some of the statutory responsibilities for the council no longer applied at this point. The Contracts and Partnerships Lead CRC stated that she is reviewing interventions with young adults. She could provide a presentation to the Board if required.

Action: Contracts and Partnerships Lead, CRC

 

The Reducing Offending Officer noted that local substance misuse providers were about to be recommissioned and he would look into any gaps in services before the Quarter 2 meeting. The Contracts and Partnerships Lead CRC noted the above request and would also ask the CRC Substance Misuse Lead to attend the meeting.

Action: Contracts and Partnerships Lead, CRC

 

Probation reform

 

The Community Safety Manager presented slides from the HM Prison & Probation Service.  Case management of all service users on Community Orders, license release from custody and serving prisoners would be delivered by the NPS from Spring 2021.Programmes, unpaid work and other interventions will be put out for tender to both the private and public sectors.

 

There would be 12 probation areas across England and Wales; this would include the introduction of 11 new probation areas in England with existing arrangements remaining unchanged in Wales.

 

The Assistant Director Community Safety and Regulatory Services asked how the current community payback work in Barnet would feed into any new commissioning plans. She added that the current system worked well. The Contracts   Lead, CRC stated that lessons had been learnt from the previous restructure where many local links had been lost. CRC had worked to ensure the engagement would continue. She added that Barnet had acted as a pilot - this model was being replicated in Hackney and other boroughs.

 

The Reducing Offending Officer noted that a policy document had been written and best practice was being rolled out across London.

 

The Assistant Director Community Safety and Regulatory Services asked how much engagement on the changes there had been with the Met Police given the different mix of boroughs.

 

The Senior Probation Officer responded that the Director of the NPS had set up transition wards to look at the practicalities of putting services together and there was awareness that the NPS structures did not directly align with those of the Metropolitan Police. The NPS linked Barnet, Brent and Enfield but the Police BCU is Barnet Brent and Harrow. This was being reviewed at a senior level in the NPS.

 

The Assistant Director Community Safety and Regulatory Services noted that when the previous restructure happened the IOM Scheme and its position (in Barnet it is a partnership scheme running locally) had been missed. She asked who owns the IOM Scheme in the new transition. She was also concerned about how a new outsourced service would engage with the Barnet Partnership. The Contracts Lead noted that it is her role to ensure services commissioned are linked into the statutory partners.

 

 

Supporting documents: