Asked by Lord German To ask Her Majesty’s
Government what changes they propose to the operation and
effectiveness of community rehabilitation companies. Baroness
Buscombe (Con) My Lords, we are currently conducting a
comprehensive review of the probation system to make sure that it
is reducing offending and reoffending, cutting crime and...Request free trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes they propose to
the operation and effectiveness of community rehabilitation
companies.
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(Con)
My Lords, we are currently conducting a comprehensive review
of the probation system to make sure that it is reducing
offending and reoffending, cutting crime and preventing there
being future victims. We will set out our plans for the
probation system, including community rehabilitation
companies, after the review concludes in April.
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(LD)
My Lords, I welcome the Minister to the Dispatch Box in
answering, I think, her first Question on this brief. She
will be aware that the recent joint report from the prison
and probation services, on their inspection of
through-the-gate resettlement services, was highly critical.
It raised some big red flags about the way this new service
was rolling out. Can the Minister tell the House what changes
the Government are making and whether they want to avoid
taking the wrong turn at such an early stage of this new
development, by listening to and hearing what those
inspectors have said—and by taking action? What steps are
being taken?
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I thank the noble Lord for his question and for his kind
words. Yes, I can say categorially that part of our
comprehensive review of the whole probation system is about
listening and having conversations with all involved to
ensure that we get it right. In connection with the
through-the-gate services, we accept that there are pockets
of good practice but also that the quality of those services
is not as consistent as we want it to be. As the inspection
report notes, there is the potential for great change and
help for offenders in their transition from custody into the
community. We are carrying out this comprehensive review of
the probation system, including through-the-gate services, to
make sure that our reforms are delivered and delivering
improved outcomes for offenders and communities. However, it
is of course early days.
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(Lab)
My Lords, I join the noble Lord, , in welcoming the Minister
to her first Question Time and I look forward to many more
exchanges. A report last month by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate
of Probation on the service stated that,
“services have deteriorated of late, largely due to the poor
performance of the London Community Rehabilitation Company”—
which is owned by the US company MTCnovo, an organisation we
have had some problems with in the Prison Service, and—
“are now well below what people rightly expect”.
The report cited a lack of awareness of domestic violence and
child safeguarding issues, unmanageable workloads, with
inexperienced staff and lack of contact with offenders. In
January, a report on Stafford and Stoke, run by RPP, stated
that public safety was an issue, despite having been raised
in an earlier report, and caseloads were too high. Another
CRC, Working Links, in Wales and the south-west, is failing
targets and has already been fined £145,000. Will the
Secretary of State use her powers to intervene and take these
and any other failing services back into public control?
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I thank the noble Lord for his question and for his kind
words. In connection with the performance of the London CRC,
we have taken steps to make sure that all offenders are being
seen by the London CRC and that appropriate enforcement
action is taken where offenders have breached the terms of
their supervision. Contract management activity had already
identified problems in London prior to HMI Probation’s
findings, and we were working with the provider to address
these. However, we accept that improvements are required, and
we are working closely with London CRC to improve their
performance. There is a wide range of options within
contracts to tackle poor performance and we will take
whatever action is required to ensure that offenders are
properly supervised and that the public are protected.
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(CB)
My Lords, does the Minister—who I also welcome—accept that
concerns about the size of the prison population will go
nowhere unless the courts have available to them community
service and probation supervision orders, in which they have
confidence that people will be seen, supervised and held to
account over the basics of work and non-offending?
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I agree entirely with the noble Lord. That is why it is
important to think about this in context. Transforming
Rehabilitation has already radically reformed our probation
system; its whole purpose is to improve support to offenders
and reduce reoffending. For example, all offenders sentenced
to custody now receive at least 12 months statutory
supervision and support from probation after release. This
includes approximately 45,000 prisoners serving sentences of
less than 12 months, who previously received no supervision
at all. All offenders released from prison receive a
through-the-gate resettlement process, helping them to find
accommodation and employment and to build a life free of
crime.
However, it is important to accept that these are early days.
This was introduced only in May 2015. We could have sat back
then and looked at how things were progressing. We are not
doing that. We are saying we need a comprehensive reform of
the whole system, to make sure that it also works seamlessly
with the prison system.
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(LD)
My Lords, one of the priorities for CRCs must be to ensure
that a low level of offending behaviour in the past should
not be an obstacle to securing jobs for those discharged from
prisons. Employers often turn down applications because of
offences that have no relevance to the jobs for which
candidates are applying. What initiatives is the Minister
taking to ensure that employers play an important
non-discriminatory role here?
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My Lords, I agree entirely with the noble Lord. Helping
prisoners, while they are in prison, to train, retrain and
think about how they can get work when they are released, is
the most important priority in reducing reoffending. That is
why, for example, under this new system, 12 weeks before a
prisoner is released, the CRC is contracted and must, as a
minimum requirement, spend time with each individual
prisoner, thinking about how they can help with their
housing—which is also critical—as well as retraining,
apprenticeships and jobs. We welcome companies such as
and Halfords, which focus on
giving jobs to prisoners, to give them a second or, if
necessary, third chance in life and help reduce reoffending.
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