Justice Committee launches an inquiry into the Government’s
Transforming Rehabilitation Programme. The inquiry will focus on
how current Government measures are effectively addressing the
challenges facing the probation services and what more needs to be
done in the short-term to improve the probation system.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
The Committee welcomes written evidence on the following topics:
Government measures
1. To what extent do the steps taken by the Government address
the issues facing probation services?
a. What contractual, financial and administrative changes did the
Government introduce for CRCs in July 2017 as a result of their
internal review of Transforming Rehabilitation? What has been the
effect of these changes on the delivery of probation
services?
b. Are strengthening inspection standards and creating joint
performance measures (between probation services and prisons) the
best ways of improving performance?
c. What should be the Government’s priorities to improve work
between departments on the delivery of services needed for
effective rehabilitation?
2. What impact have the reforms had on: i) sentencing behaviour,
ii) recalls to prison, and iii) serious further offences?
3. How effective have Government measures been in addressing
issues arising from the division of responsibility between the
NPS and CRCs in the delivery of probation services?
4. What else should the Government do to address the issues
facing probation services?
Short-term changes
5. How can the Through-the-Gate provision be improved so that
prisoners get the right help before their release from prison and
afterwards?
6. What can be done to increase voluntary sector involvement in
the delivery of probation services?
The future of probation services
7. When should there be a review of the future of the
Transforming Rehabilitation model and the long-term plan for
delivering probation services?
Submitting written evidence
The deadline for written submissions to be made is Friday 17
November 2017.
Written submissions should be made via the web portal
Please read the guidance on submitting written evidence available
here.
Submissions need not address every aspect of the terms of
reference and should be no longer than 3,000 words.
The Committee values diversity and seeks to ensure this where
possible. We encourage members of underrepresented groups to
submit written evidence.
Background
In 2014, the Ministry of Justice divided the probation
system—responsible for supervising, rehabilitating and (where
necessary) resettling offenders, after or instead of a custodial
sentence—into two parts:
â— the National Probation Service (NPS)—handle high risk
offenders (the NPS is a public body); and
â— Community Rehabilitation Centres (CRCs)—of which there are 21
across England and Wales—handle low and medium risk offenders and
services are delivered by private or third sector organisations
(eight private organisations run the 21 CRCs).
The Government also introduced a provision in the Offender
Rehabilitation Act 2014 which required that rehabilitation
activity be provided to short-sentenced offenders (i.e. those
receiving a custodial sentences of 12 months or less). In 2015,
Through-the-Gate was introduced and CRCs were given
responsibility to support offenders in the 12 weeks before their
release from prison and in the period after their release.
Collectively these reforms are known as ‘Transforming
Rehabilitation’.
