Written statements by - Ministry of Justice
I have today signed a Justice Devolution Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with London Councils and the Mayor’s Office
for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).
This agreement will fundamentally change the way the criminal
justice and offender management systems interact with local
partners in London. We are moving towards a model where greater
local influence is seen in a number of key delivery areas,
including victims and witness services, future probation
services, innovative use of electronic monitoring technologies,
and specialist services for young offenders and women in the
criminal justice system. We have also committed to explore
jointly more ambitious options, such as budget devolution for
certain groups of offenders in custody.
This is a crucial area of focus for the government. Spending on
criminal justice in London is significant, estimated at £3.3bn
per annum across at least 14 different organisations at a
national, regional and local level. Reoffending costs £2.2bn in
criminal justice costs alone. London accounts for almost 20% of
offenders and reoffenders, at 76,000 and 19,000 respectively, and
has a prison population accounting for a similar proportion but
which is spread across 40 institutions nationally. Crime and the
impact of crime is not felt equally across London, with the most
vulnerable wards having three times as many victims of burglary,
robbery and sexual offences as the least vulnerable wards.
In summary, the MoU covers the following areas:
Victims and witnesses
Work will aim to improve the experience for victims and witnesses
from the point a crime is reported to the criminal conviction and
beyond. Our ambition is to establish a more integrated service
for victims and witnesses in London where victim support would be
provided by a single person rather than several agencies. To help
ensure a more seamless service for victims and witnesses before
trial, we will devolve commissioning of support for witnesses at
the pre-trial stage to MOPAC by April 2019.
We will also use the findings from the MOPAC-commissioned review
of compliance with the Victims' Code of Practice and the
provision of victim services in London to improve accountability
and to inform local, regional and national policy and
commissioning.
Reducing reoffending
This section of the MoU commits my department to working with
local partners to ensure that the right interventions are in
place to reduce reoffending in the capital. This will include
delivery of a joint review of probation services in London, and
testing the co-commissioning of ‘Through the Gate’ services.
Further to this, the MoJ, MOPAC and London Councils will
undertake a joint programme of work around robust community
sentence options, including considering opportunities to
co-commission and better integrate services for the most complex,
violent and persistent offenders, and developing a London
strategy to make the most effective use of electronic monitoring.
A new approach to managing vulnerable cohorts
More women are sentenced to short custodial sentences in London
than in the rest of the country, and the overall London youth
reoffending rate of 47.5% remains stubbornly higher than the rate
for England and Wales, which is currently 42.6%. This section
sets out how we will work in partnership to address the complex
needs of these vulnerable cohorts.
The MoU sets out a specific commitment to work collaboratively to
align priorities and budgets on female offenders within London,
exploring the scope for co-designing credible alternatives to
custody. On young offenders, the MoJ will facilitate joint
analysis with an aim of improving outcomes, with particular focus
on addressing BAME disproportionality across the system. MoJ,
MOPAC and London boroughs will pursue joint work programmes in
relation to resettlement provision, transition to the adult
estate, and the opportunities to co-commission a Secure School
for London.
Financial devolution
Finally, we are seeking, in the longer term, to foster a
whole-system approach to offender management where powers,
resources and decisions are better aligned and early intervention
and prevention is incentivised. The MoU sets out our intention to
work with MOPAC and London Councils to explore ways in which
financial models can incentivise greater investment in
preventative services which reduce demand on the CJS,
particularly considering opportunities with specific cohorts,
including female offenders and 18-25-year-old offenders.
This summary covers the main commitments of the MoU, which is
available in full at
https://www.london.gov.uk/mopac-publications-0/memorandum-understanding-london-cjs.
Work will begin now to ensure we jointly deliver these
commitments as quickly as possible.
