On 31 May the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon.
Friend the Member for Charnwood (Edward Argar), signed a
refreshed memorandum of understanding (MoU) for justice
devolution with Greater Manchester Combined
Authority (GMCA).
This agreement replaces the current MoU, published in July
2016. It details the priority areas for the delivery of
justice outcomes within GMCA. The commitments agreed between
the Department (Ministry of Justice) and GMCA build on the
previous agreement, recognise new challenges, and identify
new opportunities for developing a broader, more integrated
approach which improves outcomes and experiences for victims,
witnesses, and offenders, as well as the communities and
neighbourhoods in which they live.
The aim of the MoU is to increase local influence and improve
partnership working to increase efficiencies and reduce
reoffending. Delivery will take place within the context of
the whole system approach to public services which is
advocated by GMCA. The MoU fits with the Government’s
priority to reduce reoffending and our 2017 manifesto
commitment to further enhance the role of police and crime
commissioners.
The areas covered in this refreshed MoU are youth justice,
smarter justice, adult offender management and the victim’s
journey. In summary:
Youth justice
With the aim of targeting resources where they can be most
effective, the MoU focuses on adopting a preventive,
problem-solving approach which puts the people in the right
service at the right time. This includes establishing a local
consortium to focus on resettlement from custody and
prioritising specified cohorts in youth justice policy
initiatives, including data sharing. The focus of this
section aligns with the youth justice board (YJB) national
standards which were published earlier this year.
Smarter justice
We will work towards greater family involvement to support
compliance with regular judicial supervision. Along with GMCA
we will develop inter-agency planning to increase confidence
in community sentences and ensure pre-sentence reports
identify vulnerable cohorts. There will also be work carried
out to help identify where family-centred principles are best
integrated at different points in the system.
Reforming adult offender management
We want to optimise the opportunities created through the new
probation model to improve delivery within the context of
Greater Manchester’s unified approach to public
services. This will include a programme of work to support
increased viability of community disposals and to co-design
approaches to delivery of probation services that support
place-based integration. We will also explore
co-commissioning options through the Greater Manchester
reform investment fund.
The victim’s journey
We will work with GMCA as they seek to improve services for
victims to provide a seamless service by using innovative
approaches, including digital path- ways, jointly evaluating
the effectiveness of nationally commissioned services
for victims, agreeing a programme to develop stronger links
and ways of working at local level for the benefit of
witnesses in GM and working to understand the impact of the
criminal injuries compensation scheme on victims of
terrorism.
This summary covers the main commitments of the MoU. It is
available in full at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/moj-gmca-memorandum-of-understanding-for-justice-devolution.
Work will begin now to ensure we jointly deliver these
commitments.
