The Community Rehabilitation Company in Cumbria showed
the best probation work HM inspectors had seen in a private
company since they started inspecting the reshaped system three
years ago, according to a report published today.
The work of the public National Probation Service (NPS)
in Cumbria was also good, though inconsistent in
‘pockets’, said Dame Glenys Stacey, HM Chief Inspector of
Probation.
In 2014, the government’s Transforming
Rehabilitation programme changed the probation landscape
in England and Wales, making the NPS responsible
for higher-risk offenders and creating 21 private community
rehabilitation companies (CRCs) to supervise medium and
lower-risk people, the bulk of more than 260,000 adults under
probation.
Cumbria and Lancashire CRC is run by Sodexo Justice Services
in partnership with Nacro; it is the third largest CRC-owning
company, with six CRCs supervising 18% of the national CRC
caseload. At the start of 2017, HM Inspectorate of Probation
inspected Sodexo’s work in Northamptonshire and Suffolk.
Neither was performing well. More recently, Sodexo’s CRC
in South Yorkshire was found to be much better.
Publishing the latest report today Dame Glenys said: “The quality
of the work within Cumbria is good overall. The NPS
(its North West division) is providing a good-quality
service for the most part but, as elsewhere, there are pockets of
inconsistency. Staff are working hard with complex cases and are
appropriately focused on protecting the public. However, more
needs to be done to realise the full potential of the service so
as to make a bigger difference to people’s life chances.”
The inspectorate, she added, “found exceptional practice at the
CRC, the best we have seen in a CRC since we began inspecting
CRCs and the NPS on a regular basis following Transforming
Rehabilitation. The enduring values of probation and
evidence-based professional practice shone through, case after
case, in our inspection.
“Not all is well, though. Poor working conditions in some offices
and the open-plan booths we have found in Sodexo-owned CRCs
elsewhere made things difficult for service users and staff
alike.” Also, the CRC’s supply chain of services – those support
services it commissions from other community organisations, in
both the private and voluntary, third sectors – was too thin.
Commercial considerations and uncertainties had inhibited
development by the Cumbria CRC of the supply chain.
“Nevertheless,” Dame Glenys said, “responsible officers have been
tireless and remarkably conscientious in their persistent
engagement with service users and their creative approach to the
delivery of effective interventions. And staff have
remained focused on the critical issues, especially the
protection of the public and safeguarding of children.
“That is exactly what we expect of probation services, and it is
a delight to see it provided by the CRC in Cumbria.”
- ENDS -
Notes to
editors:
1. The report
is available at www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation from
05 October 2017.
2. Since the
introduction of Transforming
Rehabilitation (TR) in June 2014, HM Inspectorate of
Probation has reported on its implementation and produced the
last of five Transforming Rehabilitation reports in May 2016. In
April 2016, a new programme of regular inspection of adult
probation services, known as Quality & Impact inspection,
began. Cumbria is the thirteenth area to be inspected
in that programme.
3. In this
inspection reported on today (5 October), HM Inspectorate of
Probation examined adult probation work delivered
in Cumbria by the Cumbria and Lancashire CRC
and the NPS North West division.
4. The CRC is
one of six owned by Sodexo Justice Services in partnership with
Nacro and the fourth inspected under the inspectorate’s Quality
& Impact programme. It is the second time we have inspected
in the North West division of the NPS.
