Probation Service
To receive a presentation by the Assistant Chief Executive on the work of Cheshire Probation
Minutes:
The Assistant Chief Executive of Cheshire Probation Trust gave a presentation on the work of the Trust. The presentation outlined:
· The staffing structure
· East Cheshire Organisation Chart
· An outline of the caseload
· Factors contributing to offending
· Community partnership work
· Conviction data/offending rates, pre, during and post nominations
It was highlighted that the Ministry of Justice intended to transform service delivery by introducing a diverse range of providers to drive innovation and achieve efficiencies.
The probation service would retain an important role, approximately 30% of cases, focused on protecting the public by:
o Managing those offenders who pose the highest risk of serious harm to the public, including MAPPA cases
o Continuing to carry out assessments of the risk of serious harm posed by each offender
o Advising the courts and parole board
o Handling most breach cases
The majority of offenders (low and medium risks) would be managed by independent providers, through a 7-10 year contract. There would be 21 contract package areas and Cheshire and Manchester will form one of these, Contracts are likely to be awarded by April 2014.
A national, centrally led commissioning function will be developed that:
o Supported a supply chain
o Avoided undue complexity and duplication; and
o Responsive to local needs.
Providers would be commissioned to deliver community order and licence requirements and would be incentivised to reduce reoffending. Members raised strong concerns that payments would be by results, based on the success of reducing reoffending.
Discussions were ongoing with the Unions with regard to how staff would be TUPE’d over, but some redundancies are likely.
The Assistant Chief Executive was asked to highlight the potential advantages to the proposals and suggested that:
· Offenders with a sentence under 12 months would have supervision.
· IT systems could be improved
· Additional investment and funding for interventions might be likely
· Further career opportunities for staff
It was agreed that progress reports would be brought back to the Committee as implementation progresses
RESOLVED
That further update reports be brought back to the Committee when appropriate.