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NOMS: Reports of its death are greatly exaggerated.
ANNE OWERS, HM CHIEF INSPECTOR OF PRISONS WAS THE FIRST TO SPEAK.
She paid tribute to her predecessor Sir, now Lord, David Ramsbotham and drew attention to the seminal importance of the Social Exclusion Unit report of 2002 on reducing re-offending.
She talked of the continuing need to support ex-offenders “through the gate”, so that prison ceases to be “a parallel world”. She spoke of efforts to “bring outside in” to aid resettlement and reduce re-offending.
She identified significant threats and problems facing the prison system. With 80,000 plus prisoners, overcrowding is growing in severity, reflected in rising suicide rates. She observed that Training Prisons in particular are being adversely affected by the pressure of numbers. “It is far too common to find half of all prisoners unemployed”.
She also highlighted problems with housing and financial exclusion. She pointed to the need to find more pathways to working with families to deliver suitable frameworks for successful resettlement.
Despite the pressure of numbers, budgets are being squeezed. For the next three years the Prison Service is required to make 3% savings each year in expenditure by efficiency improvements.
Anne Owers fears that the only things that can be cut are the daily regimes, which support meaningful activity such as education (though she did not refer to it specifically), and expenditure on outside organisations.
Finally she spoke of the new report by Lord Patrick Carter which is expected before Christmas. This will look at how the resettlement effort has developed since his first report of December 2003 and consider future developments.
In many ways the tone and themes of her speech were repeated by other speakers. There was a review and reflection on the efforts so far and a sober appraisal of a future in which prison numbers are higher and budgets lower.
DAVID LAMMY MP MINISTER FOR SKILLS, DEPT. FOR INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS
David Lammy was the main speaker in the afternoon session. He drew on his background as a black North Londoner. He spoke passionately and without notes on his commitment to helping the disadvantaged, including ex-offenders to find a successful future.
He reviewed the policy and institutional framework in place to reduce reoffending. He said that his real emphasis is on employment. This harkened back to the key conclusions of the Social Exclusion Unit’s report of 2002, which observed that having a job reduced the risk of re-offending by between one third and a half.
David Lammy was asked what emphasis he places on preparation for self- employment through the provision of enterprise skills. The 2002 report observed that for some offenders self-employment may be the only realistic way back to work (SEU 2002 para 8.12, p56). He observed that his department is not prescriptive in its policy with respect to the employment skills delivered to offenders.
PHIL WHEATLY, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE PRISON SERVICE
At the end of the first day Phil Wheatly addressed the delegates at a reception in the not altogether inappropriate setting of the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms.
He gave a review of the opportunities and threats facing the justice system. He spoke of the readiness of the prison service to maintain the focus on reducing reoffending and protecting the public in circumstances where prisons are overcrowded and money is tight. His calm, commonsense and authoritative approach earned the thanks certainly of this delegate.
MARIA EAGLE MP, PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
Maria Eagle opened the second day. She reaffirmed commitment to reducing re-offending and protection of the public. She placed particular emphasis on collaboration with the Voluntary Sector to achieve this. Like her colleague David Lammy she focused on the need to find employment for the two-thirds of those who finish sentences without any work or organised education to go to.
She stated that the policy will be to empower local initiatives by ensuring that commissioning is done at the regional level and not centrally. She advised all hopeful contractors and collaborators to get hooked in at a local level to regional management.
She reviewed past successes in the context of the seven pathways to improving resettlement laid out in Reducing Re-Offending National Action Plan (2004). These are: housing, work, health, addiction, money, family and behaviour.
There has been progress: 700 employers brought on board, large
The objective of end-to-end joined-up effort focused on the offender as an individual is a work in progress. The plan is to deliver regional connectedness and operation to make NOMS truly joined up from end to end.
Maria Eagle was asked if the recent speculation is true that NOMS is a failing experiment facing imminent termination. She said: “Don’t believe all you read in the papers.” She said that there is work ongoing to make the new components of Justice make structural sense. But leaked reports of the death of NOMS were not just exaggerated. They were wrong.
HELEN EDWARDS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF NOMS
While Maria was saying this Helen Edwards, CE of NOMS, was sitting beside her on the stage. Helen took up the theme in her own speech.
There was an interesting hint that efforts may be made to reduce the inflow to the prison population. She spoke of evidence that the public is not as punitive as the more aggressive newspapers might report. So maybe there is scope for less severity from the courts without running counter to public opinion.
Certainly Helen reported a need for tackling re-offending. Of those receiving sentences of from one to four years in prison 83% have prior convictions. Of those receiving a sentence of one year or less 92% have more than three previous convictions. Half the crime is committed by re-offenders.
Helen described the current policy to reduce these numbers including a strategic focus on those with sentences of under one year and young offenders, where success will have a major impact on future reoffending.
There have been successes: in addressing the issue of accommodation through work with Supporting People, the introduction of OLASS and new “cross cutting” alignments within the civil service, with the treasury introducing PSA targets that require interdepartmental collaboration.
Helen pointed to promising results showing that all the work that has been done is having a positive effect of re-offending rates. She called for more efforts, of the type envisaged in the Campus Model: “to learn what works, what works best and what should be invested in”.
She concluded by recommending study of the imminent Carter report reviewing progress, looking at the balance of demand and supply side factors in the criminal justice system. That is the inflow of offenders from the courts on the one side and their supervision on the other. When asked about the date of publication she said “before Christmas”. So watch out for its announcement.
WORKSHOPS
There was a wide range of workshops for delegates to attend. They provided case studies and seminars on the initiatives that NOMS has supported together with European Social Fund money and the participation of voluntary organisations.
Exhibitors consisted of: Engage, Equal, Exodus, Impact, NEON, NOMS, PS Plus, Rainer, Reset, Rickter and SOVA.
More information on the workshops can be obtained from the conference organisers: Inclusion Events and Training, www.cesi.org.uk.
The whole conference was presided over very amiably by Erwin James, ex-prisoner, Guardian correspondent and author.
My only complaint? The acoustics and PA system echoed. It was difficult to hear the speakers. I’ve heard better sound reproduction in a railway station.
REFERENCES
Social Exclusion Unit (July 2002), Reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners, HMG Cabinet Office, see WWW site at URL: http://www.thelearningjourney.co.uk/reducing_report.pdf/file_view
Carter, P. (11 December 2003), The Carter Report -“Managing Offenders, Reducing Crime – a new approach”, Strategy Unit of the Cabinet Office, see WWW site at URL: http://www.thelearningjourney.co.uk/Patrick_Carter_Review.pdf/file_view
NOMS (July 2004), Reducing Re-offending National Action Plan, see WWW site at URL: http://www.thelearningjourney.co.uk/reducing-reoffending-action-plan.pdf/file_view
