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Offenders are offered a helping hand to find a job to reduce
the risk of them reoffending
30th July 2010
Hampshire Probation Trust has won a contract worth nearly £50,000 to offer its offenders careers and skills advice to help them get back to work.
Next Step is the new adult careers service that is available in England to all adults aged 19 and over (18 for Jobcentre Plus or Probation clients). Next Step is funded by the Skills Funding Agency, an agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills whose job is to fund and regulate adult further education and skills training in England.
The service available through Next Step is to be delivered through three channels; face to face, telephone and online via the web. It will go live on 2 August through the new Next Step telephone and face-to-face channels, with the brand new Next Step careers website due to go live shortly after.
The contract, awarded to Hampshire Probation Trust by Babcock Enterprise, aims to support offenders who are finding it hard to get a job. This enables offenders to access the Next Step service on Probation premises. The Next Step service can help:
The contract will run for eight months from August, and will enable around 600 offenders from across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to gain easy access to the Next Step service. If the scheme proves to be successful then it could be extended for a further two years.
Hampshire Probation Trust’s, Chief Executive, Barrie Crook said: “All the evidence suggests that by helping offenders find work they are less likely to go on and commit further offences. We want to challenge offenders behaviours and by helping them find a job we are challenging them to understand that crime is not the answer.
“We are delighted to work in partnership with Babcock Enterprise to offer this service to our offenders. As a Probation Trust we appreciate that we need to work with other organisations to help deliver services to achieve our objective of reducing the risk of re offending among offenders”
For more information or an interview, please contact Hampshire Probation Trust’s Communication Manager Neill Young on 07827 873744 or email: neill.young@hampshire.probation.gsi.gov.uk
WOMEN’S WISDOM EMPOWER PROGRAMME
Hampshire Probation Area first piloted the Women’s Wisdom Empower Programme in Portsmouth in late 2008. Since then, it has also been running in Southampton, Basingstoke, Fareham and Andover.
Empower is a programme which aims to increase women’s ability to make changes in their lives. It runs for 7 weeks, with a one-hour introductory session, followed by 6 weekly two-hour sessions, It is relevant to any woman offender, as it can greatly enhance other work being done.
The women are supported in identifying their skills and strengths and use creative thinking and ‘mind-mapping’ to broaden their perspective.
There is a session on Thinking and Behaviour, in which group members identify their triggers for negative thinking patterns and devise a strategy for replacing these with positive thoughts.
Empower makes extensive use of Visual Tools, such as the ‘Kitchen Table’ Exercise, which helps people to assess their current situation and see where change is needed. There is also a ‘Courage Jigsaw’, which looks at beliefs and behaviours, setbacks and resilience, and goal setting and resources.
Group members are supported in setting realistic goals for themselves and planning how they will achieve them. They use a fun and effective prioritisation tool - ‘eating frogs’ - to identify the most important tasks as they progress towards their goals.
Evaluation feedback shows that all the women who took part in the programme found it useful and inspiring and many of the women didn’t want it to finish. Here are some of their comments:
‘I have learnt to start dealing with my problems. It has boosted my confidence 100%.’
’I have learnt why I behave the way I do.’
‘Learning to change small things leads to bigger things.’
‘It has given me confidence to turn my life around.’
Trudy spent time in custody for drugs offences, and this has restricted her choices upon release. She found the ‘visioning’ sessions helpful in identifying her goals and overcoming obstacles. In her own words, ‘Because of this course my future has changed - because you have changed my thinking.’ Trudy wants to work with women who have drug problems and has taken the first step towards this, by doing regular volunteer work with Women’s Wisdom.
Debbie has been addicted to crack and heroin and has been in prison several times. She says Empower has helped her to see the consequences of her actions, and this has helped her to avoid using again. Debbie said, ‘Empower has changed my behaviour because it’s changed the way I think.’ She uses the ‘eating frogs’ approach to motivate herself to do things like sorting out her unpaid bills. Each time she deals with one of these tasks she feels more positive about herself and thus her confidence increases. Debbie found the behaviour styles sessions very useful in understanding not only her own behaviour but also that of others and says that Empower has made a huge difference to her life.
MAPPA STRIVING TO KEEP THE COMMUNITY SAFE
The annual report on the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight was published on October 26, giving re-assurance that the public is being protected from people who might otherwise commit more violent or sexual crimes.
The agencies include all the specialists needed to ensure the safety of the public, led by the police, probation and prison services. During 2008/09 there were 1,647 people under MAPPA supervision, all having records of previous violent or sexual offences.
Only two offenders were charged with further serious offences during the year. The report says the two are still awaiting trial. Since the report was written, one man, charged with rape, was found not guilty. The other, charged with indecent assault on a man, was sentenced to a further 12 months’ imprisonment.
The report explains that the offenders are categorised as registered sex offenders, violent offenders and other dangerous offenders. They are managed at three different levels. Just 14 people needed the highest level of management, requiring additional resources and ongoing senior management oversight. None of these 14 re-offended.
In a joint foreword in the report, Chief Constable Alex Marshall; Barrie Crook, Chief Officer of Hampshire Probation Area, and Bruce Davison, Head of the Social Inclusion Strategy Unit for prisons in the area, said public confidence is now a key measure of success for all who manage the most dangerous individuals within our society.
They stressed that communication among agencies is crucial to prevent serious violent and sexual offending and said the MAPPA method of achieving this goal has been so successful that it will be applied to the supervision of other offenders next year.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Ashthorpe, the constabulary’s head of offender management, said:
“The MAPPA annual report is published to better inform the community about the work of all agencies to protect the public from serious harm. It must be remembered that there are real people behind the statistics, people who are assessed as posing the highest risk of harm. These are people who, year on year, are being effectively managed in the community because of the hard work put in by those staff whose primary duty is public protection."
“Hampshire Constabulary is committed to public protection and constantly strives to improve our service. One example was the introduction during the last year of the Disclosure Pilot, which allows members of the public to apply to the police for information about people who may pose a risk to children or vulnerable adults. This service is available throughout the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and shows the police and MAPPA agencies need to work in partnership with the public to protect vulnerable sections of the community from harm."
“We are proud of the work of our staff, day in and day out, and the report shows some evidence of the success they achieve through their hard work.”
Hampshire and Isle of Wight MAPPA leaders also affirmed that, although the agencies face increasing financial cuts, when it comes to deciding how resources are used, priority will continue to be given to safeguarding the public from those offenders who pose the greatest levels of risk.
Chris Mitchell, Director of Offender Management for Hampshire Probation, said:
"We are proud of all the interventions by the MAPPA agencies that have prevented more crimes being committed. We cannot talk about them, so the public only hear about this work when a further offence makes headline news. Sadly, there will be occasions when people commit further offences."
"However, it is a huge achievement to prevent further serious crime, even though an offender’s whole lifestyle indicates that the risk of re-offending is high. Although we cannot comment on individual cases, we are keen that people should know more about how we operate. This report will help but we are also willing to talk to community groups about our work.”
Arrangements for a talk can be made by calling 01962 842210.
Hampshire Probation selected for Trust status with top performance rating
Hampshire Probation Area has been awarded Trust status based on its robust performance and proven ability to provide high quality, best value, services to supervise and rehabilitate offenders in the community.
Brought in as part of The Offender Management Act 2007, Probation Trusts are replacing 42 area services across England and Wales. Only those able to prove their effectiveness and efficiency become Trusts. This makes them lead providers of local probation services in a new era of publicly demonstrated accountability.
“It is an important milestone for us,” says Hampshire’s Chief Officer of Probation, Barrie Crook. “Trust status recognises the key role we play in the criminal justice system. All our work is based on an assessment of what is most effective at reducing re-offending for local communities.
“Our successful bid is testimony to our reputation for sound performance and the strength of our organisational infrastructure and capacity. Above all, our success is due to the dedication and skills of our staff.”
The Trust becomes operational from April 2010. It follows confirmation that the Hampshire Area, which includes the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton, is one of the best in the UK for protecting the public. Its performance and procedures for public protection has earned it a ‘Green Star’, the premier rating awarded by National Offender Management Service.
“We are delighted,” says Mike Fisher, Chairman of the existing Hampshire Probation Board, employers of local probation staff.
Mr Fisher, who was previously Chief Executive of the Isle of Wight Council, explains:
“Our seven hundred staff have worked very hard to gain this top rating and Trust status. Pressures to achieve and at the same time consolidate, are huge and they have all our admiration for their professionalism and dedication to protecting the public at all times - I would like everyone to know this because we usually only hear about their work when things go wrong.
“The Board would like to recognise, in particular, the efforts of the Chief Officer, Barrie Crook. He was appointed four years ago when our performance ratings were low. He came from being Chief Officer in Dorset, which was then rated a leader in the performance stakes and he has managed to achieve the same for this Area despite rising demands for our services and cuts in government funding.
“The Probation Service works to ensure that offenders are not only punished for their crimes but taught to think and act differently so that they do not commit more. This includes appreciating the feelings of their victims. Here in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight we are proud, but not complacent, that some 7,000 offenders a year go through a top-rated process.”
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