Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...
Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...
Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...
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Justice Committee: Evidence Ev 89responsibility to fund/commission <strong>the</strong> projects. Funded by NOMS only until March 2013, <strong>the</strong> projects are yetagain on a “cliff edge” as <strong>the</strong>ir future remains precarious and gaps in provision remain.The relationship between criminal justice agencies and <strong>the</strong> voluntary and community sector has changed over<strong>the</strong> last 15 years. The Probation Service’s long history of collaboration with voluntary and community–basedorganisations was underpinned by a mandatory top-slicing of <strong>the</strong>ir budgets but this has now gone and, underpressure to survive, <strong>the</strong>ir relationship with <strong>the</strong> sector has diminished. NOMS, and before it <strong>the</strong> Prison Service,has always had a tendency to think that “voluntary” equals “free” but over <strong>the</strong> years <strong>the</strong>ir appreciation of whatvoluntary sector agencies can contribute has markedly increased. Never<strong>the</strong>less, <strong>the</strong> CJS has relied heavily onfinancial investment from charitable funders for decades. The MoJ needs that investment but cannot assumeits automatic continuation unless it displays some energy in its proactive engagement of Trusts as an equalpartner. The lack of sustained engagement with Trusts’ interests in innovation and systems-change brings areal risk that <strong>the</strong>y could turn <strong>the</strong>ir attention away from <strong>the</strong> CJS to more fruitful ground.We are convinced that this Inquiry presents a real opportunity to set out to Ministers <strong>the</strong> steps that arerequired to get <strong>the</strong> <strong>Corston</strong> agenda back on track.Key elements needed:1. A published strategy which sets out <strong>the</strong> Government’s plans to reduce <strong>the</strong> number of womengiven a custodial sentence by making full use of <strong>the</strong> community services available. This strategyshould contain a route map which shows:(a) How, in <strong>the</strong> light of <strong>the</strong> move to localised commissioning, <strong>the</strong> position of <strong>the</strong> centres issufficiently streng<strong>the</strong>ned that <strong>the</strong>y stand a fair chance in a very difficult commissioningenvironment.(b) Markers on <strong>the</strong> journey towards successful localisation which signpost how, over <strong>the</strong> nextthree or four years <strong>the</strong> women’s centres’ evidence base across all of <strong>the</strong> outcomes ofinterest to local commissioners is improved; which recognises <strong>the</strong>ir role in joining upservice responses to <strong>the</strong> wider set of “women at risk” issues and which underlines <strong>the</strong>irrole in helping local commissioners fulfil <strong>the</strong>ir collective Gender Duty responsibilities.2. How this agenda connects with o<strong>the</strong>r disparate current policy elements, such as “TroubledFamilies” or Violence against <strong>Women</strong>, by drawing <strong>the</strong>m toge<strong>the</strong>r to improve <strong>the</strong>ir impact andachieve <strong>the</strong> best “gains” from <strong>the</strong> social and economic impact of holistic services for womenat risk and not just women who have offended.Not least amongst <strong>the</strong>se gains are <strong>the</strong> financial benefits of limiting <strong>the</strong> next generation of<strong>offenders</strong>.3. How <strong>the</strong> necessary joint working across departments centrally and locally will be achieved.4. How <strong>the</strong> strategy will be delivered and lead—clear leadership toge<strong>the</strong>r with <strong>the</strong> coreinfrastructure and champions needed to deliver sustained reform.5. Better use of <strong>the</strong> Gender Duty as a lever for change and engagement with sentencing, both inits formulation and delivery.6. CIFC itself needs Ministers to engage in a genuine partnership with both funders and <strong>the</strong>voluntary sector, taking advantage of <strong>the</strong> creativity, experience and commitment <strong>the</strong>re to makereal progress in achieving systems-change through innovative approaches to practice andresourcing mechanisms.September 2012Written evidence from Clinks and <strong>the</strong> Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory GroupThis evidence is submitted jointly by Clinks and <strong>the</strong> Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group(RR3). Clinks is <strong>the</strong> national umbrella body supporting Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisationsworking with <strong>offenders</strong> and <strong>the</strong>ir families and provides <strong>the</strong> Secretariat to <strong>the</strong> RR3. The RR3 recently respondedto a request by Crispin Blunt, Minister for Prisons and Probation, to convene a time-limited Task & Finishgroup to produce a series of recommendations on women. The resulting paper (published May 2012) addressed<strong>the</strong> need for a distinct national approach to women at risk of offending and discussed <strong>the</strong> urgent need forclarity over where responsibility for specialist services for women will be located in <strong>the</strong> shifting commissioningenvironment. The final paper with a full list of contributing VCS organisations accompanies this submission.The Task & Finish group took a dynamic approach to <strong>the</strong> task by analysing <strong>the</strong> key routes of girls andwomen into and out of <strong>the</strong> CJS and considering how to stem <strong>the</strong> flow in a more gender-sensitive way. Thisrouting exercise revealed <strong>the</strong> larger reality that successive failures to divert girls and women into genderspecificand supportive community-based services have allowed <strong>the</strong> escalation of chaos in <strong>the</strong>ir lives andperpetuated <strong>the</strong> vulnerability to abuse that very often leads to tragic consequences for <strong>the</strong> women, <strong>the</strong>ir families