Women offenders: after the Corston Report - United Kingdom ...

Women offenders: after the Corston Report 45that women who have offended who work with women who have not offended—inother words, at a generic women’s centre, not a women’s centre that is seen primarilyas a women offenders centre—develop much better. 226“One of the important things about desistance [...] is that you need to connect a woman toa different social community setting from the one she was in before.” 227115. We consider in the next chapter how the network of women’s community servicesmight be maintained under future funding arrangements and we make relatedrecommendations in paragraphs 135 and 149. The Government wished to see a broaderrange of provision being made for women offenders that did not have access to one of thewomen’s community projects. The NAO were unable to establish whether this had beenachieved as NOMS were already undertaking such an analysis. NOMS should publish itsanalysis of the provision that probation trusts have made for women as an alternativeto women’s centres.Funding for other provisionLocal commissioning and co-commissioning arrangements116. NOMS Commissioning Intentions 2012-13 drew attention to the importance of localco-commissioning arrangements for meeting the needs of women offenders:“A much higher percentage of female offenders are found in the low and mediumrisk bands, as very few women present a high risk of serious harm and few present ahigh likelihood of reconviction. However, female offenders are usually assessed ashaving a wide range of social and psychological needs which increase theirvulnerability. Many of the needs most prevalent among female offenders such aseducation, mental health problems and substance misuse are therefore mostappropriately dealt with through co-commissioning services with partners.” 228This may have stemmed from the joint thematic inspection which noted: “[...] it wasapparent that, with the changes in the NOMS structure and the subsequent removal of theregional framework, the sustainability of many of the measures now in place and theirsubsequent development would depend on the capacity of the probation service to engagewith local providers. A locally coordinated joint approach to the needs of women offenderswas paramount.” 229117. The changes to commissioning in probation described above, and further reformsconsidered in the next chapter, are taking place in the context of other developments incommissioning arrangements. These have the potential to address the gaps in mentalhealth service provision described above. From April 2013 the National Health Service and226 Q 103227 Q 116228 Ministry of Justice, National Offender Management Service, NOMS Commissioning Intentions 2012-13,November 2011, p 17. The most recent iteration of this, published in July 2012, made no explicit reference to womenoffenders in its priorities for co-commissioning.229 Criminal Justice Joint Inspection, Equal but different: An inspection of the use of alternatives to custody for womenoffenders, London, 2011, p 6.