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

86 Women offenders: after the Corston Reportspecialist organisations, particularly those working with a minority group likewomen offenders, where there has been reliance on qualitative data, to illustratesuccess. NOMS must work hard with partners to develop the evidence base forcommissioners, and explore how existing providers can gain access to data relatingto their service users, in order to analyse and measure outcomes. If the strength ofthe evidence base remains weak as the transfer to new providers approaches then weconsider that alternative funding mechanisms must be found to support thesecentres until better evidence of their capacity to reduce offending, or otherwise, isavailable. (Paragraph 139)18. The Government’s proposals for Transforming Rehabilitation have clearly beendesigned to deal with male offenders. Funding arrangements for provision forwomen appear to be being shoehorned into the payment by results programme,resulting in the likelihood of a loss of funding for broader provision encompassingboth women offenders and those with particular vulnerabilities that put them at riskof offending. In addition, the risk of sentencers using short prison sentences as agateway to support undermines the post-Corston direction of travel in reducing theuse of custody for women, and does nothing to mitigate the detrimental impact ofshort sentences on women, their families and the likelihood of reducing reoffending.If the Transforming Rehabiltation reforms are to work, improvement ofinformation to sentencers about the alternatives to custody, which we haverepeatedly called for, must take place. In that context there must be clarity aboutresponsibility for that effective liaison with sentencers to raise the awareness of thejudiciary about the range of available interventions, which has hitherto been vestedin probation trusts. (Paragraph 143)19. Reducing reoffending is a very important goal, but so is preventing first offences bydiverting women away from crime. We consider that there is a compelling caseunder the Transforming Rehabilitation programme for commissioning services forwomen offenders separately and for applying other incentive mechanisms thatwould encourage not just the reduction of re-offending but also the diversion ofwomen from crime. A strategic inter-departmental approach should be taken toensuring the long-term sustainability of services for women with complex needs. Inthe short-term it may be necessary to retain some grant funding for specialistprovision for women, or to have a transitional phase whereby the funding forprojects is initially ring-fenced to allow women’s centres to gain credibility with newproviders. It will also be important to clarify how new providers will contribute toexisting local commissioning arrangements, for example, between probation trusts,police and crime commissioners and local authorities, or how statutory partnershiparrangements could evolve to accommodate non-statutory localproviders/commissioners. (Paragraph 149)The custodial estate20. It follows from the thrust of our argument in this Report that we consider that thescope of the Government’s custodial estate review is unduly limited in taking the sizeof the women’s prison population as a given, particularly as the implementation ofthe remand reforms under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders