Judy McKnight's Napolog

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Web log of Napo's general secretary

December 22, 2006

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year

As the year comes to an end the future of the Probation Service, as a national public service, remains unclear.

If the Offender Management Bill is carried unamended, then 2007, the year when the Service should be celebrating its centenary, will in fact be the year of it's abolition.

We remain confident that we can get agreement to significant amendments in parliament, but it will be vital that members continue to put pressure on their MPs.

Don't forget that you can identify and write to your MP using the box at the top of the Napo website. If you want to know more about your MP check out the website, theyworkforyou.com

The TUC is organising a Speak up for Public Services Lobby of Parliament on 23 January, and this will be another opportunity for members who haven’t yet seen their MP to get on a bus to London, and see them. There will be coaches coming from most parts of the country to this lobby.

Napo head office or branches can let members have the necessary Napo briefings on the Bill.

At a national level, civil servants are not waiting for legislation to dismantle the National Probation Directorate.

At a NOMS meeting with Helen Edwards earlier this week we were given the pleasure of receiving a NOMS “organogram” which is in outline form in the latest NOMS Newsletter.

The organogram shows that from 2 January 2007, the NPD will simply cease to exist. Its functions are being split, with most probation functions falling under the Head of Performance and Improvement, Jonathan Slater, (who will also line manage Roger Hill as the Director of Probation), and some, including Interventions and Diversity, under the Head of Commissioning and Partnerships, Julie Taylor.

We didn’t get a very clear understanding of the logic of this split or how it relates to good professional practice, let alone what it means for the promotion of diversity in the Service.

But enough depressing stuff!

Let’s remember that we can defeat the Bill if we all put our weight into campaigning over the next few weeks and months.

I have tended to concentrate on Probation and NOMS issues in my blogs recently, but CAFCASS members also face battles in the New Year over planned restructuring of their Service.

So I hope all members, in CAFCASS and Probation, have a great Christmas and New Year, and come back refreshed for the fight ahead!

Posted by jmcknight at 07:59 PM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2006

Speaking up for Probation

I was glad the Guardian printed my "Response" this morning.

I was sorry wasn't there more coverage of yesterday's debate in the House of Commons.

I attended the last hour or so of last night's debate and it was heartening to hear the support we had as a Service. Getting 27 Labour MPs to vote against the Bill and 10 to abstain, at the second Reading of a Bill is quite something.
Ministers should be worried!

There will more on the House of Commons debate, and next steps, on the Stop the Bill part of our website.

Posted by jmcknight at 02:38 PM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2006

Switching the Delivery of Public Services

So this is what it's really about.

Just handing us over to the voluntary and private sectors, not introducing contestability to improve performance.

Thank you Gordon.

Posted by jmcknight at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)

December 06, 2006

Good TV? -Monty Don -Thursday, BBC 2 , 9.00pm

“Monty Don - Growing out of Trouble”, starts on BBC 2 on Thursday 7 December at 9.00pm, and continues on 12, 14, 19 and 21 December. It covers the project that Monty Don has been undertaking with West Mercia Probation Area and the Probation Service comes out of it in a good light.

In the forward to the book which accompanies the series Monty Don writes, that after 18 months working with West Mercia Probation Area: “He [the Chief Officer] leads a Probation Service that is under resourced, overworked, often not much esteemed by the general public and yet doing essential and at times, heroic work. In the following pages I am often deeply frustrated by the bureaucracy and culture of the organisation but I am never less than filled with admiration for the individuals trying to do an impossible job for the great good of society”.

It sounds like it may cheer us all up!

Posted by jmcknight at 08:48 PM | Comments (0)

Dirty Tricks?

Is the publication of these statistics, with no attempt to put them in context, another example of dirty tricks by NOMS in the final days before Monday’s second reading of the Offender Management Bill?

NOMS officials and Ministers are silent on the fact that increasing numbers of dangerous people are leaving prison on parole and are therefore being put on license to the Probation Service. Before the changes introduced in the 2001 Criminal Justice Act, such people were just released, and not put on license, when they had done their time in prison.

There is also no explanation of how abolishing the National Probation Service and fragmenting the provision of “probation services” on the basis of competition between a range of providers will improve public protection.

Here was Harry speaking up for us on last night's BBC TV news.

Here is a response I have sent to the Guardian.

Download file

Posted by jmcknight at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)

December 03, 2006

The True Price of Privatisation

Anne Owers' recent report on Harmondsworth Detention Centre publicises the ugly truth about the real cost of privatisation.

A full copy of the HMIP report on Harmondsworth is here.

It might be useful when talking to your MP about the need to oppose the privatisation of Probation, especially if they try to tell you that privatisation improves efficiency.

The fact that the Government is now considering selling shares in private prisons beggars belief.

Posted by jmcknight at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)