Judy McKnight's Napolog

Web log of Napo's general secretary

April 17, 2007

Role Models for a civilised society

I have just finished listening to the House of Lords debate on the second reading of the Offender Management Bill.

The fact that in summing up, Baroness Scotland chose to name those who had spoken in favour of the Bill, is indicative in itself, that the majority of contributions were hostile to the ill conceived fragmentation and privatisation of our Service; a measure which is being done without a business case or an evidenced base justification.

One of many particularly good contributions was Lord Frank Judd, who referred to probation staff as role models for a civilised society. I’d vote for that!

The full quote was as follows:

"The Probation Service has come in for a lot of flak from the media and others in recent years. Much of that generalised flak has been totally unjustified. I am one of those who believes that we have an invaluable resource in the dedicated and tireless work of the overwhelming majority of probation staff. That needs to be said loudly and clearly. In many ways they are role models for a decent, civilised society."

Posted by jmcknight at 09:02 PM | Comments (0)

April 05, 2007

Well Done Probation

When John Reid wants to attack us he makes sure he gets the headlines.

When we are doing well, why is it quietly tucked away?

Recent Home Office Statistics on Re-offending, covering those released from prison or who commenced a community penalty in the first quarter of 2004, show that against the 2000 baseline, there is a 2.1% drop to a 55.5% actual re-offending rate. To quote the report, ”if this level of proven re-offending is maintained in the 2006 cohort then the target to reduce re-offending by 5% between 2000 and2006 will be met.”

The recent NPS Bulletin, (49) goes on to state:

“Overall, between 1997 and 2004 there has been reduction of 6.9% and the target set in the 2000 spending review has therefore been met. Well done probation.”

Ministers may not be shouting this from the roof tops, but we can makes sure that peers and MPs are aware of our success, when they consider the OM Bill.

Posted by jmcknight at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)