Judy McKnight's Napolog

Web log of Napo's general secretary

July 29, 2007

Offender Management Act – What Next?

The Offender Management Act received royal assent on Thursday.

I attach below the basis of a circular that we will be issuing next week, explaining where Napo now stands.

As Churchill said, this is the "not the beginning of the end", but the "end of the beginning"!

My circular also refers to two other attachments, a letter from Jack Straw to MPs, with its annex updated by Napo:

Download file

and a letter from Jonathan Slater to the PBA:

Download file

Continue reading "Offender Management Act – What Next?"

Posted by jmcknight at 01:55 PM | Comments (0)

July 28, 2007

Tolpuddle

Napo managed to make it to Tolpuddle this year.

Thanks to Dorset Branch, Duncan Moss, Mike Weston and Stephen Berry for making it possible.

Herewith our banner on the march, and our Centenary Exhibition, (when it wasn't raining!)

View image

Posted by jmcknight at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2007

TPO Job Prospects

This year it look as if as many as 100 TPOs in Cohort 8 may not get PO jobs when they graduate in September as a result of the cash crisis facing the Service.

We have produced the attached briefing on the problem which I sent to Jack Straw and Helen Edwards today.

I am pressing Jack Straw to find the money to ensure that all TPOs can be employed. If they are not employed as POs they will get jobs elsewhere and their skills will be lost to the Service. It will be the equivalent of another “Howard” training gap.

Ministers are expecting the Probation Service to just get on with the extra work arising from ECL, when we are already at full capacity and when we have no say in the risk assessment of those released early from Prisons.

The least they can do is find the money for the Service to employ all its TPOs.

Download file

Posted by jmcknight at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2007

Ping Pong?

The House of Commons are debating today the Lords’ amendments to the Offender Management Bill which I referred to in my letter in today’s Guardian, (sent jointly with Dave Prentis of Unison).

Our letter makes mention of the Chief Inspector of Probation’s Annual Report which was press released with the headline: “Squeeze on probation capacity threatens progress on offender management: - risk of unsafe level of public expectations.”

Andrew Bridges’ “Forward” to his Annual Report is worth reading not only in relation to the risk to NOMS but also in relation to our workloads campaign. We are used to being told that resources are adequate. Andrew Bridges provides useful support to our arguments that Probation is effectively “full”.

The Parliamentary debate on NOMS may continue for another day or two, “ping ponging” between the Commons and the Lords.

Harry was quoted in Prime Ministers’ questions today on the early release of prisoners. Napo would not wish to support the Tories in opposing early release, but we are entitled to continue to press for the necessary resources for this extra work and for proper risk assessments to be done.

Posted by jmcknight at 05:49 PM | Comments (0)