Probation in Meltdown

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May 22, 2009

Yorkshire and Humberside Probation Cuts Meeting - Friday 5 June

Napo and Unison jointly will be holding an open meeting on the Probation cuts for the Yorkshire and Humberside Region in the Victoria Hall (Chapel Walk) Sheffield from 2.00pm – 3.30pm on Friday, 5th June.

Download a flyer here

Posted by kfalcon at 12:57 PM

Anti-Cuts Bulletin No 4

Download a copy below
Download file

Posted by kfalcon at 12:53 PM

New EDM on Probation resources - ask your MP for support

Neil Gerrard, Chair of the Justice Unions Parliamentary Group, has tabled an Early Day Motion, which we hope will get considerable all Party support.

The wording of EDM 1521 is: “That this House urges the Government to ensure that the Probation Service in England and Wales has sufficient resources to ensure that it can carry out its statutory duties in an effective and efficient manner.”

Members of Napo are urged to write to their MPs asking them to join the signature list.

You can find your MP and email them direct - and also find a model letter to use - on the Napo home page - just type in your post code and click "GO".

Posted by kfalcon at 11:53 AM

Successful regional MPs briefings

Napo members from the Midlands, North East, North West, South West Regions and Wales attended a regional briefing event at the House of Commons on 19th May.

The purpose was to explain to MPs the impact of the cuts, the affect on trainees and subsequent consequences for crime. By the end of the day, 25 MPs from all Parties had attended the sessions. They included a majority of MPs who do not normally come to Napo events. All were sympathetic to the plight of staff and the service.

MPs attending included Philip Dunne (Ludlow), Michael Fabricant (Lichfield), Rob Marris (Wolverhampton), Meg Munn (Sheffield Heeley), Ann Winterton (Congleton), George Howarth (Knowsley North and Sefton East), Andrew Mller (Ellesmere Port), Robert Key (Salisbury), Doug Naysmith (Bristol North West) and Dan Rogerson (North Cornwall).

All MPs agreed to write to Jack Straw to express concerns and to table parliamentary questions about the effect of cuts in their area, and most will sign an Early Day Motion on Probation resources.

A second event is now planned for London, Southern and North Thames regions, probably in June.

Posted by kfalcon at 11:47 AM

May 07, 2009

More parliamentary activity on the cuts

5th May (Ministry of Justice Question Time) saw Ministers fielding more questions from MPs about Probation cuts in their area.

This time it was Jack Straw who faced a question from David Anderson, Labour MP for Blaydon in Northumbria. What, the MP asked, would the Secretary of State "advise me to tell the people who work in the probation service in the north-east? How are they supposed to improve reoffending rates if, because of deficit cuts, they lose £1.6 million this year and £4.2 million in 2012, and do not employ the 24 trainee probation officers who have been trained over the last three years, at a cost of £2.5 million to the public purse? Surely that cannot be correct?"

Jack Straw's response, as well as repeating the Ministerial mantra about the "70% incease in Probation funding over the last 12 years", was to offer a meeting. "My colleagues and I are always happy to see my hon. Friend—and, if necessary, a delegation from Northumbria probation service—about their concerns", he said. We will keep members posted on the outcome of the offer.

Posted by kfalcon at 04:28 PM

Anti-Cuts Bulletin No 3

Download a copy below

Download file

Posted by kfalcon at 04:26 PM