Offender Management Bill

My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of Prison Service and National Offender Management Service boards and committees as set out in the Register of Interests. I support the Bill and I support the principle of end-to-end offender management. I share the Government’s position that this Bill is not about privatising the Probation Service. I do not believe either that the Bill represents an attack on the Probation Service or the beginning of its demise. The Probation Service has not failed, despite some recent high-profile cases. There is much of which it can be proud, though there are differences in performance between probation areas. There are also differences in the extent to which individual areas involve outside providers, including the voluntary sector. Unless the private and voluntary sectors prove considerab1y more effective and efficient than the public sector—their track record elsewhere is mixed in this regard—it is, in my view, most unlikely that, as a result of this Bill, the public sector Probation Service will continue to play anything other than a major role in the future. The role that the Probation Service plays, and the responsibilities that it undertakes, are politically sensitive and the subject of much public scrutiny and debate. When things do not go to plan, it is the subject of much public examination and challenge. The activities of offenders serving community sentences, or offenders out on licence after serving custodial sentences, are of considerable public interest. It is the Government who are ultimately held responsible by the public and the media for the consequences if such offenders reoffend while serving their sentences, particularly if those further offences are crimes of violence or of a sexual nature, which put public protection at risk. As a consequence, any Government will want to have a meaningful level of direction and influence over Probation Service work. That means the Government retaining a significant and substantial public sector element, unless their hand is forced because the private and voluntary sectors can show that they can deliver considerably better results for the same money, in which case serious questions would need to be asked about the management and practices of the public sector Probation Service. It is also significant that a number of private, and particularly voluntary sector organisations, are talking in terms of working in partnership with the public sector Probation Service, rather than in direct competition with it, to help provide and supplement the range of programmes available to address issues that have led to people offending and reoffending. One of the issues that has been raised about the Bill is the level of local influence and involvement, including local government involvement, there will be in decision-making on how best to meet to twin objectives in relation to offenders: protecting the public and reducing reoffending. There is also the issue of seeking to reduce offending starting in the first place. Like most others, I support local involvement in such issues, provided that it leads to meaningful action being taken locally, and does not prove to be simply holding more meetings that are talking shops with arguments about lack of resources being advanced as an excuse for doing very little. Many local authorities and other local bodies already do much good work in this area. Others, though, seem to have a less positive approach; for example, over the retention and development of recreational and leisure facilities and activities available for younger people in particular. If the fear and incidence of crime are issues in an area, they should be a key point for action for a local authority, whose citizens reap the consequences of offending and reoffending, and should not just be a matter for the criminal justice system and its agencies. However, I believe that we have to guard against adopting a too-fragmented approach to public protection and reducing reoffending. To begin with, the public and the media do not regard these as local issues. Some offenders move around and do not stay within the confines of one local area. A serious incident involving an offender under supervision is not considered a local problem. It is front-page news. Ministers are challenged in Parliament, investigations are carried out, failings identified and recommendations made, which may well have an impact beyond the probation area concerned. It is important that there is some consistency of approach in addressing the twin issues of public protection and reducing reoffending. It is important that those who are commissioning services from public, private and voluntary sector providers are responsible for sufficiently wide an area themselves, as well as being part of a national organisation, to enable them to acquire the breadth of knowledge and experience, and to have the necessary back-up to make evidence-based judgments, as has already been said, on which offender programmes and measures, either singly or jointly, have the biggest impact on reducing re-offending and increasing public protection in relation to resources available. The potential effectiveness of such programmes and measures in relation to resources invested is not going to vary considerably from one probation area or trust to another, or from one local authority area to another, and we do not want a situation where the local dimension and local accountability leads to people going off in their own completely different directions, based on their own particular theory of what works. I question the extent to which a local perspective on the issues covered by this Bill is in reality meaningful in the context of significantly different measures being needed to deal with offending in one part of the country compared with another, as opposed to different measures being required to deal with different types of offenders or offenders with different issues to address, irrespective of what part of the country they are in. I hope that the Government will ensure that the local involvement and accountability for which they are providing promotes effective action, and does not simply result in endless meetings and consultations as a substitute for action. What is needed is active local involvement in, for example, the provision of accommodation, help in finding employment or training, support for offenders when they leave prison, support to families where a parent is in prison, help in the continuing battle many offenders have in overcoming a drug addiction, and help in addressing problems many offenders have with mental illness or depression. The argument for widening involvement of the private and voluntary sectors and relevant local organisations, including local authorities, in addressing issues of public protection, offending and reoffending, is in part to create a culture that accepts that those issues are not solely the responsibility of the police, the courts, the prison and the Probation Services, but a responsibility for the community as a whole, working with the criminal justice system agencies. The Bill provides for change, particularly for the Probation Service, but change is of course already in progress. It can reinvigorate and revitalise or overwhelm and demoralise. Prolonged uncertainty is not helpful. Nevertheless, I hope that change will not be rushed, and I believe that that is the Government's approach. At a time of change, there is a risk of the eye being taken off the ball. In this case, the ball is public protection and a reduction in reoffending. Particularly as there are now signs of some progress being made in reducing reoffending, it will be vital to ensure that the focus of probation personnel is not deflected to matters of internal reorganisation and changes in process and procedures to such a degree that it is to the detriment of building on that apparent progress. The most important asset by far of the National Offender Management Service, including the Prison and Probation Services, is the people they employ. It is vital that the commitments given—that the developments provided for in the Bill will not result in a dilution of professional standards, or be used as a vehicle for lowering pay and worsening conditions of employment—are honoured in full. The Government have a track record of seeking to address the causes of offending, as well as achieving a reduction in crime. The voluntary sector has already shown that it has a real contribution to make in addressing the causes of offending and reoffending. We must further extend the scope and depth of our efforts in this area, and I see no reason why we should not look to involve all who can assist in achieving the objective of further reductions in reoffending. Likewise with the private sector, which is already involved in some areas of the criminal justice system, and particularly if it also sees itself working in partnership with the public and voluntary sectors. While the Prison Service was already increasing its efficiency and effectiveness—despite the problems presented by working close to, or at, maximum capacity—the advent of private sector involvement acted as a considerable further stimulus. The public sector Prison Service has shown itself more than capable of holding its own. My own view is that the situation will be similar with the Probation Service. The areas and proposed trusts will find that they can match the private and voluntary sectors provided that the performance of the less effective areas improves and there is a general desire to look at whether all activities are being run and managed in the most efficient way. That means there must be a full and complete understanding of the detailed costs, including comparative costs, being incurred for performance effectiveness in all the varied, separate activities of the Probation Service. The ultimate test of the Bill, however, will not be the impact it does or does not have on the Probation and Prison Services, but on the contribution it makes to enhancing public protection and reducing offending and reoffending within the available resources. If it is successful in initiating and promoting a more innovative and inclusive approach to addressing these issues through an acceptance that the actions of a wide range of bodies working together can have a real influence on what can be achieved, the likelihood of further reductions in reoffending and enhanced public protection will be considerably increased.