Kenneth Clarke vows to end ‘bean-counting’ probation service culture

Justice secretary reacts to MPs’ report showing only a quarter of probation officers’ time is spent in direct contact with offenders The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, has vowed to end the “tickbox, bean-counting culture” of the probation service after MPs revealed that officers spend as much as 75% of their work time on administrative duties rather than dealing directly with offenders. Clarke expressed dismay after reading in a report, published on Wednesday by the Commons justice select committee. The panel of MPs said they accepted that probation officers had to do a certain amount of work that does not involve dealing directly with offenders, but were “staggered” to find that could be as much as 75%. “No one would suggest that it would be acceptable for teachers (who also have to do preparatory work and maintain paperwork) to spend three-quarters of their time not teaching,” they said. “The value which really effective probation officers can add comes primarily from their direct contact with offenders.” The rest of the probation officer’s time is split between computer activity, drafting correspondence and reports, meetings and dealing with other red tape, the report found. The MPs took evidence from one chief probation officer who said it was true that a routine offender in the middle of their probation order might be seen for only 10 minutes, but a serious violent offender who was coming out of prison would mean several hours a week contact time. They said a “tickbox culture” imposed by the advent of the national offender management service (Noms), which took over prison and probation a decade ago, was part of the root cause of the growth in bureaucracy. The committee’s report was highly critical of the impact of Noms on the probation service, describing it as a prison service takeover. The MPs said they wanted to see an external review of the future of Noms, saying its creation had not led to a joined-up treatment of offenders and had not proved itself proficient at handling national contracts for services such as for bail accommodation and facilities management. Clarke said he “entirely” shared the committee’s analysis, but insisted changes had been made to Noms since he took over as justice secretary. He said he intended to use the report to address the problem, but made it clear there would be no additional money for the service. “We knew it was a problem,” he told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme. “We’ve been addressing it. It goes back to the failed system of management where you pile targets, and micromanagement and stipulate to people what they should do, which we are getting rid of. “I’ve already started addressing this. We have reduced the number of targets, we have streamlined the national standards, we have said we are going to give probation officers their professional discretion.” The justice secretary refused to say how much time officers should spend dealing directly with offenders, saying he was opposed to “microtargets”. “What I want to measure the probation service by is what works, what output are they producing,” he said. The justice select committee report also called for the government’s “payment by results” proposal to open probation up to competition to be looked at again. The MPs argued that, while there is a lot of scope for new organisations to provide probation services, there is a danger that payment by results will overlook the rights of victims and offenders’ obligations towards them. Clarke indicated plans to bring “outside organisations” into the system, and said he wanted more “professional discretion” in the service. He said it was “simply not feasible” to put more money into the system, but that changes to the service could save money “if you do it properly”. “The one I’m keenest on is community payback – unpaid work,” he said. “You make people work for no pay on something that is of value to the community. It’s a very good idea, which I’ve inherited, but it’s not properly organised.” Harry Fletcher of the probation union Napo, said: “The report confirms that Noms has been a major problem from the start. Napo warned in 2004 that Noms would be a bureaucratic nightmare. “It is scandalous that probation staff now spend 75% of their time on form-filling and responding to centrally driven emails. Even Daniel Sonnex, who brutally murdered two French students three years ago, was seen for just 20 minutes a week. “The last 10 years have witnessed a massive rise in the constant government monitoring of probation staff to the detriment of face-to-face contact with offenders. “This does not enhance public protection but undermines it. This flawed historical trend must be reversed.” Kenneth Clarke House of Commons Prisons and probation Hélène Mulholland Alan Travis guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 27, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.