OUTER HEBRIDES COMMUNITY JUSTICE PARTNERSHIP

Transcription

1 OUTER HEBRIDES COMMUNITY JUSTICE PARTNERSHIP TRANSITION PLAN 2016 / 2017

2 COMMUNITY JUSTICE By community justice, we mean: The collection of agencies and services in Scotland that individually and in partnership work to manage offenders, prevent offending and reduce reoffending and the harm that it causes, to promote social inclusion, citizenship and desistance. Scottish Government 2

3 BACKGROUND / INTRODUCTION Following extensive consultation on the future model for community justice in Scotland, on 7 th May 2015 the (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament to progress the legislative change required to establish the new vision for community justice which has local delivery, partnership and collaboration at its core. This new model sees the dissolution of the 8 Authority (CJA) regional partnerships and the transfer of responsibility for the strategic planning and delivery of community justice to local Planning Partnerships (CPP s) accompanied by the formation of a new national body, Scotland. The new arrangements are expected to come into full effect on 1 st April 2017, with a shadow year from from 1 st April 2016 until 31 st March 2017 where the new CPP community justice arrangements will run alongside the existing CJA model. As part of the redesign process, CPP s are required to prepare and submit a Transitional Plan for the delivery of community justice to Scottish Ministers in January These plans are to be developed in partnership with relevant CJA s pending the full legislative context and resultant new duties on partners for reform being completed. At the end of July 2015, the Scottish Government wrote to CPP Chairs clarifying what was required to be included in these transition plans. The letter made clear that although the draft Bill puts a duty on partners to prepare a Outcomes Improvement Plan and to report on this each year, the transition plan for is not intended to be a community justice outcomes improvement plan, and that the first of these would be required for onwards. This transition plan charts the Outer Hebrides Planning Partnership s (OHCPP) intentions to take forward the community justice agenda and the arrangements for local strategic planning and delivery covering the year and will shadow the Northern Authority s (NCJAs) annual action plan for the period. 3

4 VISION FOR COMMUNITY JUSTICE Our vision is for the Outer Hebrides is that people will live their lives safe from crime, disorder and danger. That we will have tackled the significant inequalities that face our communities and have improved life chances for our children and young people. In order to achieve the vision we will treat people with respect, be open, honest and fair in our approaches; be bold, innovative and smart in how we undertake the work; work together with communities to ensure the best services work together in partnership to deliver the best services for our communities. GOVERNANCE AND STRUCTURE At the meeting of the OHCPP in November 2014, the Partnership agreed a new reporting structure for the Public Protection Committees, and clarified reporting lines for the Communities Outcome Group and Safety Partnership and subgroups. In line with the proposals from Scottish Government regarding the disestablishment of the Criminal Authorities and passing the responsibility for to CPPs it is proposed that a Partnership (CJP) is established to: Write the required community justice action plan Ensure delivery and monitoring of the action plan Report to OHCPP on progress. Report to Scotland as required on progress The CJP would report to the OHCPP who will provide the strategic direction that the community justice work will be addressing. The Partnership would also report to the Chief Officers Group on issues relating to and affecting public protection. Full proposed structure is contained in Appendix 1 The OHCPP Partnership will include those listed as statutory partners as guided by the (Scotland) Bill (not yet finalised) as well as a range of local non-statutory partners with a key role in delivering community justice outcomes. Currently the following partners have engaged in 4

5 discussion relating to the Board and this will be finalised and amended as suitable throughout the transitional year:- Local Authority NHS Integration Joint Board Police Scotland Scottish Fire and Rescue Skills Development Scotland Scottish Prison Service (referred to in the legislation thus far as Scottish Ministers ) Scottish Courts Service. Discussion has focused locally on the following organisations to be considered for membership and this will continue throughout the transitional year:- Housing Association (Hebridean Housing Partnership) College / Schools (Lews Castle College / University Highlands & Islands) Third Sector Representation (C-CIG nominated) Department of Work and Pensions Employers / Employability Development (Highlands & Islands Enterprise) representation (Service Users, Victims, members). Currently Authorities also have representation (though nominally) from:- Scottish Prison Service Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Judiciary. TRANSITIONAL FUNDING / RESOURCING In 2015 notification from Scottish Government was given that transitional monies would be made available to each CPP nationally of 50k each year for a maximum of three years. These monies were made available to support the transition to the new model and support partners to build their capability and capacity to work together on the achievement of improved outcomes for community justice. It is the OHCPP Partnership understanding that there will be no financial provision from Scottish 5

6 Government following this period though this position will be reviewed by Scottish Government at the end of 2015/2016. Therefore any monies considered as required for ongoing sustainability of the OHCPP Partnership may need to be sourced locally between OHCPP partners unless other funding becomes available. Funding and resources will play a key part of discussion and decision making throughout the transitional period and into the 2017 / 2018 plan. In June 2015 the OHCPP Board agreed that the funding provided would be used to recruit to the Criminal Social Work Service of the Local Authority in order to allow the Service Manager to undertake the main transitional tasks and responsibilities. The post has been subject to Local Authority recruitment processes throughout the remainder of 2015 and the post has been advertised in January OPPORTUNITIES Since 2006, the 8 CJAs across Scotland have been responsible for community justice and the Outer Hebrides have been part of the Northern CJA (NCJA) along with Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highland, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands councils as well as other key stakeholders and partners. These arrangements have seen improvements in reconviction rates across the NCJA which have fallen by a total of 5.1% and now stand at a 9 year low of 26.3%. It is therefore acknowledged that the opportunity exists to build upon this progress and continue the trend towards a reduction not just in reoffending but also in prevention of offending occurring in the first instance. The reforms to localise community justice to Planning Partnerships gives stakeholders the opportunity to ensure that outcomes can reflect and meet the specific needs of the local community, victims and offenders. The localisation of community justice arrangements provides the opportunity to: - meet locally identified needs plan collaboratively measure meaningful outcomes not just to the national agenda but also to local priority take innovative approaches improve information sharing improved partnership working 6

7 build community capacity and improve engagement with communities about community justice which also leads to reduced stigma and socially inclusive communities for offenders reduce duplication improve engagement of local 3 rd sector to the community justice agenda in a way which was not available through the CJA model engagement from agencies not traditionally involved with criminal justice or community justice in promoting desistance and prevention of offending. CHALLENGES / RISKS It is important to recognise within this transitional plan that elements of challenge and risks may affect the model for community justice in Scotland and the community justice outcomes locally and nationally. The key role of the transitional period and future local planning is to monitor these challenges and risks and report locally and nationally where relevant. The key challenges:- The (Scotland) Bill has still to be finalised Promoting best practice locally and nationally Identifying relevant and robust local outcomes specific to the Outer Hebrides Balancing local and national priorities the Scotland function will include provision of national outcomes. The challenge for an area such as that covered by the OHCPP is to use resources within the area to ensure that an effective balance is met in meeting the local outcomes and need that differ from the national direction. Incorporating existing partnerships and fitting in with local arrangements (Alcohol and Drug Partnership, Integration Joint Board, Adult / child protection groups, Chief Officers Group etc) including overlap with other local strategies such as the Integrated Children s Services Plan Involvement locally of national organisations like SPS, Victim Support Scotland, National Mentoring PSPs, and other national third sector community justice partners such as Apex and Sacro will be a challenge given that currently none of the organisations have a presence within the Outer Hebrides and they all will have competing demands of attendance at up to 32 other Partnerships nationally. 7

8 Raising awareness of the agenda locally New partners to the partnership understanding the landscape Equality of access to services and information both to what is provided in other CPP areas and also equality of access throughout the Outer Hebrides The key risks:- Lack of finalised bill / national strategy / performance framework as all of these have yet to be clarified and finalised there is the potential for changes in proposals that may affect progress already made or the direction for future planning Lack of communication or breakdown of relationship with the National Board and the potential for Scotland not to reflect the outcomes and needs of rural partnerships Loss of regional benchmarking and outcomes measurement through the disbanding of the Northern Authority Political changes may see a further change in direction relating to community justice in Scotland and therefore have a detrimental impact on efforts already undertaken on local planning and outcomes Should the partnership fail to secure links to national partners then there are risks inherent that local needs and priorities will fail to be addressed through inequitable service provision Should the transitional funding be discontinued there is the potential for any resources that the transitional monies have funded to become integral to the future functioning of the Partnership but without the finance available for that to continue Should either local or national partners not engage appropriately (either statutory or non-statutory partners) there is the risk of the community justice agenda not effectively meeting it s outcomes locally or nationally Should key staff from a variety of statutory partners become incapacitated or unavailable for lengths of time then there is a risk of stagnation of the community justice plan or of a lack of activity in achieving the local and national outcomes Should the local and national outcomes be set in such a way that, although reflective of need, they are too challenging or resource intensive to evidence through research / data interrogation then there is a risk of the local planning seeming ineffective or unsuccessful. 8

9 The OHCPP Partnership will be considering in the transitional year the utility of creating a risk register in order to track concern and measure potential effect of risks upon overall progress of community justice. COMMUNICATION The Partnership will report regularly and as required to the OHCPP, the IJB and Scottish Government. The Partnership also commits to ensure that it reports performance publicly to the communities of the Outer Hebrides. As a sub group of the OHCPP and responsible to the IJB, the Partnership will work with partners to utilise these communication plans and engagement strategies, to ensure effective engagement with the community through appropriate means 2016/2017 TRANSITION PLAN SUMMARY Maintain existing services / functions / programmes for 2016/17 Maintain links with NCJA Mapping existing services Identify gaps in service, and gaps in information Engage service users / families / communities Maintain awareness of national strategy & framework Consult on & develop local priorities (link to SOA) Consult on & develop local outcomes (identify gaps in qualitative and quantitative data?) Consult on & develop local improvement plan for 2017 onwards Develop performance framework for 2017 onwards Develop community engagement opportunities 9

10 Shadow Outer Hebrides Partnership Transition Plan Timescale Aim Actions By Who Completion Notes Create local capacity in terms of staff time for the development of an initial OHCPP Improvement Plan Appoint a team leader to Criminal Social Work to allow the Service manager to undertake all transitional work Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (host employer) April 2016 This post was advertised in January 2016 and has a deadline for applications for 1 st February Recruitment interview and processes likely to take place throughout February and March Convene formal Shadow version of OHCPP Partnership Initial meetings of the OHCPP Partnership held in December 2015 and January Formal noted / minutes meetings to begin from March / April 2016 where chair to be decided. Service manager for CJSW. March Move from transitional activity to assuming local responsibility for Strategy Develop a Outcomes Improvement Plan for April 2017 onwards to set out how Chair of OHCPP Partnership and Service Manager Draft by December

11 improvements (priority outcomes) for OHCPP will be achieved CJSW Ensure communication and engagement with stakeholders within and outwith OHCPP area is initiated and sustained Create a specific OHCPP Communication and Engagement Strategy Partnership Chair and Service manager CJSW September 2016, for approval by OHCPP Shadow Partnership and Northern Authority at their September 2016 Kirkwall meeting. 11

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