Agenda item

MarykeTurvey, Head of Probation in Rotherham reported on the work of South Yorkshire Probation Trust in Rotherham in reducing re-offending and contributing to make communities safer by punishing and rehabilitating offenders through delivering the sentences of the Court.

The Trust was hoping to move from its existing premises to a business park close to the Town Centre but may be affected by current reviews of all Government expenditure.  As part of the move, it was the intention to co-locate at least 6 Police personnel (the local Offender Management Unit currently based in Maltby) as well as Local Accommodation and Drugs Services using a regime called Integrated Offender Management. 

The Rotherham Probation Unit:-

-        Consisted of Head of Unit, 4 (FTE) Team Managers, 22 Probation Officers, 15 Probation Service Officers and 15 Administrative Support staff

-        1,300 offenders were worked with in a typical year

-        Over 1,000 reports prepared for local Magistrates and Crown Courts, 257 Community Orders supervised and 215 people on Licence post-Custody

-        Approximately 50,000 hours of Community Payback supervised

-        In 2009 37 Drug Rehabilitation requirements (in partnership with Clearways) completed, 58 Alcohol requirements (in partnership with Lifelines), 11 Sex Offender Programmes, 19 Domestic Abuse Programmes and 77 other Offending Behaviour Programmes

-        Reduced re-offending by those on the caseloads by an average of 11% against their expected levels

-        Only area to have achieved a statistically significant reduction for all 6 quarters

Along with most of the public sector, South Yorkshire Probation Trust faced an uncertain financial future.  The budget had reduced by approximately 5% in each of the past 2 years, including a cut of approximately 3% last month (£600,000 across SYPT) and clearly there would also be effects from the recently announced 25% cut over the next 4-5 years.

SYPT had a target to ensure 35% of offenders were in employment by the end of their Order.  In light of the local economy, this was an area where difficulties were anticipated.

A discussion ensued and the following issued were raised and clarified:-

• Reference was made to the sharing of information in respect of perpetrators of crime and whether all partners were involved.  It was confirmed that on the whole most agencies were effective, but there were problems engaging certain agencies.
• A comment was made about offender mentoring and a query was raised as to whether Rotherham had such a system in place.  It was confirmed that a group called Remedy had recently made some mentors available to the Probation Service and also Voluntary Action Rotherham undertook some work in this area.

It was noted that a meeting had been arranged between the Probation Service, Steve Parry and Simon Perry to discuss what support could be given to offenders, during the community service and beyond.  It was anticipated that the Council would be invited to assist with this support in the future.

Resolved:-  (1) That the content of the report be noted.

(2) That the Council be invited to become involved in the development of Integrated Offender Management services being developed in Rotherham.