On the 21st August I attended the stakeholder engagement event held in Wrexham by HM Prison and Probation Service in Wales to discuss future probation services in Wales – and the proposals contained in the recently published “Strengthening probation, building confidence” consultation paper.
We heard that “In Wales, the proposals consulted on are that, from 2020 all offender management services will sit within the National Probation Service - and that HM Prison and Probation Service in Wales will explore options for the commissioning of rehabilitative services, such as interventions and community payback”.
They told us that they will build upon the unique arrangements they already have in Wales through their established prisons and probation directorate.
As they stated, this will better reflect the devolved responsibilities of the Welsh Government and build on existing local partnerships that probation services have successfully developed.
I therefore move our amendment 1 to this effect.
As we heard, these proposals will allow increasing integration across prisons and probation in Wales - “preventing victims by changing lives” - with real input from the Third Sector, utilising people capital.
Following this, I am, for example, taking the National Probation Service in Wales to meet Eagle House Youth Development Community Interest Company in Bangor next Friday to discuss the latter’s work with young people involved with or at risk of committing crime.
Eagle House has already built a strong working relationship with Job Centres in North Wales.
As the Lord Chancellor states in the “Strengthening Probation and Building Confidence” Consultation, “we know that community sentences are often more effective than prison in reducing reoffending” – adding that:
“Transforming Rehabilitation opened up the delivery of probation services to a broader range of providers and created the structure that we see today.
“There is strength in this mixed market approach, with scope for a range of providers, including in the voluntary sector, to continue to bring fresh, innovative ideas to probation services.
“We have already seen a reduction of two percentage points in the reoffending rates of individuals supervised by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs), and some positive examples of good joint-working between the National Probation Service, CRCs and their local partners. While difficulties were to be expected in such a significant and complex programme of reform, I want to address these issues sooner rather than later.
“This consultation outlines how we plan to stabilise probation services and improve offender supervision and through-the-gate services. It also sets out how we will use the lessons we have learnt so far to put in place more effective services and a robust commercial framework”.
The consultation also notes “the devolved responsibilities of the Welsh Government and existing partnership arrangements in Wales make the delivery of probation services quite different to that in England. The legislative framework provides us with scope to develop alternative delivery arrangements which better reflect the criminal justice context in Wales. We will then consider whether the learning from these new arrangements is applicable to the system in England”.
Wrexham’s Labour MP, Ian Lucas, also attended the Wrexham event. Like me, he understands that devolution of criminal justice would be damaging, running counter to cross-border reality.
He also reminded me that Delyn’s Labour MP, David Hanson, shares his concerns.
Calls for the devolution of criminal justice to Wales fail to recognise that criminal activity does not recognise national or regional boundaries, and that over 1.4 million people in Wales (48% of the total) live within 25 miles of the border with England, and 2.7 million people (90% of the total) within 50 miles of the border.
In contrast, only 5% of the combined population of Scotland and England lives within 50 miles of their border.
Most people in Wales live along the M4 and A55 corridors, separated by a vast rural area, and different criminal justice requirements.
As my working contacts in criminal justice in North Wales repeatedly remind me, they have a closer affiliation with north-west England than the rest of Wales – and to force devolution “to satisfy the egos of certain Politicians should be carefully monitored”.
Operational reality is instead reflected by the increased operational collaboration with the Merseyside and Cheshire Police Forces reported by North Wales Police in areas including firearms, intelligence, custody, property and forensics.
In calling for the devolution of Criminal Justice, we must remember that Plaid Cymru exists only to dismember the UK and divide the British people – and Welsh Labour’s record of creeping and often intimidatory politicisation of devolved public services must be a warning to us all.