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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MANAGE THE SENTENCE FOR A COMMUNITY ORDER AND SUSPENDED SENTENCE ORDER SPECIFICATION
This instruction applies to : / Reference :
Probation Trusts / PI 15/2010
Issue date / Effective Date / Expiry Date
1 October 2010 / 1 October 2010 / 1 October 2014
Issued on the authority of / NOMS Agency Board
For action by / Trust Contract Managers and Trust Chairs.
Relevant to all staff responsible for the commissioning and provision of Community Order and Suspended Sentence Orders.
For information / Directors of Offender Management
Chairs of Probation Trusts
Chief Executives
Contact / Karen MacLeod, Rehabilitation Services Group

Associated documents / The Manage the Sentence for a Community Order and Suspended Sentence Order Service Specification,
Operating Model, Direct Service Costs and Assumptions Document and Costing Spreadsheet, found at:
Specification, Benchmarking and Costing
Audit/monitoring :
Directors of Offender Management will monitor compliance in their region with the mandatory actions set out in this Probation Instruction. Probation Trusts must demonstrate compliance with these actions when required to do so by Directors of Offender Management.
Introduces amendments where outlined. Copies held on the HMPS Intranet/EPIC will be amended; hard copies must be amended or cross referenced locally.

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CONTENTS

Section / Subject / Applies to
1 / Executive summary
Background
Desired outcomes
Mandatory actions
Resource impact / All Staff
1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
2 / Operational guidance
Additional mandatory instructions
Performance monitoring
Expectations and processes
Responsible officer / All Staff
2.1
2.2, 2.3
2.4
2.5

1. Executive summary

Background

1.1 The Service Specification for Manage the Sentence for a Community Order and Suspended Sentence Order was issued to Directors of Offender Management on 04 June 2010 and forwarded to Probation Trusts. The Service Specification – ‘Deliver Supervision Requirement’ was issued at the same time. The specifications make clear that there is a distinction between the role of the responsible officer in managing the community order or suspended sentence order and in the role of delivering the supervision requirement.

1.2 Until now, the management of the community order and the suspended sentence order has not been defined separately from the management of requirements. They have been treated effectively as one and the same up to this point. The preparation of a precise specification for the management of community orders and suspended sentence orders (and a distinct and separate specification for the supervision requirement) has allowed us therefore to define:

·  what the core responsibilities of managing the order are, regardless of the type, or number, of requirements and

·  which unique components of the order are attached to the delivery of the supervision requirement and are therefore separate from the management of the order in which it is a requirement

To issue the specifications separately, allows for an approach where the management of the order and the delivery of the requirement can be managed by one responsible officer / offender manager, or for the role of the responsible officer and the duties of delivering the supervision requirement to be run separately. At present the norm is that they are run together as the most economical option. If separate delivery allows for savings to be made whilst offering the most effective approach to reducing reoffending, then that option can be pursued.

1.3 The priority in the community order or suspended sentence order must always be to support the purpose of the sentence and the administration of justice: with the supervision requirement the major purpose is rehabilitation. The management of the community order or suspended sentence order need not always be by the same responsible officer / offender manager as the member of staff who delivers the requirements - even if that requirement is a supervision requirement. As long as the purpose of the sentence is adhered to, we will be able to pursue the most effective method of delivery of its requirements.

1.4 Work is therefore being undertaken currently to develop policy on the role of the responsible officer in the community order and suspended sentence order and a similar type of initiative is being undertaken in relation to the supervision requirement. Information will be available on this in the coming six months.
The implication of defining the components of the supervision requirement more clearly, is that we can develop the policy for the supervision requirement as an intervention in its own right with its own targeting framework, eligibility criteria, management and outcomes.

1.5 This instruction sets the effective date for implementation under existing contracts of the service specification for manage the sentence for a community order and suspended sentence order and appends all of the supporting documents. The specifications define outputs and outcomes that must be delivered and are underpinned by examples of operating models and related direct service cost models. The service specification sets out the mandatory outcomes and outputs which must be implemented from 1 October 2010 with implementation to be fully and demonstrably complete by 1st April 2011. The operating model is not mandatory; providers may, if they wish, develop different models for delivery which are efficient and effective. Similarly, the direct service costs and assumptions document is linked to the operating model and is indicative only.

Desired outcomes

1.6 That Manage the Sentence for a Community Order and Suspended Sentence Order service specifications are delivered throughout England and Wales under existing contracts to achieve the outcomes and outputs in the service specification.

·  Providers of offender management services understand their responsibilities in delivering the specification

·  Staff responsible for delivering the community order and suspended sentence orders understand and act upon the mandatory requirements set out in the service specification

·  Commissioners and providers monitor performance against the outputs in the specification document

Mandatory actions

1.7 Chief Executives must ensure that the management of community orders and suspended sentence orders is delivered in accordance with the service specification as mandated by the Trust Contract. Staff commissioning and delivering community orders and suspended sentence orders therefore must ensure that the outputs and outcomes in the service specification are met.

Resource Impact

1.8 The direct service costs are not mandatory but are set out in the direct service costs & assumptions paper. Note that these costs are direct running costs only and they must not be used on their own to determine resource allocations or make comparisons beyond the public sector. The direct service costs & assumptions paper and cost spreadsheet can be found at:.www.justice.gov.uk/about/noms-sbc-programme.htm.

2. Operational instructions

2.1 The activity in the service specification is already covered by existing operational instructions, which are referred to in the references for detailed mandatory instructions column of the specification.

2.2 Current national requirements for monitoring community orders and suspended sentence orders remain in place. The specification also contains a number of suggested ways in which commissioners can measure and gain assurance on delivery against individual outputs in the specification..

2.4 Trusts are reminded of the definition of service found in section 3 of the specification document. All community sentences need to be managed. The specification deals with those activities which are required to manage a community order or suspended sentence order regardless of the number of requirements that are attached to it. The specification sets out the generic expectations and process required to do this. It covers all community sentences, irrespective of the constituent requirements.

2.5 The management of the order will fall to the offender manager, referred to as the responsible officer in the Act.

Contacts:

For further information email:

Karen MacLeod, Rehabilitation Services Group

Email.

(signed)

Yvonne Thomas

Director of Offender Management.

NOMS.

PI 15/2010 UNCLASSIFIED Issue date 1/10/10

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HQ policy
Equality Impact Assessment –
Policy
/ Implementation of the Manage the Sentence for a Community Order and Suspended Sentence Order Specification
Policy lead / Karen MacLeod
Group / Rehabilitation Services Group
Directorate / Service Development Directorate

What is an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)? 2

Your Equalities team 2

The EIA process 2

Stage 1 – initial screening 2

Aims 2

Effects 2

Evidence 2

Stakeholders and feedback 2

Impact 2

Local discretion 2

Summary of relevance to equalities issues 2

Monitoring and review arrangements 2

What is an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)?

An EIA is a systematic appraisal of the (actual or potential) effects of a function or policy on different groups of people. It is conducted to ensure compliance with public duties on equality issues (which in some areas go beyond a requirement to eliminate discrimination and encompass a duty to promote equality), but more importantly to ensure effective policy making that meets the needs of all groups.

Like all other public bodies, the National Offender Management Service is required by law to conduct impact assessments of all functions and policies that are considered relevant to the public duties and to publish the results.

An Equality Impact Assessment must be completed when developing a new function, policy or practice, or when revising an existing one.

In this context a function is any activity of the Probation Service, a policy is any prescription about how such a function is carried out, for instance an order, instruction or manual, and a practice is the way in which something is done, including key decisions and common practice in areas not covered by formal policy.

If you are completing this document as part of the OPG process, you must complete and return it together with the final Business case for OPG approval and publication alongside the PI/PSI/PSO.

Your Equalities team

It is important that all policies are informed by the knowledge of the impact of equalities issues accumulated across the organisation. Early in the policy development process, and before commencing the EIA, please contact the relevant equalities team to discuss the issues arising in your policy area.

n  HR issues – Staff Diversity and Equality Team – 020 7217 6090 or

n  Service delivery issues relating to gender and younger offenders – Women and Young People’s Group – 020 7217 5048 or

n  All other service delivery issues – Race and Equalities Action Group – 020 7217 2521 or

The EIA process

The EIA has been constructed as a two-stage process in order to reduce the amount of work involved where a policy proves not to be relevant to any of the equalities issues.

The initial screening tool should be completed in all cases, but duplication of material between it and the full EIA should be avoided. For instance, where relevance to an equalities issue is self-evident or quickly identified this can be briefly noted on the initial screening and detailed consideration of that issue reserved for the full EIA.

Further guidance on this will be given by the relevant equalities team.

Stage 1 – initial screening

The first stage of conducting an EIA is to screen the policy to determine its relevance to the various equalities issues. This will indicate whether or not a full impact assessment is required and which issues should be considered in it. The equalities issues that you should consider in completing this screening are:

n  Race

n  Gender

n  Gender identity

n  Disability

n  Religion or belief

n  Sexual orientation

n  Age (including younger and older offenders).

Aims

What are the aims of the policy?

The Instruction supports the Service Specification for the Implementation of the Manage the Sentence for a Community Order and Suspended Sentence Order Specification
Effects

What effects will the policy have on staff, offenders or other stakeholders?

The Service Specification forms part of the NOMS Directory of Services and will underpin regional commissioning by Directors of Offender Management. Use of the Service Specification will help to ensure the delivery of a more consistent, efficient and cost effective service by probation providers. This should support continuous improvement in the quality of service delivered nationally and locally.
This Service Specification separates the management of the sentence from the delivery of the requirements in the Community Order or Suspended Sentence Order. The Community Order and the Suspended Sentence Order exist only so long as there are requirements through which the purposes of sentencing are addressed. This Specification, which separates the management of the sentence from the requirements it is comprised of, offers a degree of flexibility to commissioners of service to ensure that the most efficient and effective approach is delivered.
It is suggested that Equality Impact Assessments are completed as part of Best Value exercises and the equality impact of service is regularly reviewed by commissioners of services.
Evidence

Is there any existing evidence of this policy area being relevant to any equalities issue?

Identify existing sources of information about the operation and outcomes of the policy, such as operational feedback (including local monitoring and impact assessments)/Inspectorate and other relevant reports/complaints and litigation/relevant research publications etc. Does any of this evidence point towards relevance to any of the equalities issues?

Local and national monitoring will be undertaken through the Probation Trust Reporting System (PTRS) as well as through the programme of inspections run by HM Inspectorate of Probation on offender management and thematic issues as they arise.
Stakeholders and feedback

Describe the target group for the policy and list any other interested parties. What contact have you had with these groups?

The policy applies to the offenders sentenced to a period of supervision as a requirement of a community order The policy applies to staff across NOMS who are involved in the management of community orders and suspended sentence orders.
Consultation on the policy has involved a range of internal colleagues as part of the development of the specifications and has included a range of practitioners and managers in probation trusts across England and Wales.

Do you have any feedback from stakeholders, particularly from groups representative of the various issues, that this policy is relevant to them?

Feedback has been incorporated into the final Probation Instruction as submitted to the NOMS Operational Policy Group.
Impact

Could the policy have a differential impact on staff, prisoners, visitors or other stakeholders on the basis of any of the equalities issues?