Devolving Probation Services: An ethnographic study of the implementation of the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda
Lead Research Organisation:
Liverpool John Moores University
Department Name: Law
Abstract
The Probation Service in England & Wales is a public body which plays a key role in the criminal justice system. The Service is more than 100 years old and is responsible for supervising offenders subject to community-based sentences as well as large numbers of offenders who are subject to mandatory supervision at the end of a prison sentence. Currently the Probation Service supervises approximately 220,000 offenders in the community and employs more than 16,000 staff. In 2013 the Ministry of Justice announced plans to implement a policy which will see approximately 70% of the work carried out by the public Probation Service being outsourced to other providers, including private sector companies. The first stage in the process involves the creation of 21 'Community Rehabilitation Companies' (from 1 April 2014) which will be owned by the Ministry of Justice for a period of several months, prior to being offered for sale to a variety of potential providers, including private companies.
This project will examine this significant development in one part of the country, providing a case study of the 'devolution' of the majority of probation services. It will look in detail, in one metropolitan area, at the process and implications of moving the bulk of probation work (and staff) from the public Probation Service to a Community Rehabilitation Company with an uncertain future. The project will seek to understand this process from a variety of perspectives, including those of senior managers involved in running the Company and probation workers engaged in supervising offenders. The researchers will attend and observe management meetings, collect and analyse policy documents and conduct interviews with staff at all levels within the organisation. The research will provide a detailed picture of a significant development in the criminal justice system and, more broadly, the process of 'outsourcing' a public service.
This project will examine this significant development in one part of the country, providing a case study of the 'devolution' of the majority of probation services. It will look in detail, in one metropolitan area, at the process and implications of moving the bulk of probation work (and staff) from the public Probation Service to a Community Rehabilitation Company with an uncertain future. The project will seek to understand this process from a variety of perspectives, including those of senior managers involved in running the Company and probation workers engaged in supervising offenders. The researchers will attend and observe management meetings, collect and analyse policy documents and conduct interviews with staff at all levels within the organisation. The research will provide a detailed picture of a significant development in the criminal justice system and, more broadly, the process of 'outsourcing' a public service.
Planned Impact
This research has considerable capacity for policy engagement and practice as it provides an unprecedented insight, based on original fieldwork, into how current legislation and guidelines surrounding the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda are being received in the field. In so doing, the research will not only provide an in-depth, grounded analysis of the existing legislation, but also identify key areas for reform and improvement and as such we consider the following groups to be potential beneficiaries of the research:
- the host area Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) Management Group. By their own admission in their letter of support the CRC leadership state their desire 'to capture the learning that will come from the research to inform future organisational development initiatives'. Through the briefing reports we intend to provide at key strategic points of the project's development the research will look to provide real-time feedback and constructive policy/practice relevant commentary.
- the host area CRC staff group(s). We consider engaging with the research to be an empowering experience for the CRC staff not just in terms of the stimulation that derives from reflecting on processes and experiences of change, but importantly in being able to offer constructive commentary that can be fed back into the decision-making forums of the CRC through our briefing reports. This ensures the research retains the capacity to deliver real and manifest change in CRC policy and practice.
- CRCs Nationally. Whilst this research is a case study based in one CRC contract area staff perceptions of the transition process and experiences of the working cultures, practices and challenges/opportunities that emerge will resonate with CRCs nationwide. Through an end of project workshop with representatives from all the 21 CRCs invited to attend we will disseminate our findings and collectively engage in reflections on the extent to which staff feel participants within, and retain ownership of, processes of change.
- the Probation Institute. The newly formed Probation Institute is aiming to become a centre of excellence, setting new standards for the rehabilitation sector and providing an independent view of what constitutes good practice in working with offenders. We will engage with the Institute and contribute our research findings to their efforts to advance professional practice and promote organisation and skills excellence.
- Non-Governmental Organisations campaigning for penal reform. The research findings will provide evidence for organisations such as the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prison Reform Trust in their efforts to debate and explore the impact and consequences of outsourcing and the boundaries of marketization within the criminal justice sector.
- International Probation Practice Audiences. We will disseminate the research findings through the Confederation of European Probation (CEP) which coordinates probation organisations across Europe, audiences watching the groundbreaking marketisation of probation services with a keen interest.
- the host area Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) Management Group. By their own admission in their letter of support the CRC leadership state their desire 'to capture the learning that will come from the research to inform future organisational development initiatives'. Through the briefing reports we intend to provide at key strategic points of the project's development the research will look to provide real-time feedback and constructive policy/practice relevant commentary.
- the host area CRC staff group(s). We consider engaging with the research to be an empowering experience for the CRC staff not just in terms of the stimulation that derives from reflecting on processes and experiences of change, but importantly in being able to offer constructive commentary that can be fed back into the decision-making forums of the CRC through our briefing reports. This ensures the research retains the capacity to deliver real and manifest change in CRC policy and practice.
- CRCs Nationally. Whilst this research is a case study based in one CRC contract area staff perceptions of the transition process and experiences of the working cultures, practices and challenges/opportunities that emerge will resonate with CRCs nationwide. Through an end of project workshop with representatives from all the 21 CRCs invited to attend we will disseminate our findings and collectively engage in reflections on the extent to which staff feel participants within, and retain ownership of, processes of change.
- the Probation Institute. The newly formed Probation Institute is aiming to become a centre of excellence, setting new standards for the rehabilitation sector and providing an independent view of what constitutes good practice in working with offenders. We will engage with the Institute and contribute our research findings to their efforts to advance professional practice and promote organisation and skills excellence.
- Non-Governmental Organisations campaigning for penal reform. The research findings will provide evidence for organisations such as the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prison Reform Trust in their efforts to debate and explore the impact and consequences of outsourcing and the boundaries of marketization within the criminal justice sector.
- International Probation Practice Audiences. We will disseminate the research findings through the Confederation of European Probation (CEP) which coordinates probation organisations across Europe, audiences watching the groundbreaking marketisation of probation services with a keen interest.
Publications
Robinson G
(2016)
Criminal Justice Identities in Transition: The Case of Devolved Probation Services in England and Wales
in British Journal of Criminology
ROBINSON G
(2017)
Probation, Privatisation and Legitimacy
in The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice
Millings, M., Burke, L. And Robinson, G.
(2018)
Routledge Companion on Rehabilitative Work in Criminal Justice
Millings M, Burke L, And Robinson G
(2019)
The Routledge Companion to Rehabilitative Work in Criminal Justice
Millings M
(2018)
Lost in transition? The personal and professional challenges for probation leaders engaged in delivering public sector reform
in Probation Journal
Burke, L., Millings, M. And Robinson, G.
(2018)
International Perspectives on Effective Practice
Burke L
(2016)
Probation migration(s): Examining occupational culture in a turbulent field
in Criminology & Criminal Justice
| Description | In September 2013 the Ministry of Justice published details of how its Transforming Rehabilitation agenda would restructure the delivery of offender management services in England and Wales. Within these reforms approximately 70% of the activities carried out by a public sector probation service were to be outsourced to the private sector through the establishment of 21 community rehabilitation companies (CRCs). This research draws on 14-months of observation and interview-based research to capture, in one case study area, the experience of staff during this period of profound organisational change through the creation, early development, and sale of a CRC. The project involved the research team conducting a series of interviews with staff throughout the CRC, and extensive observational research of key decision and policy-making forums. Made possible through an on-going dialogue with the organisational management group the study benefited from unprecedented access to the CRC in terms of engaging staff and attending meetings to observe how the decisions of senior managers within the new company were being formulated, implemented, and, in time, received by staff. We have demonstrated that it is possible to conduct ethnographic research in the probation context, even in circumstances of extreme upheaval: something that has rarely been attempted. We have also demonstrated the importance of studying organisational change in 'real time', rather than retrospectively, when the impacts are perhaps less raw and are likely to have been subject to narrative restructuring. Our research has demonstrated that the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms have threatened the collective 'probation ethos' in a number of respects. Firstly, the notion of workers delivering a 'public service' is compromised by the introduction of a market-driven logic in probation work. Secondly, the restructuring of established working relationships, both within and external to the case study area, have renegotiated the distribution of status and power between the various stakeholders in offender management, particularly in respect of the relationship and interface between the National Probation Service and CRCs. Thirdly, the reconfiguration of probation service areas (and the probation staff groups working with them) has consequences for the endurance of locally formulated area based loyalties as powerful influences in how individuals and collectives operate. Fourthly, the reforms have resulted in a significant loss of 'human capital' in the probation sector as many experienced staff have decided to look for alternative employment. More broadly, our research has been able to demonstrate that whilst there are some similarities between the experiences of workers subject to the involuntary transfer of their labour from public to private sector organisations within and between fields, there is also the potential for some important differences. In our study we have identified these as relating to the particular occupational cultures and loyalties involved; to the speed of processes of transition; the leadership approaches adopted to drive through change; and to the certainty of outcomes. How workers experience and manage such transitions, we contend, tells us much about the prospects for retaining (formerly) public sector staff within fields that are increasingly being subject to private sector influence. |
| Exploitation Route | The research team provided the host organisation with three substantive reports and accompanying presentations to provide real time commentary relevant to the on-going delivery of offender supervision/rehabilitation services. This has been seen, by managers and staff alike, as providing a valuable stimulus for reflective learning in the development of the CRC. These findings underpinned a workshop attended by national CRC management leads, acting as prompts for sharing best practice. The study has contributed to the wider academic, political, and at times more public debates around the privatisation of probation services through being able to offer the unique perspective of those charged with implementing the changes currently sweeping through the sector. We have delivered a series of presentations to a variety of national and international level audiences that have routinely mixed academic and practitioners together. We have presented to and wrote for the European-wide CREDOS (Collaboration of Researchers for the Effective Development of Offender Supervision) and delivered papers at the annual meetings of the European Society of Criminology Working Group on Community Sanctions and Measures (Sheffield, 2015) and the European Society of Criminology (Porto, 2016). The team also delivered a keynote address at the EU COST Action Offender Supervision in Europe (Brussels, 2016) conference to an audience of approximately 150 delegates drawn from academics, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers from across Europe. We have written and disseminated a body of works from the project engaging academic and practitioner audiences alike about understanding the opportunities and challenges within the devolving of probation services in England and Wales. One of the most significant contributions to date was the research team involvement in speaking (in November 2016) to the House of Commons Justice Select Committee about the reforms in the probation sector. In time the Justice Select Committee would conclude that the TR reforms failed to sufficiently improve public safety or make the delivery of rehabilitation services more effective and efficient. To date, our research remains the only in-depth qualitative study to capture staff experiences at the very start of the profound reform of probation services. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | The defining feature of our research proposal was that capitalising on the extensive access granted by the host Community Rehabilitation Company would allow us to capture the experience of organisational change from the inside, from the staff groups most affected by the change agenda. The splitting of probation services from 35 Probation Trusts into seven regionally based public sector National Probation Service divisions and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies formally took place on 1st June 2014, a little over a year after the devolution of probation service was first mooted in consultation leading to the Transforming Rehabilitation Agenda reform programme. In the run up to the splitting of services concerns were expressed about the speed and scope of the changes and there remained a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the processes and timelines. The ambition was that as the CRCs commenced operations in June 2014 so too would a bidding process begin to identify potential new owners, assess their suitability, formalise the outsourcing processes and have them in place to assume full ownership within the space of 12-months. The ability of our research to capture and report upon the staff experiences of implementing these changes has, and continues to, enable us to reach out and make rich contributions to debates in academia, practice, and beyond. The profound and dynamic nature of the changes has been a source of interest for policy commentators and interest groups within this field and at the time of the reforms the experience of probation was expected to be repeated in other criminal justice sectors. European practitioners and academics have engaged with our findings to explore how the devolution of probation services in England and Wales took hold as the probation models of practice delivered in the UK have been influential in shaping practice in a number of European jurisdictions. Evidence of this interest was the invited keynote address at the EU COST Action Offender Supervision in Europe (Brussels, March 2016) conference to an audience of approximately 150 academics, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers from across Europe. We presented and wrote for the European-wide CREDOS (Collaboration of Researchers for the Effective Development of Offender Supervision) and delivered papers at the annual meetings of the European Society of Criminology Working Group on Community Sanctions and Measures (Sheffield, 2015); of the European Society of Criminology (Porto, 2016; Sarajevo, 2018); and in a specialist project themed session at the American Society of Criminology (New Orleans, 2016). In all these instances we have engaged with mixed academic and practitioner user groups and have been asked for further information about our findings. Our case study of the impact of policy on the transition of the organisational identities, occupational cultures, and practice values of probation practitioners has informed presentations at joint academic and practitioner-facing events at a local and national level. We have generated four written outputs in leading academic journals and have had two chapters published in edited collections. We have spoken at events concerned with the broader privatisation of the criminal justice sector (invited keynote address at the University of Leicester); we have presented to practitioner forums to promote thinking, professional reflection explore the representativeness of the findings (NAPO practitioner's forum Liverpool); and to seminars for policy-makers highlighting specific areas of change in probation practice emerging out of the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda (events at the British Academy and Institute of Government). We have produced briefing notes for non-governmental organisations like the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prison Reform Trust who campaign and raise awareness around punishment and sentencing policies. Three of the articles we have published to date have both been subject to blog reviews and social media coverage/promotion on twitter by established commentator Russell Webster (see http://www.russellwebster.com/the-identity-of-new- probation/ ; http://www.russellwebster.com/how-has-the-privatisation-of-probation-affected-staff/ and http://www.russellwebster.com/trleaders/). They have also been featured in probation-orientated social media forms like the 'On Probation Blog' http://probationmatters.blogspot.co.uk that are read and extensively engaged with by practitioners in the field. In September 2016 a report published by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee into the performance and progress of the Transforming Rehabilitation Agenda stimulated interest beyond those with a routine interest in the field. The report was critical of the level of progress being made to innovate and develop new working practices within the sector and expressed concerns that the 'rehabilitation revolution' sought by the Ministry of Justice was not being realised (see http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/ cmselect/cmpubacc/484/48405.htm#_idTextAnchor007). Professor Lol Burke, representing the research team, was invited (on Tuesday 1st November 2016) to provide evidence to the Justice Select Committee who were reviewing the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda. Members of the Select Committee were supplied with copies of our research outputs to help ensure the research is able to feed directly into a senior level of government and policy-making. The project team have subsequently used data and learning generated from the research to inform written submissions to further Select Committee Reviews of the Transforming Rehabilitation Reform agenda. The research team were asked to write a paper for a Special Edition of the Probation Journal looking specifically at 'Transforming Rehabilitation; Five Years on'. The Special Edition and presentation of research findings from the project were made at mixed academic and practitioner audience events in Liverpool and Sarajevo in 2019. There are three further, continuing impacts: Firstly, the team provided the host organisation with three substantive reports and accompanying presentations to provide real time commentary relevant to the delivery of offender supervision/rehabilitation services. Senior Managers and staff reported (and provided written evidence) that our engagement with the organisation and our reports provided a valuable stimulus for reflective learning in the development of the new organisation. The successful bidders for the contract area of our host organisation were happy for us to continue our fieldwork for the three months in which they assumed full ownership of the CRC. They were keen to engage with our research outputs to inform their understanding of the organisational and occupational culture of the CRC and attended presentations of our findings. Having seen the benefits of engaging in independently funded and rigorous action-research they are keen to consider facilitating a further sweep of research activity to capture the changing dynamics of the working cultures and identities. Secondly, the project design and ambitions informed further research activity. Millings and Burke have worked with LJMU colleagues to conduct and deliver a project that examined the experience of implementing the Transforming Rehabilitation Agenda within a prison setting, specifically the experience of developing Through The Gate service provision. The same research design enabled activity to access, engage with, and track members of prisoner staff involved in implementing change, the experience of the prisoners as they engaged rehabilitation services, and of their families in supporting them from beyond the prison walls. The experience and generated learning from the Devolving Probation Services project was crucial in securing the prison and rehabilitation services' investment in the research process and in securing funding to allow the activity to take place. To date three articles have been published from the research and two substantive reports have been produced for practitioner partners. The research team, in January 2018, ran an engagement event at our host prison presenting the research findings and working with prison managers and staff to explore practice innovation to positively improve the effectiveness and performance of offender management provision. The research project and related engagement activities have been credited with stimulating significant (and demonstrable) reform and improvement of resettlement services with testimonies from the practitioners involved informing a REF impact case study. Thirdly, there continues to be an educational impact arising from the experience of conducting research within the practice setting. The research data has informed sessions delivered to undergraduate and postgraduate students across a range of courses in Criminal Justice, Criminology, Psychology, Law and Policing Studies. Beyond this, the relationship with the organisation who now own the host CRC has encouraged discussions around developing programmes of postgraduate level practitioner-focused research training and supervision. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | The House of Commons Justice Select Committee hosted an informal seminar on probation and the Transforming Rehabilitation Agenda. 15 individuals ranging from representatives of the new providers of probation services, previous senior executives from the probation and prison service, and academics research active in the field were invited to make written submissions and attend the event held at the House of Commons. Lol Burke from the project team was one of those invited to attend (by virtue of conducting research into the reform of probation services) and within his written and verbal submissions made explicit reference to our research outputs. |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Description | Internal University Research Funding |
| Amount | £14,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Liverpool John Moores University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2016 |
| End | 07/2017 |
| Description | Development of Practice-Relevant Research Opportunities in the field of offender management |
| Organisation | Merseyside Community Rehabilitation Company |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The Principal Investigator (Matthew Millings) and Co-Investigator (Lol Burke) have been able to use the evidence of administering the ESRC funded project and the good references from the professionals we worked with to shape new connections within the probation sector. Both are now involved in a research project funded by internal University funding but with access and support secured by the Merseyside Community Rehabilitation Company to examine the implementation of the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms with respect to the in-prison 'Through the Gate' provision. The project uses the same model and generated learning of the ESRC project in that interim reports and briefing presentations are fed back into the organisation to help generate an action-learning style relationship. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Merseyside Community Rehabilitation Company have played a role in securing the research team's access to the prison and groups delivering intervention services. They have provided facilities to allow inmates to be interviews and provided information on client's movements through the system. The organisation have also enable staff to attend research development sessions and have supported ethics applications to both internal University Ethics Committees and to the National Offender Management Service. In related research activity Interserve Justice's Research Officer has helped support a PhD student develop their project around the role of alcohol in the violent offending of military veterans whilst on probation. This involves supporting ethics applications and working jointly to identify individuals to take part in the research, again the PI's experience of administering the ESRC project was identified as crucial to securing the support and interest in this project and again the generated research will be feed back directly into decision-making forums as well as informing academic outputs. |
| Impact | 1st Research Planning Event, HMP Liverpool, October 2016 1st Interim Briefing Report, November 2016 - 'Transforming Rehabilitation and Through The Gate', Stuart Taylor, Lol Burke, Matthew Millings and Ester Ragonese |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Research Exploring the Efficacy and Operation of Through the Gate Resettlement Provision in a Local Prison |
| Organisation | HM Prison Service |
| Department | HMP Liverpool |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Dr Millings and Professor Burke were two members of four person strong Liverpool John Moores University research team who collaborated with a local prison to carry out a study into resettlement services between 2016-2018. The project built on the themes and good practice of the ESRC funded 'Devolving Probation Services' Project that ran between 2014-2015. Through the action research style partnership arrangements the project involved the team working with stakeholders to conduct more than 150 interviews with professionals, prisoners and their families over an 18 month period, the bulk of these taking place within the prison estate. The research provided a unique insight into the Through the Gate initiative, which was launched by the Ministry of Justice in 2015. Forming part of the Transforming Rehabilitation Programme, the scheme was aimed at short-term prisoners sentenced to a year or less - helping them to devise a resettlement plan and assisting them with accommodation, finances and employment. Private Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) were created to manage individual resettlement plans for each of the inmates, with specific prisons given resettlement status. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The project was built around core collaborative ambitions with partners from the HM Prison Service, the Third Sector organisation contracted to deliver Through the Gate Provision within the Prison, and the local Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) responsible for the oversight and management of community based resettlement services. The research team produced briefing reports to share emergent findings, as well as workshop events which saw all partners come together to discuss future planning. This real-time dissemination of findings fed into the evolution of service provision, including the CRCs designing of new resettlement policy. In commentary provided for the REF impact case study built around the collaboration the Director of the CRC talked about the research instigating a change in 'systems thinking'. Simultaneously, the researchers worked alongside the Effective Probation Practice - Performance Directorate to produce material to engage probation practitioners with the findings of the study. The research team submitted their findings to Justice Select Committee's Transforming Rehabilitation Inquiry and Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service, which in turn fed into the government's decision to partially renationalise probation services in England and Wales. The findings have also been disseminated at various national and international conferences, alongside peer-reviewed journal articles in the European Journal of Probation and the Probation Journal. The study found that the relationships between prison staff, subcontracted staff (who delivered the service inside prison), and CRCs (who deliver the service outside prison) - have been fraught with difficulties. Confusion around boundaries of responsibility between public, private and third sector providers led to the duplication of work, difficulties in communication and a process of box-ticking rather than meaningful work to encourage prisoners to desist from crime. None of the prisoners interviewed could name an individual who was overseeing their resettlement plan. They also described being locked in their cells for 23 hours a day. Practical issues ranged from a lack of hot water to faulty lighting leaving cells in darkness, unhygienic conditions and cockroaches. Whilst the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms were intended to provide a seamless support service for prisoners reentering community, the process is best described as fragmented. It appears that instead of enhancing resettlement, it is in fact enhancing resentment. There were numerous reports of prisoners coming to the end of their sentences and not knowing whether they will have any accommodation or access to finances on release. They were therefore unable to make any plans when it came to returning to the community. This is of crucial importance, as we know that these factors are essential to individuals desisting from crime in the future. Staff and prisoners interviewed during the study believed that positive steps had been made due to an increase in staff and resources, but there was still a vast amount of work to do to create a real rehabilitation revolution. The main recommendations from the study included urgent action to improve physical conditions, clearly identified support roles, a streamlined induction process with a shared IT database, and the establishment of a hub where partners could share information, updates and best practice. A rebranding of the resettlement process was also suggested to encourage inmates to view their sentence as a 'journey'. The study found that the resettlement process should be addressed in advance of the prisoner's final weeks, with each person given a named individual to support them both within the prison and community and at a local level partners have worked to engage with this learning. More broadly, the study concluded that many of the problems needed to be addressed at a governmental level and urged ministers to hold a strategic consultation around the contractual obligations of the CRCs. |
| Impact | February 2018 - 30 strong workshop for all partner agencies involved in the delivery of in-prison and community based Through the Gate resettlement provision. Millings M, Taylor S, Burke L, Ragonese E. 2019. Through the Gate: the implementation, management and delivery of resettlement service provision for short-term prisoners. Probation Journal, 66 :77-95 https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0264550518820114 Taylor S, Burke L, Millings M, Ragonese E. 2017. Transforming Rehabilitation during a penal crisis: A case study of Through the Gate services in a resettlement prison in England and Wales European Journal of Probation, 9 :115-131 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2066220317706438 Taylor S, Burke L, Millings M, Ragonese E. 2018. Through the Gate: the implementation, management and delivery of resettlement service provision for short term prisoners. Final Briefing Report. http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/8029/ |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | A Symposium on Risk run by the Centre for Criminological Research, University of Sheffield (February 2016) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The University of Sheffield's Centre for Criminological Research hosted a one day Symposium on the topic of Risk; to explore 'risk' in the domains of crime, harm, deviance and criminal justice. Presentations provided insights from theory and practice, and were made by speakers from universities in England, France and the Netherlands on subjects as diverse as probation reform, poverty, the Victorian security industry and child sexual exploitation. Gwen Robinson delivered a presentation developing out of the research data titled 'Probation, risk and the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda'. The project helped enhance the paper's ability to use empirical data to illuminate the way in which approaches to risk management are being challenged and altered through the language and ambitions of the Transforming Rehabilitation Agenda programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/law/research/clusters/ccr/risk |
| Description | An event titled Penal Policymaking: A Collaborative Symposium (an event emerging out of a joint ESRC and Political Studies Association Project) that took place at the Institute for Government, London in April 2016. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A fuller summary of the event is available through the web-address below. Under the title 'Penal Policymaking; A Collaborative Symposium' the event drew together a range of policy participants and academics to explore how questions of criminal justice are ineluctably bound up with questions of, inter alia, politics, evidence, expertise, ethics, morality and practicality. The event was developed around three themes with the research project being a prominent feature of the session concerned with 'Localism, Markets and Criminal Justice Policy'. Gwen Robinson (representing the project) was one of the session leads in her discussion of the project. The event raised the profile of the research further and the very recent experiences of practitioners we reported on provided a real stimulus and authenticity to debates around the increasing role of markets within criminal justice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/396241/1/62297_PenalPolicyReport_WEB.pdf |
| Description | Conference presentation of research findings, University of Leicester Criminal Justice and Privatisation Conference 17th September 2015 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A paper based on the first phase of the research activity was presented under the title 'The Impact of Transforming Rehabilitation in one CRC area'. The paper is to be written up and published as part of an edited collection from the day. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | House of Commons Justice Select Committee Seminar on Probation and Transforming Rehabiliation, London, November 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The House of Commons Justice Select Committee hosted an informal seminar on probation and the Transforming Rehabilitation Agenda. 15 individuals ranging from representatives of the new providers of probation services, previous senior executives from the probation and prison service, and academics research active in the field were invited to make written submissions and attend the event held at the House of Commons. Lol Burke from the project team was one of those invited to attend (by virtue of conducting research into the reform of probation services) and within his written and verbal submissions made explicit reference to our research outputs. He along with the other 14 invited attendees discussed current challenges in the delivery of probation services that had been brought into sharp focus with the publication of a House of Commons Public Accounts Committee Report in September 2016 that had identified concerns around the pace and scope of the innovation and progress being made by the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda. The research activity we have been able to report on helps capture the views of the probation staff most effected by the profound changes witnessed within the sector. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Key note talk delivered by Lol Burke to the Westminster Legal Policy Forum Seminar titled 'Probation services in England and Wales - the future of the Transforming Rehabilitation framework and priorities for Through the Gate resettlement'. The seminar took place on Tuesday 7th November 2017 and Lol Burke's talk titled 'Evaluating the Transforming Rehabilitation programme' was the opening speech. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Key note talk delivered by Lol Burke to the Westminster Legal Policy Forum Seminar titled 'Probation services in England and Wales - the future of the Transforming Rehabilitation framework and priorities for Through the Gate resettlement'. The seminar took place on Tuesday 7th November 2017 and Lol Burke's talk titled 'Evaluating the Transforming Rehabilitation programme' was the opening speech. Participation at the event has lead to an invite from the National Audit Office to contribute to their review of the performance of the Transforming Rehabilitation Reform Programme. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.westminsterforumprojects.co.uk/agenda/probation-reform-in-England-and-Wales-2017-agenda.p... |
| Description | Leaders experiences of implementing the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda, Liverpool John Moores University, 20th November 2015 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The key objective of the workshop was for the research team to share the emergent learning and findings from the completed project. With an invited audience of CRC organisation leaders we explored how far our findings resonate with other experiences in different CRCs, and to capture these leaders' reflections on their TR experience. The discussions sought also to share good and best practice between attendees at a time when co-production activity is compromised by the fragmentation of the probation service landscape. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Meeting of CREDOS (Collaboration of Researchers for the Effective Development of Offender Supervision), Porto, Portugal |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This meeting of CREDOS (Collaboration of Researchers for the Effective Development of Offender Supervision) brought together academics and some practitioners to engage with research around contemporary challenges for probation services. Gwen Robinson from the project delivered an input that drew on the research to explore the development of risk within a probation landscape being reshaped by Transforming Rehabilitation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.esc-eurocrim.org/images/esc/files/eurocrim-2015-final-program.pdf |
| Description | Opening plenary presentation at Bridging Research, Policy and Practice EU COST Action IS1106 Offender Supervision in Europe Final Conference, Free University of Brussels, 11th and 12th March 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The research team gave the opening conference plenary entitled 'Probation in the Public and Private Sectors: The Case of England and Wales' at the Free University of Brussels (see http://www.offendersupervision.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/OSE-Brussels-Conference.pdf). The event marked the end of a four year EU COST Action project (COST Action IS1106) titled 'Offender Supervision in Europe' (see http://www.offendersupervision.eu/). It was attended by over 120 delegates from 23 different countries and included representatives from the European Commission and the Directors of Probations Services in the Netherlands and Belgium. As a research team we were invited to give a presentation that reported on our 20-month ESRC funded project (ESRC Ref ES/M000028/1) entitled 'Devolving Probation Services: A study of the implementation of the transforming Rehabilitation Agenda' as our findings represent the most detailed assessment of staff experiences of the devolving of probation services and helps identify the challenges for probation services in moving into the private sector. In September 2013 the Ministry of Justice published details of how its Transforming Rehabilitation agenda would restructure the delivery of offender management services in England and Wales. Within these reforms approximately 70% of the activities carried out by a public sector probation service were to be outsourced to the private sector through the establishment of 21 community rehabilitation companies (CRCs). Our research draws on 14-months of observation and interview-based research to capture, in one case study area, the experience of staff during this period of profound organisational change through the creation, early development, and sale of a CRC. The project involved the research team conducting a series of interviews with staff throughout the CRC, and extensive observational research of key decision and policy-making forums. Made possible through an on-going dialogue with the organisational management group the study benefited from unprecedented access to the CRC in terms of engaging staff and attending meetings to observe how the decisions of senior managers within the new company were being formulated, implemented, and, in time, received by staff. We have demonstrated that it is possible to conduct ethnographic research in the probation context, even in circumstances of extreme upheaval: something that has rarely been attempted. We have also demonstrated the importance of studying organisational change in 'real time', rather than retrospectively, when the impacts are perhaps less raw and are likely to have been subject to narrative restructuring. Our research has demonstrated that the Transforming Rehabilitation reforms have threatened the collective 'probation ethos' in a number of respects. Firstly, the notion of workers delivering a 'public service' is compromised by the introduction of a market-driven logic in probation work. Secondly, the restructuring of established working relationships, both within and external to the case study area, have renegotiated the distribution of status and power between the various stakeholders in offender management, particularly in respect of the relationship and interface between the National Probation Service and CRCs. Thirdly, the reconfiguration of probation service areas (and the probation staff groups working with them) has consequences for the endurance of locally formulated area based loyalties as powerful influences in how individuals and collectives operate. Fourthly, the reforms have resulted in a significant loss of 'human capital' in the probation sector as many experienced staff have decided to look for alternative employment. More broadly, our research has been able to demonstrate that whilst there are some similarities between the experiences of workers subject to the involuntary transfer of their labour from public to private sector organisations within and between fields, there is also the potential for some important differences. In our study we have identified these as relating to the particular occupational cultures and loyalties involved; to the speed of processes of transition; the leadership approaches adopted to drive through change; and to the certainty of outcomes. How workers experience and manage such transitions, we contend, tells us much about the prospects for retaining (formerly) public sector staff within fields that are increasingly being subject to private sector influence. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.offendersupervision.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/OSE-Brussels-Conference-Programme.pdf |
| Description | Paper at the Annual Meeting of the European Society of Criminology, Porto, September 2015 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The paper delivered here 'Becoming a CRC' was the first airing of a planned written output with which we were keen to engage scholars from across Europe. The discussions that followed allowed us to sharpen the focus of the subsequent written submission. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Presentation at the British Academy for a policy-maker orientated seminar series entitled Coping with Crime (London, March 2015) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Professors Joanna Shapland and Stephen Farrall from the University of Sheffield co-ordinated a series of day conferences on 'Coping with crime: citizens and government' at the British Academy in London. The seminars are for senior practitioners, policy makers and politicians and are evidence-based, focusing on ideas for the future and designed to help to create new policy ideas on coping with crime and how citizens can relate to criminal justice agencies and the state. Gwen Robinson was invited by the conveners to present a paper entitled 'Risk in the 'old' and 'new' worlds of probation'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Presentation of Sweep 1 Findings to Board |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The presentation of the 1st sweep of our research activity to our host organisation Executive Board (and accompanying report) identified the emergent themes concerning the 'process of change' generated by our fieldwork. We reported on the very individual and personal experiences of the challenges faced by staff at all levels of the organisation in implementing fundamental changes to the structure and working practices of probation services. The research captured the mood of staff at all levels, the strengths and weakness of communication and engagement strategies, and identified the fears and anxieties employees had moving forward into the establishment of the(ir) new organisation. The host organisation senior management team appeared to use the report to act as a stimulus to conduct a further round of staff engagement events and used it to help inform future attempts to engage in communication with staff about the processes of change and of trying to provide clear message (in an uncertain environment) about the future direction of the organisation of probation services. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Presentation of Sweep 2 Findings to Board |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The research team formally passed over a 42-page interim report form the second sweep of research activity on the project. The presentation was delivered to CRC Board members in the first instance and then circulated amongst the host organisation staff group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Presentation of Sweep 3 and 4 Findings to Board |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The research team formally passed over a 40-page interim report form the third and fourth sweeps of research activity on the project. The presentation was delivered to CRC Board members in the first instance and then circulated amongst the host organisation staff group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Presentation to European Society of Criminology Working Group on Community Sanctions and Measures (Sheffield, June 2015) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Members of the research team presenting findings from our on-going examination of staff experiences of the implementation of the Transforming Rehabilitation Agenda in one case study area. It was the first time findings from the research had been presented and it generated much interest and discussion amongst an audience from across Europe who have a keen interest in the delivery and operation of offender management services. Delegates asked for copies of the full paper the presentation themes were drawn from. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | https://communitysanctionsblog.wordpress.com/conferences/ |
| Description | Project themed Panel Session at the American Society of Criminology Conference, New Orleans, November 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The research team each presented papers in a project themed panel session looking explicitly at the experience of implementing the Transforming Rehabilitation Reform agenda. The dedicated session allowed the team to explore in-depth different aspects of the project. Audience members were drawn from a variety of international backgrounds. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Talk delivered to joint Liverpool John Moores University and NAPO (formerly the National Association of Probation Officers) Regional Practitioner Forum (Liverpool, February 2016) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Lol Burke (project team member) has worked with colleagues from the Merseyside branch of NAPO (formerly the National Association of Probation Officers) to run a number of themed Probation Practitioner Forums. These bring together members of NAPO, postgraduate students from the University, and interested members of the research community to discuss and debate current issues in the delivery of offender management services. At this Forum, the second in the series, Gwen Robinson drew upon the project to inform a presentation around the institutionalisation of risk within the Transforming Rehabilitation Agenda. The discussion that followed, stimulated by the presentation of research data, allowed for practitioners to collectively work through and consider the implications of the challenges to their professional practice that the shift in policy is leading to. The event raised the profile of the research project, helped identify ways attendees could read the open access outputs and gave attendees the opportunity to think critically about changes taking place within their sector in a safe and intellectually stimulating environment. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Transforming Rehabilitation 2 Years On |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The event 'Transforming Rehabilitation: 2 years on' brought together a series of high profile figures within probation to reflect on the impact and progress of the Transforming Rehabilitation Reform agenda. Representatives included the Chief Executive of Interserve Justice, the General Secretary of NAPO, a Regional National Probation Service Manager and leading academics to debate and discuss the impacts of the reform programme on the sector. At the event we launched and profiled a publication raising the profile of the research to academic and practice audiences. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |