CHANGING LIVESREDUCING CRIME –

The Government’s plans for transforming the management of of fenders

David BlunkettJanuary 2004

Contents

Foreword 2

Our progress so far 3

Assessing Risk and Need 3

Enforcement 3

Tackling Re-offending – Making Sentences Work 4

New Frameworks for Delivery 7

The Use of Custodial and Community Penalties 8

Next Steps 9

Conclusions 11

Annex – the Government’s Response to the Carter Report 12

Targeted and Rigorous Sentences 12

A New Role for the Judiciary 13

A New Approach to Managing Offenders 13

Implications 15

Implementation team 15

What are your views? 16

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I am extremely grateful to Patrick Carterfor his excellent report “ManagingOffenders, Reducing Crime” which we arepublishing today. The Report has beendeveloped closely with the Home Office andI fully support the approach he describes.We have drawn heavily on his work indeveloping the next phase of our strategyto improve the effectiveness of the criminaljustice system and in particular correctionalservices. I believe that we now have a ‘oncein a generation’ opportunity to reducecrime by radically transforming prison andprobation services, and those working inpartnership with them.

This document sets out our proposalstogether with our initial response to theReport in the attached annex. I amabsolutely clear about the route we aretaking and many of the key changes weintend to make. However, I would alsowelcome views from our key stakeholdersabout some of the proposals. Theparticular questions on which I wouldwelcome comments are set out at the end ofthe document.

This approach would not be possiblewithout the significant progress the PrisonService and National Probation Servicehave made in investing in and improvingthe performance of prison and communitysentences in recent years. We have alsomade significant strides in developingpartnership working with complementaryservices, including health, education,housing and employment. A partnershipapproach is essential if we are to addressthe causes of criminal activity effectively.

This paper sets out briefly some of whathas been achieved in assessing the risk ofoffenders, enforcing sentences andaddressing re-offending behaviour. These

improvements have been under-pinned andsupported by substantial changes we havemade to the statutory and organisationalframeworks for delivery. But as part ofour wider public service reform agenda, Ibelieve that we now need to go further.

Public protection will always be theGovernment’s first priority. Those whocommit the most serious crimes need to belocked up, in some cases for long periods oftime. But this document also shows ourcommitment to equipping offenders to avoida return to criminality. I believe thesereforms will contribute to reducing crimeand thus make a real difference tocommunities up and down the country.

I know that staff in the Prison Serviceand in the National Probation Service willwant to hear about what this means forthem. I understand that some will see thisas meaning more change when workinglives are already stretched. But, much moreimportantly, it means that there is going tobe a far greater prospect of reducing re-offending, of better protecting those whoare likely to be victims of crime and ofchanging offenders’ lives.

This government’s investment in prisonsand probation has been unprecedented.This year we are investing £900m a yearmore in real terms than in 1998, first tomake imprisonment decent and moreeffective in reducing crime and then byestablishing a National Probation Servicewith the resources necessary to transformthe effectiveness of community penalties.There is encouraging evidence of successemerging with the two services on track toreduce re-offending by 5%. But that is notenough. The radical overhaul we areembarking on and the establishment of aNational Offender Management Service

will put the individual management ofoffenders at the centre of a single systemrather than falling in the gap between twodifferent services.

But as I have said already were it not forthe progress made in recent years in boththe Prison Service and National ProbationService we could not have contemplatedthese changes. The rapid expansion ofbasic skills training and drug treatment inprison and the transformation ofprobation’s performance on enforcementand the introduction of dramatically moreeffective community penalties like the drugtesting and treatment order provide aplatform on which we can now build.

Many of the day to day tasks of prisonofficers on the landings or of probationstaff working on community penalties willnot greatly change. But the new context inwhich they operate, through closerintegration of effort, spreading of bestpractice, and coherent management willmake their work both more effective and efficient. What we do with offenderswill, in future, be managed by offendermanagers – largely Probation Officers –who will reduce duplication and join upprogress made in prison with supervisionin the community with an absolute priorityon reducing offending.

These changes are an assertion of myconfidence in those who work withoffenders and of my belief that the newarrangements will help to make their workin custody and the community, significantlymore effective.

David BlunkettSecretary of State

Foreword

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1. Since 1997, our programme ofreform and significant investmentin the Prison Service and in the National Probation Servicehas made them much moreeffective. Sentences are longerfor serious, violent and persistentoffenders. But this has beenmatched by resources necessaryto provide prison places and tosupervise them more effectivelydirectly in the community andafter release.

2. Since May 1997, seven newprison establishments have beenopened and capacity at existingprisons expanded to create14,700 additional places. Thishas been supported by a 16%increase in Prison Service stafffrom 39,629 in 1997/8 toaround 46,000 now. By 2006 wewill have further increased thecapacity of the prison estatefrom the current 75,000 placesto 78,700 places by buildingadditional capacity at existingprisons and opening two newprisons at Ashford (nearHeathrow) and Peterborough. Inreal terms, resource funding ofthe National Probation Servicehas risen by over 46% between1997/8 and 2003/4 and theaverage number of staff isexpected to rise from 14,700 in1997/98 to around 19,000 bythe end of 2003/4, an increaseof 29%.

3. This investment has enabled usto improve per formance radicallyin many areas including:

• assessing the risk and need ofoffenders

• enforcing sentences

• tackling re-offending.

Assessing Risk and Need4. In order to provide advice to

sentencers and carry outsentences effectively it isessential to understand the riskoffenders present of committingfurther serious crimes. Untilrecently, this critical early work ofsystematic assessment of bothrisk and need was disorganisedand sporadic. That is no longer true.

• Since April 2000 all youngoffenders have been assessedusing a common structuredframework called “ASSET”. Thisunderpins the recommendationsmade to courts and all thework that is done withyoungsters either in thecommunity or in custody.

• The Offender AssessmentSystem (OASys) does the samejob for offenders over 18. Itwill ensure consistency for allusers. It is already used inmost of the National ProbationService and will be fully rolledout across both probation andprisons by 2004/5.

• For high risk sexual and violentoffenders, “Multi Agency PublicProtection Arrangements” havenow been firmly established,placing a duty on police, prisonand probation services toassess the risk posed by theseoffenders before they are

released from prison and tomanage that risk after they arereleased.

• There is also a very smallnumber of the most dangerousoffenders of all, whose seriousoffending is linked to severepersonality disorder. Workingwith the Department of Healthwe have set up four pilotassessment and treatmentprogrammes located at HMPWhitemoor, HMP Frankland,and Broadmoor and Ramptonhospitals. Together these pilotswill provide over 300 places.

Enforcement5. For sentences to be seen to be

credible it is important that theyare properly enforced:

• In 1997, when offenderssupervised by 54 probationareas failed to keep to therequirements of a licence,enforcement was rare. Nowthere is a national standardthat requires action to betaken in 90% of cases. Workingtowards that target, theNational Probation Service tookaction in 85% of cases in thefirst half of this year.

• The Crime and Disorder Act1998 extended executive recallprovisions to prisoners servinga sentence of 12 months ormore, and less than four years. Previously theseprisoners could only berecalled to custody through thecourts. This was a slow andbureaucratic process, which

Our progress so far

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was rarely used. Executiverecall powers have providedthe correctional services with aswift and effective means ofreturning offenders to custodyif they present an unacceptablerisk. In 2002/3 around 5,000such prisoners were recalled toprison.

• In 1992 an average of fourprisoners were escaping fromprison every week. In the fouryears 1992/3 to 1995/6,there were a total of 13escapes (some from escort), ofthe most dangerous prisoners(Category A) held in the mostsecure conditions available.Last year only five prisonersescaped from prison in thewhole year, and there havebeen no escapes of Category Aprisoners since 1996.

• Home Detention Curfew (HDC)is a scheme which allows forthe early release of prisonerssentenced to three months orover, but less than four yearsimprisonment. HDC offerseligible prisoners theopportunity to spend the finalpart of their sentence oncur few at an approvedaddress. During the cur fewperiod (usually 7pm to 7am)they are electronicallymonitored by means of atagging device and may notleave their home. HDC providesa monitored return to thecommunity, helping prisonersto reintegrate into society in away which provides protectionfor the public and reduces thelikelihood of them re-offending.Those who breach the

conditions of their cur few –including attempting to removetheir tag – or commit anotheroffence whilst on cur few arereturned to prison. Between 28January 1999 and 30 November2003 a total of 84,034offenders have been releasedwith this safeguard, and 3,613were being monitored at theend of November. Only around2% have been reported to havecommitted further offencesduring the cur few period.

• The payment rates for finesand other impositions fell to55% in 2002/3. But, the newDepartment of ConstitutionalAffairs has put in place a newstrategy which is improvingperformance. Under a revised target which focuseson the collection of fines,per formance reached over 73%in the first half of this yearagainst an end year target of75%. The strategy includes:

• Targeted interventions withthe worst per forming courtareas to improveperformance;

• New measures in the CourtsAct to reinvigorate fines,including automaticdeductions from earnings orbenefits of defaulters,default affecting creditrecords, clamping ofdefaulters’ vehicles andallowing offenders whocannot pay fines to carry outunpaid work instead.

• Improving the process andmanagement of fineenforcement, includingmarket testing as part of the

creation of the Unified CourtsAgency. For the first timethere will be a national focuson, and management of, fineenforcement, driving throughthe relentless application ofbest practice.

Tackling Re-offending –Making Sentences Work6. Education and work – Very often

offenders have missed out onmuch of their education. Thisnormally means they have littleor no prospect of a job. We haveput in place measures to improveoffenders’ educationalattainment and improve theirchances of securing work:

• All offenders under 16 must bylaw spend 25 hours a week ineducation – over 80% will havebeen excluded/absent fromschool.

• Prison and probation servicestogether share a priority to giveadult offenders the chance tomake up lost time on basicskills. In 2002/3, over 41,000basic skills qualifications weregained by prisoners, 10% ofthe total number gainednationally. To date in 2003/428,000 have already gained aqualification. In 2002/3 theNational Probation Service metits annual target of 6,000basic skill commencementswith some 850 gaining awards.The target has doubled thisyear.

• All prisons offer access to theOpen University.

• Learning in custody and the

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community is delivered throughvocational settings – includingkitchens, gyms and workshops– as well as classrooms. In2002/3 there were about89,000 key works skillsqualifications achieved in thesesettings, and to date in2003/4 more than 60,000qualifications have alreadybeen achieved.

• The Prison Service, with theDepartment for Works andPensions, launched theCustody to Work initiative inautumn 2000. In 2002/3, 30% of prisoners werereleased with a job or trainingplace to go to and 71% withaccommodation to go to. Over14,000 unemployed prisonersattended their local Jobcentreon release under theFreshstart initiative withJobcentre Plus. In April-October2002, 14% of those attendingunder Freshstart got a jobwithin thir teen weeks ofrelease from prison; otherswere helped onto the New Dealor other training places andgiven assistance with benefitarrangements.

7. Drugs – Over half acquisitivecrime has a direct link to misuseof drugs – very often becauseoffenders commit crime to fund ahabit.

• We introduced drug treatmentand testing orders (DTTOs) inOctober 2000. In 2002/3, over6,000 offenders were able toaddress their drug problems inthe context of intensivecommunity based programmes

and in the first half of this yearthe National Probation Servicecommenced 4,000 DTTOs onthe way to delivering a targetof 9,000 orders.

DRUG TREATMENT ANDTESTING ORDER

Sam suffers from schizophrenia.Since he was sixteen he has been

involved in a cycle of crime tosupport a drug use problem,

followed by attempts atrehabilitation. When he received aDTTO for shoplifting he wanted to

change his life, but found itdifficult to trust people. Eventuallyhe saw that staff did not want togive up on him and became morereceptive to help. A mental healthworker helped him to understand

more about his schizophrenia.Unfortunately, he began shopliftingagain within a few weeks and alsoseemed at risk of self-harm. Hewas sentenced to a residential

DTTO. He found the rehabilitationcentre to be challenging but veryrewarding and he made progress.

When he left the rehabilitationcentre he settled very well into thecommunity. He attends college now

and acts as a mentor for othersgoing through rehabilitation. He re-established contact with his family

and has been drug-free for 14 months.

• Arrest referral workers are nowseeing 40-50,000 drug-misusing offenders annually atthe point of arrest;

• Following the launch in 1998 of

the Prison Service’s reviseddrug strategy there has been astep change in the availabilityof treatment. A comprehensivetreatment framework is now inplace to address the needs ofthose with a drug problem:

• Approximately 50,000 willreceive clinical detoxificationas the first step to get offdrugs while in prison;

• Approximately 50,000counselling, assessment,referral, advice, throughcare(CARAT) initial assessmentswill be undertaken withfollow-up support provided tomany prisoners;

• Around 5,000 will beaccepted onto a drugrehabilitation programme;

• Approximately 40% of theprison population will at anyone time have signedvoluntary drug testingcompacts to help them stayclean;

• And 80% of prisoners reportdrug misuse prior to prisonwith some 55% admitting aserious drug problem. Thisgenerates considerablepressure to smuggle drugs intoprison. Against this backgroundthe rate of drug misusemeasured by random testinghas more than halved since1996/7 with opiate misuse atthe lowest recorded levels.

8. Healthcare – A very highproportion of offenders, andespecially those sent to prison,have poor mental health. Around90% of prisoners have a mentalhealth or substance misuse

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problem, and often both. But wewere not addressing theseproblems effectively enough.

9. In 2000 we established a formalpartnership between the PrisonService and the NHS to securebetter standards of healthcare inprisons. This partnership hasenabled us to deliver significantimprovements in health servicesfor prisoners. NHS mental health"in-reach" teams have beenintroduced to provide services inaround 90 prisons, the volumeand quality of drug treatmentactivity has been increased andwe have invested in refurbishingor rebuilding some of the worstprison health care centres. As anatural development of thispartnership the Department ofHealth (the Welsh AssemblyGovernment in Wales) took onnational funding responsibility forprison health services in April2003, and responsibility forcommissioning health servicesfor prisoners will be fully devolvedto the local NHS by 2006.

10. New ways of thinking –Increasingly, we are usingprogrammes that tailorsupervision and assistance tothe individual, and thatchallenges the way the personthinks about the world. Newprogrammes (which are subjectto rigorous evaluation) include:

• Reprimand and final warningschemes for young offenders,replacing the discreditedsystem of police cautions. In2002/3 74% of young peoplewarned by the police were

assessed by Youth OffendingTeams and took part inintervention programmesdesigned to reduce re-offending.

• Referral Orders were rolled outnationally in April 2002. Youthcourts refer young offenders,who plead guilty and areconvicted for the first time, toyouth offender communitypanels, unless the offending isso serious that it warrantscustody or the court orders anabsolute discharge or makes ahospital order.

• Intensive Supervision andSurveillance Programmes(ISSPs) for under 18s areavailable nationally targetingpersistent and serious youngoffenders. They provide highlystructured, individualprogrammes includingeducation and training,reparation and family support,community surveillance,including the use of electronictagging, voice verification,tracking by Youth OffendingTeam staff, and planned policehome visits. The youngoffenders are required toundertake a minimum of 25hours of supervised activity aweek, reducing to five hours aweek minimum supervision atthe half-way point.

• Intensive Change and ControlProgramme (ICCP) is acommunity based sentence foroffenders who would otherwiseface up to 12 months inprison. Offenders subjected toICCP are under probationsupervision, with 25 hours aweek of targeted educational

and offending behaviour work,police and electronicsurveillance, and home visits.Eleven pilot projects, aimedprincipally at 18-20 year olds,will be delivered in 2003/4and we intend to expand theProgramme further next year.

INTENSIVE CHANGE ANDCONTROL PROGRAMME

Despite experiencing changes inprobation officers and mentors,

Karl is considered to be doing wellon his ICCP interventions. He was

withdrawn from one Think Firstprogramme for missing two

sessions, but this was because ofhousing and benefit problems

rather than behaviour. Since thisblip Karl is attending regularly and

is doing very well. He has cutdown on drinking, completed his

Community Punishment hours andis sticking to his cur few. He also

participated in an ICCP informationvideo for the National Probation

Directorate.

• The National Probation Servicerolled out nationally anenhanced form of communitypunishment in October 2003and has a target of 25,000commencements by March2004.

• Independently accreditedoffending behaviour programmesin prisons and in the community,with over 7,300 custodialcompletions in 2002/3.

• 7,700 completions ofaccredited programmes in the

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community in 2002/3, withnearly 6,000 in the first half ofthis year, towards a target of15,000 by the end of the year.

• The National Probation Serviceoffers face to face contact withvictims of crime within stricttimescales. In 2002/3 13,000victims were contacted withinthe timescales required (81%).In the first quarter of this yearthis had increased to 90%against a target of 85%.

11. We have also built up a realmomentum behind thedevelopment of RestorativeJustice, an innovative approachto encourage responsibility sothat offenders face up to whatthey have done and makeamends to their victims andcommunities. Our RestorativeJustice strategy was published inJuly this year and sets out howwe want to build on its use in theCriminal Justice System, wherewe know it works best, andcontinue to develop the evidencebase for the future. RestorativeJustice is already established atthe heart of the youth justicereforms since 1998 and weintend to build on the progressalready made. We have putrestorative justice onto astatutory footing as part of theconditional caution in theCriminal Justice Act 2003. Weare also funding three restorativecrime reduction pilots for adultsboth pre- and post-sentence, anddeveloping a pilot to testrestorative justice as a diversionfrom prosecution.

12. The Home Office will alsoshortly publish a NationalRehabilitation Action Plan,which will form theGovernment’s initial responseto the Social Exclusion Unit’sreport, Reducing Re-offendingby Ex-prisoners. The ActionPlan has been developedjointly with a number ofGovernment departments andwill set out how a range ofservices will work togetherwith offenders throughout theirentire sentence, with aparticular focus on continuitybetween the custody and thecommunity part of thesentence.

New Frameworks forDelivery13. For the first time the Criminal

Justice Act 2003 set outplainly for our courts thepurposes of sentencing towhich they must have regardin passing sentence. The Actsets out that sentencing is for:

• the punishment ofoffenders,

• the reduction of crime(including its reduction bydeterrence),

• the reform and rehabilitationof offenders,

• the protection of the public,and

• the making of reparation byoffenders to personsaffected by their offences.

14. The Criminal Justice Act alsocreates a new sentencing

framework that is central toreducing crime and re-offending, including:

• A new framework formandatory life sentenceprisoners, ensuring that thevery worst crimes areproperly dealt with.

• New sentences – custodyminus and custody plus – todeliver a seamless use ofcommunity and custodialpunishment for offenderswho currently tend to servevery short and ineffectiveprison terms;

CUSTODY PLUS AND MINUS

The new and groundbreakingsentencing regime the

Government has introduced inthe Criminal Justice Act will be

much more effectivelyimplemented following theestablishment of a single

offender management service.Custody Minus, whereby an

offender will have the chance toundertake a community

punishment but with the threat of swift imprisonment for any

failure, and intermittent custodywith offenders serving part of

the week in custody and part inthe community will require muchcloser working between those inprison and probation services.

More effective offendermanagement will be crucial to

the success of both thesesentences. Custody Plus, the

new sentence which will replace

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generally ineffective short prisonsentences will involve a shortspell in prison followed by a

longer period of supervision inthe community. A typical

offender, perhaps using drugsbefore his imprisonment, might

be detoxed in custody. But,unlike now when he will be

released with neither support norsupervision and probably returnto drug taking, he can expect

strict supervision, support andtreatment in the community tohelp keep him off drugs and

away from crime. Ensuring thathappens in a planned way will bethe job of the offender manager.

• A new sentence ofintermittent custody, whichwill help some offenders tostay in employment whileserving their sentence;

• A new generic communitysentence giving courts themaximum flexibility to tailorinterventions to theparticular circumstances ofthe offender;

• New arrangements for theautomatic release, at thehalf way point of thoseprisoners serving 12 monthsand over. Offenders serving12 months or more will bereleased under supervisionuntil the end of their entiresentence.

• New sentences fordangerous offenders gearedtowards public protection.Serious dangerous offenders

will not be released until theParole Board considers theyare suitable for release.Those offenders who continueto pose a serious risk ofharm to the public may neverbe released from prison.

15. We are piloting from Januarynext year, a radical newapproach to custodialsentencing. Kirkham for menand Moreton Hall for womenwill be the first establishmentsto provide places for thosesentenced to periods ofintermittent custody, such asweekends, with the remainderof the week spent underNational Probation Servicesupervision. Intermittentcustody aims to avoid some ofthe negative results of evenrelatively short periods of full-time custody, such as loss ofemployment or accommodationand family break-up which arefactors known to increase therisk of re-offending.

16. It is this framework ofsentences which thecorrectional services of thefuture must be designed todeliver. We started the processof organisational reform withthe creation of the YouthJustice Board in September1998. We have moved on todeliver a more cohesiveapproach to the delivery ofeffective communitypunishment by creating aNational Probation Service inApril 2001. And in 2003 webrought the correctional

services closer together by thecreation of a new post ofCommissioner for CorrectionalServices, to manage andoversee the delivery of ourtargets for reducing re-offending.As part of our radical programmeof public service reform, wenow need to go further.

The Use of Custodial andCommunity Penalties17. The greater use being made of

prison and probation in recentyears is also an importantbackground to our proposalsfor reform. In 1996, 85,000offenders were given acustodial sentence and133,000 were given acommunity sentence. By 2002,this had increased by 32% forprison, with 112,000 offendersgiven a custodial sentence andby 41% for Probation with186,000 offenders receiving acommunity sentence. Therehas been a similar growth inthe number of offenders undersupervision at any one time. In1996, an average of 55,000offenders were in custody anda further 127,000 offenderswere under supervision in thecommunity at year end. By2002 this had increased to71,000 in custody and141,000 in the community(end 2001 figure). The latestfigures show that prisonnumbers have grown further.On the 12th December lastyear there were 74,084 peoplein prison of which 14% of thesentenced population wereserving less than 12 months.

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18. These increases haveoccurred at a time when the number of offendersprosecuted or cautioned hasremained broadly constant.There has not been anyincrease in the overallseriousness of offencesbrought to justice to explainthe greater use of prison and probation. The criminalcareers of offenders do notappear to have lengthened.The propor tion of offenderssentenced each year with no previous convictions has increased over the last decade. In 1991, 34% of offenders found guilty had no previous convictions.By 2001, this had increasedto 37%.

19. The key explanation for thegrowth in the use of prisonand probation over the lastdecade is the increasedseverity in sentencing. Butinconsistency in sentencingand the fall in the use of fines are also importantfactors. In 1991, 15% ofthose found guilty of anindictable offence received a custodial sentence. By 1996 this had increased to 22% and by 2002 it was25%. There has been a similar increase in the use of community sentences. In 1991, 22% of convictionsfor an indictable offenceresulted in a communitysentence. By 2002, this had increased to 33%.

Next Steps20. This Government's unique

investment in the PrisonService and NationalProbation Service shows wedo not accept the counsel ofdespair which suggests thatof fenders cannot be turnedaway from crime. We believeprison can reduce re-of fendingif those inside are required totake positive steps to helpthem keep away from crime.This is why we have changedthe Prison Service to attacksome of the causes of re-of fending by improving basicskills, getting prisoners of fdrugs and keeping them cleanfrom drugs. Simply keepingsomebody in prison only torelease him with the samelack of education as when hewas convicted is a waste ofmoney and a waste ofoppor tunity. And, sendingoffenders to prison but seeingsome of them return to thecommunity still addicted todrugs is unacceptable.

21. Believing that of fenders in thecommunity will reduce theirre-of fending throughoccasional interviews withprobation of ficers is alsonaïve. Therefore, in thecommunity we haveintroduced rigoroussupervision with much moreuse of electronic tagging anddemanding sentences such asthe drug testing andtreatment order and as aresult we are reducing ratesof re-of fending.

22. Some might argue that weshould be content with whathas been achieved already. But those achievements,significant and hard won asthey were, are not enough. Ifwe are to realise the potentialof the correctional services weneed radical further reformwhich builds on all that hasbeen achieved in the last sixyears including work in newpartnerships with the ‘not-for-profit’ sector and the widercommunity. These arrangementsmust also ensure that theradical new measures set outin the Criminal Justice Act willbe implemented effectively andre-offending will be reduced.

23. We intend dramatically tochange the way offenders aremanaged and supervised in theCriminal Justice System. Firstof all for less serious offendersthere will be a renewedemphasis on their paying backto the community for thecrimes they have committed.Sometimes this will be throughthe use of fixed penaltynotices, which provide aspeedy response to low leveloffending or through the use offines – which offenders will berequired to pay or go to prison– and sometimes through otherforms of reparation to thecommunity such as unpaidwork. For more seriousoffenders more demandingcommunity punishments suchas the new Intensive Controland Change Programme willkeep offenders under rigorous

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supervision in the community,limiting their opportunity tocommit crime but working withthem intensively to help themstop permanently. By makingnon-custodial penalties moreeffective and by diverting fromprison minor offenders forwhom a very short stay inprison serves little purpose,we shall be able to makeprison work more effectively inreducing serious crime. Wealso renew our determinationto eliminate any aspects withinthe correctional services whichexpose offenders to danger ordiscrimination. In particularracism will not be tolerated.

24. Judges and magistrates mustcontinue to be able to makeindependent decisions onsentences in individual cases.But the wide range ofsentencing outcomes acrossthe country is inexplicable andunsustainable. Sentencing alsoneeds to ensure the consistentand cost effective use of prisonand probation capacity. The newSentencing Guidelines Council,chaired by the Lord ChiefJustice, provides a uniqueopportunity to develop a newand coherent approach tosentencing across the board.The SGC will provide sentencerswith more comprehensive, clearand practical guidance. As aresult, judges and magistrateswill know what is needed interms of punishment, and –with the support of offendermanagers – what is most likelyto work with particular

individuals in reducing thechances of their re-offending.

25. If we are to delivertransformation we need theright organisational structure.Building on the achievementsmade in the Prison Serviceand National Probation Servicewe shall establish a newsingle National OffenderManagement Service. It willhave two very clear objectives:to punish offenders and toreduce re-offending. Althoughthere are commendableexamples of prison andprobation working much moreclosely together in recentyears, it is still all too easy foroffenders to fall between thegap between the services. It isprecisely because of theachievements made by theservices since 1997 that it isnow vital that they are broughttogether and that we engagewith wider opportunities notleast in meeting essentialpractical requirementsincluding housing, mentoringand support for employment.The Prison Service can beproud of the extent to whichthey make offendersemployable, get them offdrugs and provide them withjob interviews. But if those keydevelopments are not builtupon in the community throughdirecting offenders intomainstream education, helpingthem not to return to drug useand helping them to hold downa job, the gains made insidecan all be wasted.

26. We will appoint immediately aChief Executive of NOMS whowill begin setting up theorganisation and will lead thenew service. A new NationalOffender Manager will also beappointed as soon as possible.The National Offender Managerwill report directly to the ChiefExecutive and will beresponsible for reducing re-offending and managing thebudget for offender services.But we believe that the task ofintegrating the management ofoffenders whilst in custody orunder supervision in thecommunity is best managed atregional level where effectivelinks can be forged and jointstrategies developed withcomplementary services,including health, education, andemployment. Thereforereporting to the NationalOffender Manager will be 10Regional Offender Managersresponsible for end-to-endmanagement of offenders in thenine English regions and Wales.The Regional OffenderManagers will be responsiblefor ensuring effective casemanagement of individualoffenders.

27. The new National OffenderManagement Service will alsoensure greater value for moneyby encouraging the greater useof the private and ‘not-for-profit’sectors in prisons and in thecommunity wherever it candemonstrate its greater costeffectiveness. In the communityin particular we want to make

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much more use of the ‘not forprofit’ and voluntary sector byinvolving communities in thesupervision of offenders andthe reduction of crime.

28. Reducing re-offending is noteasy. But we owe it to ourcommunities to succeed andensure that the moniesinvested in the Prison Serviceand National Probation Servicereduce re-offending and makeour cities and towns safer. Thatis this government's vision forthe correctional services andwe begin the task of turning itinto a reality immediately.

Conclusions29. The achievements and reforms

we have summarised in thispaper have put us in a strongposition to launch the nextphase of the reform of thecorrectional services.

30. Our proposals will help toensure that within five yearsthere will be a fully regionalisedNational Offender ManagementService which energises localcommunities where effectivelinks can be forged and joinedup strategies developed. Anessential part of this willinclude working even more

closely with complementaryservices, including health,education, housing andemployment. Regional offender managers willcontract with public, privateand voluntary sectors in theirarea to deliver custodialplaces and targetedinterventions with muchgreater efficiency, effectivenessand transparency. We will alsobe better able, with thesupport of the SentencingGuidelines Council, to managethe demand for correctionalservice, ensuring cost-effectiveuse of capacity.

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Annex – the Government’s Response to the Carter Report

Repor t Findings – A newapproach is needed to ensureoffenders are punished for theircrimes, the public is protectedand the appropriate help isavailable to reduce re-of fending.This will ensure the system isfocused on the ultimate goals ofreducing crime and maintainingpublic confidence.

31. We agree with this visionwhich is entirely consistentwith the reform programme wehave been pursuing and thenew sentencing frameworkcreated by the CriminalJustice Act.

Targeted and RigorousSentences

Report Findings – Building on themeasures set out in the CriminalJustice Act, there needs to be:

• A renewed focus on payingback to the community

• Fines rebuilt as a crediblepunishment

• More demanding communitysentences

• More extensive use ofelectronic monitoring

• Greater sanctions and help for persistent offenders

• More effective use of custody

32. We agree the need for anincreasing emphasis on payingback to the communitybuilding on our RestorativeJustice Strategy describedpreviously. The use ofreprimands and final warningswithin the youth justice systemis proving very successful. Weintend to develop a similarapproach for low risk, lowharm adults building on thenew conditional cautions in theCriminal Justice Act. This willnot be a soft option and ouraim will be to link conditionalcautions to financial reparationto the victim, community work etc.

33. As discussed earlier, theGovernment has alreadylaunched a strategy that hassignificantly improved the levelof fine enforcement. Thecreation of the Unified CourtsAgency (in shadow form fromApril 2004, and formally in April2005) together with a new focuson enforcement performanceand legislative measures tosupport it directly supports therevitalising of the fine as asentence. We therefore do notaccept the recommendationthat responsibility for fineenforcement be moved from theCourt Service.

34. Revitalised fines should replacea very substantial number ofthe community sentences whichare currently given to low riskoffenders. In practice suchoffenders get little if any

supervision from the NationalProbation Service and a finewhich is paid would be a moreeffective and appropriatesentence. We have alsoextended the use of fixedpenalty notices (FPNs), whichprovide a means of dealingquickly and effectively with lowlevel criminal behaviour. Weaim to extend their use forother offences and expect tosee increasing use being madeof them by the police.

35. The report recommends theintroduction of a day finesystem where the fine is set asa number of days which canthen be multiplied to takeaccount of an offender’s abilityto pay. This would requireprimary legislation and issomething we will explorefurther. The day fine would onlybe available for offences thatwould go to court (i.e. excludingfixed penalty and minoroffences). Prison would beavailable for non-payment linkedto the number of unpaid days.

36. The Criminal Justice Actintroduces a generic communitysentence around which muchmore demanding communitysentences for more seriousoffenders can be built. We fullysupport the report’s findingsthat there should be agradation in communitysentences based on a riskassessment of offenders. Weagree that there should be

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intensive supervision andmonitoring (ISM) for the highestrisk offenders. We have alreadybeen testing such an approachthrough the Intensive Changeand Control Programme. Oncefully developed ISM shouldreplace prison sentences forthe increasing number ofrelatively low risk and first timeoffenders who have been givenprison sentences in recentyears.

37. Electronic monitoring hasproved very successful and itsuse has been expandingrapidly as described above.The use of such newtechnology to provide a meansof monitoring the location ofoffenders under supervision inthe community will be anincreasing feature ofcorrectional services in thefuture. We are alreadydeveloping a pilot of satellitetracking technology which couldenable offenders to be contin-uously and accurately tracked.

38. The Criminal Justice Actintroduces a new principle forpersistent offenders. The newsentencing framework willprovide sentencers with arange of new disposals, shortof a full time prison sentence,to enable them to imposetough and flexible sentenceson persistent offenders.However, the new principle willmean that a progression upthe sentencing scale towardscustody of increasing length isinevitable if offenders continueto re-offend.

39. The Act also makes clear thata court must only pass acustodial sentence if it is ofthe opinion that the offence oroffences are so serious thatneither a fine alone nor acommunity sentence can bejustified.

A New Role for theJudiciary

Report Findings – There needs tobe greater emphasis on judicialself-governance ensuringcompliance to guidelines. In theshort term, when capacity isfixed, the Sentencing GuidelinesCouncil needs to provide guidancethat takes account of the capacityof prison and probation. Over themedium term the SentencingAdvisory Panel needs to provideevidence on what works to reducecrime and increase publicconfidence. This will form thebasis for changing the capacity ofprisons and probation.

40. We established theSentencing Guidelines Council(SGC) through the CriminalJustice Act. Members of theCouncil are currently beingrecruited with a view to itsfirst meeting being in earlyMarch. The Council will overtime formulate acomprehensive set ofguidelines, and cost andeffectiveness are factors it isstatutorily required to take intoaccount in devising them. Oneof the first matters we will askthe Council to consider is thegeneric community sentence

(also introduced by the 2003Act) which has the potential todiver t offenders, who wouldotherwise have receivedcustody, to more demandingcommunity sentences. We arealready providing comparativesentencing information tomagistrates’ cour ts andcriminal justice system areasand will consider with DCA andthe Lord Chief Justice howbest to develop this. A keyissue we want to pursue assoon as possible is how toeliminate general sentencingdrift and unjustified variationsin sentencing severity betweenareas.

41. We have information on thecost effectiveness of dif ferentdisposals and interventions,and models to predict futurecorrectional service workloads.We will share these with theCouncil, the SentencingAdvisory Panel and others.

A New Approach toManaging Offenders

Report Findings – A NationalOffender Management Serviceshould be established, led by asingle Chief Executive, with aclear objective to punishoffenders and help reduce re-offending. Within the service there should be a single personresponsible for offenders.This would be separate from day-to-day responsibility for prisonsand probation. This newstructure would break down the

silos of the services. It wouldensure the end-to-endmanagement of offenders,regardless of whether they weregiven a custodial or communitysentence.

42. We will from 1st June this yearintroduce a new NationalOffender Management Service(NOMS) with responsibility forboth punishing offenders andreducing offending. The newservice will provide end-to-end-management of offenders,regardless of whether they areserving their sentences inprison, the community or both.

43. We will also appointimmediately a Chief Executiveof NOMS who will begin settingup the organisation and willlead the new service. The keyroles of the Chief Executive willinclude:

• being accountable toMinisters for reducing re-offending and deliveringother agreed outcomes fromthe new service and for theefficient operation of publicsector providers;

• overall responsibility forstrategic developmentsincluding policy andstandards, strategic financeand human resources etc;

• ensuring increasedcontestability in the provisionof correctional services;

• sitting on the NationalCriminal Justice Board andacting as an observer on the

Sentencing Guidelines Councilto provide advice on thecapacity of NOMS to deliver.

CONTESTABILITY

The Government are notinterested in using the private

sector for its own sake, whetherin prisons or in the community.

We want the most cost effectivecustodial and community

sentences no matter who deliversthem. The experience with the

Prison Service’s use of theprivate sector has been extremelypositive. Four private companies

successfully run nine prisons(shortly to grow to eleven). Manyprisoners and visitors to theseprisons speak positively about

the way they are treated by staff.More significantly, the threat ofcontestability in running prisons

has led to dramaticimprovements in regimes and

reductions in cost at some of themost difficult public sector prisons. So effective has

contestability been that the publicsector have won two prisoncontracts back from private

sector operators and in the lastfew weeks, responding to the

threat of the private sector, Dartmoor andLiverpool Prisons have

transformed their performance.We intend therefore to encourage

the private and ‘not for profit’sectors to compete to managemore prisons and private and

voluntary sector organisations tocompete to manage offenders in

the community. We want toencourage partnerships between

public and private sectorproviders and the voluntary and

community sectors whichharness their respective

strengths. As a market develops,offender managers will be able to

buy custodial places orcommunity interventions from

providers, from whatever sector,based only on their costeffectiveness in reducing

re-offending.

44. A new National OffenderManager will also be appointedas soon as possible. TheNational Offender Manager willreport directly to the ChiefExecutive and will beresponsible for reducing re-offending and managing thebudget for offender services.But we believe that the task ofintegrating the management ofoffenders whilst in custody orunder supervision in thecommunity is best managed atregional level where effectivelinks can be forged and jointstrategies developed withcomplementary services,including health, education, andemployment. Thereforereporting to the NationalOffender Manager will be 10Regional Offender Managersresponsible for end-to-endmanagement of offenders inthe nine English regions andWales. The Regional OffenderManagers will be responsiblefor ensuring effective casemanagement of individualoffenders. They will source theprison places, community

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punishments, supervision andother interventions required fortheir offenders through contractswith providers from the public,private, ‘not for profit’ andvoluntary sectors within theirregion and elsewhere.

45. The public providers of prisonplaces, communitypunishments and interventionswill report directly to the newChief Executive to whom theywill be accountable for theefficient operation of theservices. The public sectorprison service will be adelivery arm of the offendermanagement service but withcustodial places financed byoffender managers who willprescribe the interventionsmade with offenders in prison.The Prison Service has, inpractice, been a Next StepsAgency in name only for someyears. Its formal status as anAgency, in theory semiindependent of the HomeSecretary, will end and it willbecome an integral arm ofNOMS but with continuedsubstantial day to dayoperational freedom.

46. The Youth Justice Board willremain an NDPB withresponsibility to the HomeSecretary. Funding andoversight of the YJB will restwith the Chief Executive of NOMS.

Implications

Report Findings – The proposalswill target resources more

effectively and should keepnumbers under supervisionlower than currently forecast.However, this relies critically onthe Sentencing GuidelinesCouncil. At the same time thereis the issue of old andunsuitable prisons. Dependingon the business case, they couldbe replaced by new, larger andmore suitable institutions,providing better value for money.

47. The report estimates that theproposals it makes couldcheck the projected increase inthe numbers in custody(80,000 by 2009 rather than93,000 as currently projected)and under supervision in thecommunity (240,000 ratherthan 300,000). We believe thisis possible with substantialrevitalisation in the use offines, a range of communitysentences, some of which aresignificantly more demandingthan at present, and a stepchange in sentencing practice.The proposals outlined in thispaper will provide the effectiveinfrastructure to enable thesechanges. But as the reportnotes, the change insentencing practice dependscritically on the role of the SGCand judiciary. They have apivotal role in helping ensurewe can align the capacity ofcorrectional services to deliverwith the demand placed uponthem by sentencers. They arealso crucially important inensuring we use the availablecapacity of correctional

services as cost effectively aspossible and consistent withthe needs of justice.

48. The report highlights the issueof replacing old and unsuitableprisons stock. We believe thereis an excellent value for moneycase for a replacementprogramme to create a newgeneration of larger prisonswith the facilities needed todeliver effective programmesdesigned to reduce re-offending. New large prisonscould also provide economiesof scale which would allow usto close some smaller prisonsand redirect resources tocommunity punishments. Weare preparing a detailedinvestment case to explorefurther with Treasury colleagues.

Implementation Team

Report Findings – The first stepshould be to set up theimplementation team, who willneed to set out a timetable forthe next four years

49. We will set up as soon aspossible a project teamreporting to the CorrectionalServices Board which ischaired by the Minister forCorrectional Services. TheBoard consists of seniorrepresentatives from the HomeOffice, DCA, HMT and No. 10,as well as a number of non-executive directors who provideexternal, independentchallenge.

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We have set out our decisions inresponding to the Carter Report.We would welcome views on howthe changes we have announcedcan be implemented, for example:

• How can we ensure effectivecommunity involvement andpartnership working in the newNational Offender ManagementService (NOMS)?

• How can the SentencingGuidelines Council best helpmanage demand for probationand prisons cost effectively?

• How can we improvecontestability and value formoney in the new structure?

• What should be the future forProbation Boards within NOMS?

• How can the use of fines berevitalised?

• What are the main challenges toshifting the emphasis fromcustody to community punishment?

• By what key measures shouldthe success of NOMS be judged?

• How can NOMS reduce re-offending rates?

Please send your comments andideas to:

Christian SecondisHome OfficeChanging Lives12th Floor50 Queen Anne's GateLondon SW1H 9ATOr by email to: changing-lives@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

by 18 February 2004.A full copy of Patrick Carter’sreport is available onwww.homeoffice.gov.uk

What are your views?