Niacro

HJJ937813^rd Jan 2008

NIACRO’S RESPONSE TO THE PROGRAMME FOR GOVERNMENT AND BUDGET 2008-2011

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1    NIACRO, the Northern Ireland Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, is a voluntary organisation and charity, which has been working for 35 years to reduce crime and its impact on individuals and communities. NIACRO provides services under the headings of: promoting safer communities; working with children and young people who offend; providing services to families and children of offenders; supporting offenders and ex-prisoners in the community; and working with prisoners. 

1.2    NIACRO has links with all the main criminal justice agencies in Northern Ireland and connects with other bodies /organisations in the voluntary, community and private sectors. 

1.3    NIACRO welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Northern Ireland Programme for Government 2008-2011.

2.BACKGROUND

NIACRO believes that it is important that the local Administration is made aware of the issues that impact on the development and delivery of services to those in the criminal justice system. Offenders and those with a criminal record are citizens first and need to have access to all the appropriate services both in the community and in custody if Northern Ireland is to enjoy a better future. We believe that its status as a low crime region needs to be understood and highlighted. The fact is that an effective criminal justice system is one which can reduce its costs over time and while we understand why the programme for government make no formal reference to the plans of the NIO there is a need to acknowledge the necessary role that nearly all departments have to play in successful offender/prisoner reintegration. Further links are necessary in order to ensure that;

·Creating safer communities requires a key input from neighbourhood renewal and a strong and engaged community and voluntary sector.

·To deal with the threat/reality of homelessness we need inclusive policies that provide opportunity for access to social housing throughout Northern Ireland.

·Poverty and social exclusion will begin to be addressed by swifter access to benefits and direct linkage to training and job opportunities and that those with skills deficits will require extra help.

·Families in distress, particularly where an adult parent is offending or has been imprisoned, need to be specifically supported to ensure that the intergenerational influences of offending patterns are addressed and that the children of prisoners/offenders have their lifetime opportunities and chances enhanced  so that the  subsequent need for state intervention is reduced.

·Public health and wellbeing is realised through the development of targeted mental health support services that reduce dependency on institutional care.

3.INVESTMENT STRATEGY

NIACRO welcomes the focus on economic development in the expectation that increased prosperity will raise the living standards and opportunities for all.  However this will only happen if attention is given to those who have the potential to slip through the net. Research shows that;

·Offenders who enter and complete training are 3 times more likely to get a job

·Offenders that get a job are three times less likely to be re convicted

NIACRO welcomes the Strategic Investment Board’s vision to co-locate jobs and benefits officers. However if those with a criminal record are to be included in the working population the legislative, structural and attitudinal barriers to their employment prospects must be reduced. A key barrier is the 1978 Rehabilitation of Offenders legislation which needs to be reviewed. 

To secure economic investment Northern Ireland should promote itself as a low crime region working to reduce reconviction and positively reintegrate offenders.

Comments on the Public Service Agreements

PSA 2 Skills for Prosperity

It would have been useful, as context to this PSA to have had some analysis of the success of previous strategies such as the Essential Skills Strategy. The target must include harder-to-reach adult learners. It is essential that people should have the skills that will equip them to earn a decent living, however NIACRO is concerned that the only approach to learning seems to be one of building skills for the economy.  The concept of Lifelong Learning for personal development is important and can be built on a strong foundation of community education provision which so often provides the first step back into learning for those who have been failed by the formal system.  

PSA 3 Increasing Employment

The concern to connect offenders meaningfully to the world of work links to PSA 3 Increasing Employment – NIACRO, PBNI and NIPS are working together to increase the economic activity of those with a criminal record.  Legislative barriers need to be addressed and DEL needs to put further resources to this work if the potential target group, within the reach of these organisations, is to be adequately engaged.  Life long learning opportunities supported by educational guidance needs to be in place to redress the legacy of poor/non-educational attainment for these adults. Support services for employers working in this area also need to be resourced.

PSA 6 Children and Families

In order to reduce crime and the harm that it does it is critical to engage with the families of offenders.

Research shows that;

·Children whose father is convicted of an offence have a 66% chance of being convicted themselves; where the mother and father have both been convicted this rises to over 90%.

The loss of the Children’s Funds with their focus on disadvantage and redressing social need will undermine the Executive’s target in respect of child poverty and undermine much good interagency planning that has been supported by the children’s services planning process.

More dedicated supports for families in distress are required if care and custody provision for young people is to be kept to a minimum.

PSA 7 Making Peoples Lives Better

NIACRO deals with many who present as homeless or under threat of homelessness. 

·1/3 of prisoners lose their accommodation whilst in prison

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive has services which provide supports in this area.  However individuals with personality disorders find it difficult to sustain relationships with neighbours and high profile/high risk offenders need enhanced supports in the community to reduce the potential for homelessness and distress.

Individuals faced with homelessness often become victims of crime themselves whilst their unstable living patterns may also increase their likelihood of offending and as a consequence create other victims of crime.  

On equality of opportunity there is a need to address the barriers which offenders face post sentence when trying to gain access to employment and a range of services and a positive review of the Rehabilitation of Offenders legislation is required.

Funding for the ex-prisoners groups was expected in this programme and needs to be provided for.  These individuals face very real barriers and their reintegration needs must be met if we are to successfully move on from the years of conflict and realise increased economic prosperity.   

PSA 8 Promoting Health and addressing Health Inequalities

Suicide

NIACRO welcomes the community-based health programme delivery planned in this PSA expecting that innovative community based work, rather than just the work of statutory organisations at community level, will be supported.

There is a need to assess the size of the current drug culture in Northern Ireland. The key substance abused is alcohol and this needs to be addressed by community based education and better controls on access to alcohol. While there is a clear link between some drug use and crime appropriate, humane and effective detoxification processes should be available in all appropriate settings in both the community and in custody. Linked to this  is the concern that inappropriate detoxification can increase the likelihood of suicide attempts in custody and that appropriate prevention measures need to be in place and all staff adequately trained.

PSA 10 Helping Our Children and Young People Achieve Through Education

NIACRO is concerned that the educational attainment of prisoners is very low.

·65% of prisoners entering custody  have Numeracy at or below level 1 (the expected level of an 11 year old)

·81% of prisoners have a writing ability at or below level 1

·48% of prisoners have a reading ability at or below level 1

It is important that the intergenerational patterns of offending are addressed and that the children of offenders and prisoners are given additional supports. This would have the impact of reducing crime and thereby victimisation whilst promoting Northern Ireland as a low crime region attractive for investment and tourism. Northern Ireland already has in place a unique system of identification and notification of prisoners’ families and children (commissioned by the Probation Board for NI, the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the Youth Justice Agency) called Family Links and run by NIACRO. This scheme needs input and support from a range of Departments – primarily Health and Social Services and Education - if it is to realise its aims. Education’s role would not just be in relation to schooling but to ensure that young people suffering from exclusion are connected with youth services.  Other initiatives such as mentoring schemes, currently being funded by Children’s Funds, should also be supported.   

PSA 12 Housing Urban Developments and Community Development

NIACRO has welcomed and commented on the Advice Information Strategy. We remain unclear as to where regional organisations with a specific target group fit into the strategy. Currently we deal with over 2,500 enquires a year.

·72% of prisoners are on benefit when committed to prison

·81% need to claim benefit on release

Individuals leaving prison who make contact with helping services within 72 hours of release have a greater chance of successful reintegration than those who do not.

Dedicated resources are required to deal with this specific client group if lack of money following release is not to be an underlying cause for further crime.

In relation to the community and voluntary sector, the PSA reflects the fact that many departments are involved in cross-departmental efforts to deliver on these objectives. NIACRO welcomes the commitments on charities legislation, advice centres and volunteering.  It is unfortunate that there is no target for the Support Services Strategy and the review of the Compact, both promised in Positive Steps and still not delivered. NIACRO is concerned that the objective is phrased in such a way as to suggest that government will only support the voluntary and community sector insofar as it delivers services.  Successive government policies, such as the Compact, have recognised that a thriving voluntary and community sector is part of a healthy democracy and contributes centrally to building the strong and resilient communities mentioned in this document.  This is far from being only about service provision extending to policy comment work and personal and group advocacy processes.

PSA 16 Investing in Health and Education Estates

NIACRO welcomes the resources for the new prison at Magilligan. Given this substantive resource with its focus on education and vocational training and job preparation it will be important that the programme to take forward Further and Higher Education infrastructural enhancement include this establishment.

PSA 18 Deliver High Quality Health and Social Services

NIACRO welcome the transfer of health care from the Northern Ireland Prison Service to DHSSPS.

·46% of prisoners have a long standing illness or disability

·72% suffer from two or more mental disorders.

It is important that prisoners and specifically women prisoners have access to a GP and that appropriate arrangements are made to place prisoners on release on a GP list and that proper records are transferable both into and out of the prison. Ex-prisoners with out appropriate access to medication can present an unnecessary risk to the community and one which can be avoided.

PAS 21 Enabling Effective Government

NIACRO is aware of the Ministerial Group on Reducing Offending (MGoRO) and that legislation that is currently being consulted upon. The Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 requires the contribution of other agencies yet there is no mention or provision for that link between the local administration and the NIO with its reserved matters. As NIACRO has stated before if Northern Ireland can reduce it expenditure on criminal justice through the application of tried and tested method of reintegration this will provide savings for reinvestment in other public services in the longer term.

CONCLUSION

NIACRO would welcome the opportunity to discuss the matters raised by the response and to develop any of the points made.