Memorandum submitted by West Yorkshire
Police Intensive Offender Management Pilot
EVIDENCE TO
SUPPORT THE
NEED FOR
YOUR IOM PILOT
The NOMS Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Commissioning
Plan 2008-09 identifies that offenders classified as Prolific
and Priority Offenders (PPOs) have significantly higher offending
related needs as identified by OASys (Offender Assessment System)
than non-PPO offenders across all categories except for emotional
well-being and alcohol related need. In West Yorkshire, this difference
is most marked for drug misuse (36% more) accommodation (26% more)
and financial management (25% more).
The plan also identifies that PPOs released from
custody without statutory supervision present the highest risk
of reoffending.
In 2007-08 an early Integrated Offender Management
Pilot (IOM) initiative was undertaken to assess and support all
prisoners serving sentences of less than 12 months returning to
West Yorkshire from the regions prisons over the festive period.
Although most offenders with needs were supported
into drug interventions, significant accommodation and alcohol
related needs were identified and remained unmet at the point
of release.
Critical gaps identified within IOM include:
— prisoners serving sentences of less
than 12 months;
— youth to adult transition;
— transition from prison and police
custody to communities; and
— a full range of options to impact
on all levels of crime.
BENEFITS OF
THIS APPROACH
IOM is continuing to develop, driven through
the critical business processes of intelligence, performance,
commissioning and marketing, which together will deliver the shared
objective of achieving safer communities in partnership across
West Yorkshire.
Significant progress has been made to date in achieving
multi-agency strategic and operational commitment, with the establishment
of governance arrangements linked to the Local Criminal Justice
Board (LCJB) and five local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships
(CDRPs), a multi-agency Senior Management Team and Development
Team, District Managers and IOM Hubs linking existing arrangements
for DIP and PPO with Neighbourhood Policing Teams, Third Sector,
Local Authorities, Health and other partners.
In addition to the strategic and operational
arrangements the numbers of offenders in multi-agency intensive
management has more than doubled to almost 900, and additional
resources have been secured for both Case Management and interventions
to support reduced re-offending. This is supported by increased
inter-agency co-operation in the use of tactical tools to enforce
behaviour change, in particular between Police, Local Authorities
and Probation, and moves to ensure the needs of victims are further
taken into account.
The further development of robust IOM systems
will engage criminal behaviour at all levels, from local volume
crime to serious and organised crime and preventing violent extremists.
It is recognised that in order to develop true public confidence
then the harm caused by crime must be reduced at all levels (NIM
1, 2 and 3) and by utilising a full range of tactical and covert
options.
Some achievements in partnership between April
2008 to October 2008:
— Local and West Yorkshire governance
arrangements established securing wide ranging partner commitment
to shared aims.
— Multi-agency Senior Management Team
and Development Team established to drive IOM forward across West
Yorkshire and local IOM lead managers appointed in all districts.
— Resettle and Rehabilitate focussed
IOM Hubs established in all Districts.
— Number of IOM offenders in multi-agency
management across West Yorkshire more than doubled.
— Third Sector IOM Case managers independently
commissioned in Leeds, focussing on the management of prisoners
serving sentences of less than 12 months.
— Local funding secured for additional
IOM Case Managers in Bradford.
— Police Offender Management Units
established within all BCU's, managing the most problematic offenders
causing the most harm to communities.
— Police Officers working within District
HUBS assisting in partners managing offenders to Rehabilitate
and Resettle.
— Police Case Manager role piloted
and IOM embedded within Neighbourhood Policing Teams.
— Operational Guidance documents produced
to assist NPT teams in offenders management.
— IOM "Masterclasses" delivered
to frontline Police personnel in all eight Divisions.
— RADIOM Partnership Process improvement
focused on prison and police custody; consultations completed,
and implementation commenced.
— Partner consultation conducted on
future design of police custody and submitted to regional planning
group.
— Police custody Health Needs Assessment
produced in preparation for pilot in 3 custody suites.
— Funding secured for regional police
custody offender health lead to drive progress on health agenda.
— IOM Prisoner passport implemented
and aligned with IOM community assessment and interventions plan.
— Improvement opportunities within
pathways to reducing re-offending:
— alcohol arrest referral piloted across
West Yorkshire custody suites,
— funding secured for extended alcohol
arrest referral service in Bradford,
— restorative justice service commissioned
in Kirklees,
— dedicated accommodation support service
secured in Wakefield,
— police custodial places of safety
secured across West Yorkshire, and
— Bradford Intensive Alternatives to
Custody pilot implemented and located within IOM hub.
— Strategic and operational involvement
of Third Sector organisations.
— Women's IOM initiative established
targeting short sentenced prisoners.
— Six month pilot of Conditional Cautioning
for women commenced.
— Development of the Tactical Toolkit
technology providing an automated system to assist in formulating
interventions plans for BCU operational staff.
— Development of a link to import Prison
population data into Police systems.
— Significant progress towards providing
an automatic offending scoring IT system for the Police.
— Development of IOM management functionality
for the partnership case tracking system Mi-Case.
DIFFICULTIES IN
IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE PROJECT
West Yorkshire risks have been identified and
appended to the National IOM risk register.
The most significant local additional risk is the
lack of a comprehensive corporate offender health and social care
needs assessment to drive service commissioning, resulting in
an inability to evidence and meet needs related to reducing re-offending.
This risk is being mitigated through securing
the commitment of cross-agency commissioners, and using existing
evidence to influence Comprehensive Area Assessments, and the
allocation of LAA related resources within districts. In addition,
the health needs assessment pilot in Police custody will evidence
need and identify service gaps.
A related significant risk is that the effectiveness
of IOM cannot be evidenced through a simple usable partnership
performance framework. This would impact on the effectiveness
of IOM processes and tools, and the ability of the partnership
to market the outcomes of IOM, and secure ongoing commitment from
key partners.
An immediate priority is to continue to work
locally within the framework of the national evaluation to produce
timely outcome information to evidence successful approaches and
steer the direction of travel. In addition, the need to produce
qualitative case studies demonstrating individual outcomes is
paramount, and is a priority.
EMERGING EVIDENCE
OF OUTCOMES
Findings from the British Crime Survey in 2007-08
show that crime has fallen by 10% and police recorded crime by
9% compared with 2006-07. The PSA 23 (making communities safer)
target for adult re-offending sets out that adult re-offending
should be 10% lower in the 2001 offender cohort than the 2005
cohort. Current data shows a reduction of 13.0% against this target
showing strong progress nationally in the first year.
Locally for 2008-09, a one year target to reduce
the re-offending rates of PPOs (NI 30) has been set at 15%, as
a priority within all the West Yorkshire LAAs. This measure is
seen as an indication of the impact of IOM.
Locally produced comparison figures of the static
PPO cohort from Quarter 1 2008-09 demonstrate a very significant
reduction of re-offending against the 2007-08 baseline across
West Yorkshire. Local figures have yet to be reconciled with Home
Office data, and it is not yet possible to publish this information,
however we anticipate resolution by the end of December 2008.
The result bears out the early investigations
carried out in Wakefield, where a target to achieve a 30% reduction
of PPO re-offending was set for 2005-06 and 35% for 2006-07, against
which 30% was achieved in 2005-06 within a cohort of 13 PPOs,
and 54% in 2006-07 within a cohort of 14 PPOs.
The first set of unpublished local reoffending
data at probation area level was produced by the NOMS Performance
Management Unit towards the end of 2007 against a baseline period
of December 2005.
The results for West Yorkshire Probation Area
are based on the latest four cohorts (March 2007, June 2007, September
2007 and December 2007) and actual rates were significantly lower
than predicted for two out of the four cohorts (minus 8% in September
2007 and minus 7% in December 2007), with smaller reductions in
the other two quarters.
It is now six months since IOM became operational,
and evidence of successful outcomes is starting to build up. A
Case Study was published in the Yorkshire Post newspaper on 23
October 2008, illustrating how the partnership of IOM led to an
enhanced outcome for an offender under the supervision of West
Yorkshire Probation.
IOM arrangements are being developed within
a robust system of audit and quality control in West Yorkshire,
and a performance framework is established which captures the
relevant indicators within PSAs 23 and 16.
IOM is being implemented within the parameters
of minimum standards agreed by the West Yorkshire IOM Board, and
the Performance Team will continue to support the achievement
of the required standards and the improvement of outcomes across
the partnership.
Emerging evidence of cost-effectiveness
Early work has been carried out locally to identify
the cost effectiveness of IOM, and is showing positive results.
December 2008
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