Written evidence from CBI (PB 07)
1. The CBI is the UK's leading business organisation,
speaking for some 240,000 businesses that together employ around
a third of the private sector workforce. With offices across the
UK as well as representation in Brussels, Washington, Beijing
and Delhi the CBI communicates the British business voice around
the world.
2. Reducing the level of re-offending has rightly
been established as a principal objective for the criminal justice
system. As corporate citizens and as taxpayers, business wants
to see re-offending reduced and good outcomes delivered while
achieving value for money. The establishment of a strong and sustainable
market for probation services will be critical in achieving this
aim. The CBI believes that this can best be achieved through:
— Greater
competition to encourage innovation and efficiency.
— Developing
a sustainable market will encourage a range of providers to think
creatively about the programmes they deliver and create greater
choice for commissioners.
— Improving
commissioning to achieve better outcomes.
— Good
contract design and using outcomes-based contracts will give providers
flexibility to develop effective programmes and incentivise them
to join up services to achieve lower re-offending rates.
— Improving
procurement to deliver value for money.
— Cutting
out wasteful duplication in the procurement of services will deliver
substantial savings and improving skills will instil confidence
in the provider community.
GREATER COMPETITION
TO ENCOURAGE
INNOVATION AND
EFFICIENCY
3. A competitive environment will lead to better
outcomes as service providers continually strive for performance
improvements and efficiencies. In offender management, the benefits
of competition can help to achieve lower re-offending rates and
value for money services. Currently only a small percentage of
probation services are delivered by independent providers; probation
trusts are the lead providers within every probation area. Competition
for the provision of services has been limited, restricting access
to fresh ideas for improved service delivery and efficiency savings
that are inherent in more competitive markets. This can be addressed
by taking measures now to establish a sustainable market for probation
services.
4. Both the private and the voluntary sectors
can play an important role in the delivery of probation services
and already have huge experience in working with offenders both
in custody and in the community. Independent organisations also
have developed skills in working in multi-agency environments
and building relationships at a local level to improve outcomes.
Such experience is particularly useful in criminal justice, where
best results are achieved from tailored programmes that are composed
of a variety of interventions provided by a range of different
organisations.
5. Independent providers can help the Government
achieve its goal of reducing the size of the prison population.
Increasing the number of offenders who will be subject to community
interventions at the same time as the amount of public money available
to fund these interventions is reduced will require new providers
and new ways of funding such services.
6. The benefits of competitive tendering have
already been realised in other parts of the criminal justice system,
such as in the provision of prison services. Motivated by the
pressure of competition, management teams have been obliged to
focus on service improvement and it has created a powerful incentive
for innovation. Learning from this lesson, it is important that
probation services are similarly market-tested in such a way as
to ensure that is always the best provider that provides.
7. Identifying and tackling barriers to entry
will be an important first step in developing a sustainable market
involving a diverse range of suppliers. Larger commercial organisations
with experience in providing and co-ordinating public services
will be attracted to the market if opportunities are of sufficient
scale to deliver a return on their investment. Strategic commissioning
at a regional or pan-regional level can often deliver this scale.
For smaller providers, particularly from the voluntary and community
sector, it is important that procurement requirements do not present
too much of a burden. Simple contracts and bidding processes will
allow scarce resources in these organisations to be focused on
delivering quality outcomes.
8. Open communication between commissioners and
potential providers will be essential to develop a sustainable
market. Commissioners benefit from obtaining increased understanding
of provider organisations helping them to ensure that their invitations
to bid do not over-specify and allow for flexibility in service
delivery. From the provider's perspective, increasing knowledge
of the opportunities available will increase their propensity
to engage in the market and guarantee that the maximum number
of bidders compete for contracts.
Case Study—Path2Work: Independent
Providers Working Together to Reduce Re-offending
Serco in alliance with voluntary organisations Catch
22 and Turning Point successfully delivered the Path2Work service
in the East of England region from 2007, under contract to the
Probation Service. The Path2Work initiative assisted ex-offenders
to secure employment or training within the community.
Each ex-offender had set needs that had to be met
to help that person secure and sustain employment. These needs
were identified through a range of activities including: in-depth
diagnostic interviewing; basic skills screening; career path analysis;
financial assessment; motivation analysis and life coaching.
Each individual on the Path2Work programme was allotted
a Personal Advisor, who, together with the costomer would negotiate
a Personal Action Plan to meet the specific needs of that customer
to help them secure employment. Plans differed depending on the
customer but interventions to meet customer need could include:
debt advice; referral to substance misuse counselling; providing
rent deposits and acting as guarantor to landlords; access to
interview skills workshops and one-to-one interview coaching;
professionally written CV's,; soft skills and motivation classes;
the purchase to interview clothes; access to mental health workers;
and enrolment with local basic skills training providers.
The collaborative approach offered individuals the
support needed to get back into employment and into an environment
where they far less likely to reoffend.
IMPROVING COMMISSIONING
TO ACHIEVE
BETTER OUTCOMES
9. Good contract design will be at the heart
of a successful probation service and wider offender management
system. Contracts should be clear on expected outcomes but accommodate
innovative methods for achieving these. Over-prescriptive contracts
will inhibit providers and limit their scope to introduce innovative
ways of working to reduce re-offending.
10. Using outcomes-based commissioning justice
commissioners can hold providers to account by making payment
dependent on achieving contractual outcomes, incentivising the
achievement of lower re-offending rates. The contract that currently
exists between Directors of Offender Management and probation
trusts is largely based around inputs and a few outputs rather
than outcomes. This limits the flexibility that trusts have to
design tailored programmes that specifically tackle re-offending.
By identifying key outcomes and the practical steps needed to
achieve them, services can be commissioned which address the causes
of re-offending while avoiding unnecessary restrictions on service
design or delivery. This method also keeps value for money at
the heart of the commissioning decision.
11. Joint commissioning among trusts has the
potential to deliver significant economies of scale and would
also widen the scope of projects that independent organisations
can become involved with. Currently each of the 35 probation trusts
is responsible for commissioning interventions work from local
providers in their probation area. There is a significant duplication
of structure and process throughout the network with each trust
committing resources to similar functions. Directors of Offender
Management in each region should work with relevant probation
trusts to ensure that opportunities to make savings through joint
commissioning are taken up.
12. In addition, lower re-offending requires
more joined up working between agencies. Half of spending on offenders
is carried out by departments and agencies other than the Ministry
of Justice and therefore achieving lower re-offending rates and
value for money is dependent on co-ordinating these budgets. Commissioning
structures should encourage this way of working as far as possible,
facilitating co-operation between services.
13. One model that has proved to be successful
in joining up services is the prime contractor structure for commissioning
that has been used to deliver programmes such as the Flexible
New Deal. A version of this model could be used for the delivery
of probation services whereby a prime contractor has responsibility
for sub-contracting services from a range of specialist providers
from the public, private and voluntary sectors. The advantage
of this approach is that it offers providers freedom to design
a package of support for offenders that is better tailored to
their individual needs and there is an incentive to think creatively
to choose a combination of interventions that will deliver best
results. The system also encourages partnership working, bringing
together organisations from across different sectors, with mutually
beneficial results. The private sector has good experience of
managing these links.
IMPROVING PROCUREMENT
TO DELIVER
VALUE FOR
MONEY
14. Badly-run procurements increase bid costs
and create delays, often putting providers off bidding in the
future. The pressure on all public bodies to deliver cost savings
from public service contracts makes improving procurement all
the more essential. Good procurement requires specific skills
in needs analysis, risk identification and management, market
engagement and performance evaluation.
15. Dissemination of procurement best practice
among commissioners and stakeholders is an important component
of skills development. In a time of constrained budgets sharing
the best procurement resource between departments could be a more
feasible option than recruiting additional permanent staff. In
the justice sector, the Academy for Criminal Justice Commissioning
has proved useful in providing a valuable forum to share ideas.
16. Commissioners could also consider using the
expertise that is prevalent in parts of the public sector. Highly
skilled officers from other government departments could be brought
into criminal justice projects on a short term basis to supplement
existing expertise. This would ensure that the most experienced
and talented commercial staff in the public sector is used effectively.
CONCLUSION
17. Pursuing tough and effective non-custodial
sentences will be essential in lowering re-offending rates while
meeting the target of reducing the prison population. The taxpayer
is impacted by the costs of a system that could perform better
and business as a user, funder and provider of public services
has a stake in seeing a fully functioning market for probation
services. The CBI believes that there is a need for swift reform
to see a sustainable and competitive market developed with providers
fully focused on achieving the target of reducing re-offending.
Public, private and voluntary sectors will each have a role to
play in delivering this objective and will have to work in competition
and in partnership to bring best results.
18. Commissioners of probation services will
need to keep value for money at the heart of the decisions that
they make, seeking to exploit economies of scale where they are
available. Strategic commissioning at regional and pan-regional
levels may provide some of these opportunities but they will also
have to be sought through joining these processes across localities.
Incentivising providers through a focus on outcomes will make
for more innovative and efficient ways of working, particularly
when afforded flexibility in how they go about achieving them.
Creating this environment will require strong procurement skills
and the Government should ensure that staff with sufficient expertise
are in posts where their knowledge and experience can be felt.
September 2010
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