Dear Mr Grayling?

Pages199-213
199
DEAR MR GRAYLING…
In the call for papers we invited anyone who wanted to write an open letter to the Minister
to use this opportunity to do so. Hence this section; it contains four contributions and
offers another perspective on the impact and consequences of the transforming
rehabilitation agenda. If you would like to respond to these contributions in the next issue
please do so as we will be happy to print responses, subject to editorial oversight.
Responses should be submitted to the Journal in the normal way.
Dear Mr Grayling,
I have never written to a Cabinet minister be fore but the current proposals for
transforming rehabilitation are causing me so much concern and anxiety for the
professionals I work with and the client group I work with i.e. offenders. Ever sin ce I h ave
worked in Probation, which I joined as a member of staff in 1999, I have experienced a
continued series of changes. However, what is now proposed seems to me to be a
complete revolution rather than any for m of evolution or building on previous successes.
Therefore I feel have no option but to ra ise my concerns directly with you.
For 100 years, the Probation service has quietly been working effectively with offenders.
The proposals by the coalition government of Conserva tives and Liberal Democrats in
relation to Transforming Rehabilitation are in my vie w flawed in a number of ways.
My understanding of Transforming Rehabilita tion is that the plan is to destroy the current
excellent provision and replace it with a very much slimmed down National Probation
Service comprising of six areas plus Wales. This will be some 30% of the current Probation
workforce. However the split of offender s into the two bodies will be somewhat different
and we were initially told only 12% of current offend ers proposed to enter the new
National Probation Service.
The staff in this new body will, I understand, be civil servan ts with all the constraints on
making public comments that these individuals are currently subject to. I do wonder if
this change is partly due to an attempt to silence Probation professionals in the future
from making comment about the performance of the criminal justice sector. For the entire
period of 100 years Probation professionals have been keen to enter the debate on
British Journal of Community Justice
©2013 Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 11(2-3): 199-213

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT