Partnership in Practice
| Date | 01 September 1991 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059103800306 |
| Published date | 01 September 1991 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
132
Partnership
in
Practice
As
Probation
Committees
anticipate
their
new
scope
under
the
Criminal
Justice
Act
1991
to
grant-aid
voluntary
projects,
Harriet
Bretherton,
an
Inner
London
probation
officer
seconded
as
a
team
leader
to
a
residential
alcohol
recovery
project,
describes
the
reality
of
a
working
relationship
between
the
Probation
Service
and
the
Independent
Sector,
as
promoted
in
the
April
1990
consultation
paper
’Partnership
in
Dealing
with
Offenders
in
the
Community’.
The
Home
Office’s
decision
on
future
arrangements
is
expected
this
Autumn.
artnership has
so
far
been
debated in
very
general
terms
with
little
attempt
to
describe and
learn
from
exarnples of
existing
co-
‘
operation. It
seems
import-
ant
to
measure
the
abstraction
and
speculation
of
the
consultation
exercise
against
practical
experience.
Rugby
House
.
The
Rugby
House
Project
(RHP)
open-
ed
a
thirteen
bedded
high
care
hostel
for
problem
drinkers
in
Holbom,
Lon-
don,
in January
1991.
The
hostel
pro-
vides
men
and
women
with
a
safe
environment
in
which
to
withdraw
from
alcohol,
assess
the
nature
of
their
drinking
problem
and
seek
onward
referral
if
this
is
appropriate.
I
was
ap-
pointed
one
of
the
hostel’s
two
team
leaders
in
September
1990
and
a
Pro-
bation
Service
assistant
(PSA)
was
seconded
as
one
of the
ten
project
workers.
Inner
London
Probation
Ser-
vice
(ILPS)
pays
our
two
salaries
and
the
terms
and
conditions
of
our
employment
remain
the
same
as
for
any
probation
officer
or
PSA.
However,
our
full
time
place
of
work
is
Rugby
House
and
we
have
the
same
job
descriptions
as
other
RHP
employees.
Decisions
about
partnership,
both
at
a
national
and
local level,
are
going
to
depend
on
the
answers
that
policy-
makers,
Probation
Committees
and
voluntary
agencies
give
to
three
crucial
questions:
~
who
does
what?
who
pays?
< who
decides?
One
of
the
reasons
for
the
lack
of
clarity
at
a
poicy
level
is
that
the
answer
to
all
these
questions
seems
to
be
’it
all
depends’.
By
looking
at
a
cur-
rent
example
of
partnership,
it
becomes
easier
to
see
in
practice
how
these
questions
have
been
answered
in
the
past
and
what
criteria
might
be
adopted
for
the
future.
To continue reading
Request your trial