Source · Select Committees · Justice Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Accepted
Publish Professor Moran's report and ensure all IPP programmes deliver adequate outcomes for prisoners
Recommendation
The Government should publish the commissioned report from Professor Paul Moran into the Offender Personality Disorder pathway by December 2022. In addition, the MoJ and HMPPS should set out what work is being done to ensure that all programmes delivered and relied upon by HMPPS and the Parole Board deliver adequate outcomes for prisoners; and, where they do not, they should set out the process for reviewing delivery of those programmes. (Paragraph 81) Parole, release on licence and community-based barriers to progression
Government Response Summary
The government stated Professor Paul Moran’s report on the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway was published on Gov.uk on October 13, 2022. It also commits to reviewing current IPP prisoner case management in custody and refreshing guidance on IPP Progression Panels.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Reasoning: The staffing challenges faced by the Probation Service extend to its work in prisons, supporting IPP prisoners to prepare for parole hearings. To address the staffing issues, the Probation Service has a number of existing measures in place which aim to address the shortage of staff. In hard-to-recruit regions, Public Interest Transfers are enacted to incentivise Professional Qualification in Probation (PQIP) candidates to apply to work in these regions. Since July 2022, there has been a centralisation of recruitment in 6 priority regions which lead on the recruitment of Case Administrators and Probation Services Officers with funded media and marketing. Place based support and detached duty has been deployed in red sites in London and we will be extending this provision. We have launched flexible career pathways for staff approaching retirement, to help encourage them to remain in service for longer if they choose to do so. By March 2023, our ongoing recruitment endeavour will have brought 1,500 more PQIPs on board and by the same date we will have introduced a system of financial incentivisation to support recruitment in hard-to-fill sites. In addition to recruitment, a prioritisation framework has been implemented to ensure regions focus resources on areas of highest risk. IPP Progression Panels, an initiative introduced by the Probation Service to provide multi-disciplinary consultation on case progression and support, are delivered in custody as well as in the community. These can be used to further prepare for critical events such as a parole hearing. HMPPS does recognise that IPP prisoners are in a challenging situation, and we will review the way in which these individuals are currently case managed whilst in custody, including the allocation and access to probation officers throughout their sentence and where additional support is required at key points in that sentence. Within this, we will also consider how we might increase resilience where it is necessary for a change of 8 IPP sentences: Government and Parole Board Responses to the Committee’s Third Report probation officer in an IPP case. Further, we will review and refresh the guidance on IPP Progression Panels, informed by this report, to ensure it continues to meet the needs for supporting IPP progression.