Recommendation 180

The Probation Service now uses a platform called “Refer and Monitor” (R&M) to communicate with its partners. Damian Hinds MP explained that “R&M facilitates a speedy and effective referral process, with easy access to information about the services offered by CRS providers and allows information sharing between probation practitioners and providers to ensure progress is managed robustly”. 339 Kim Thornden-Edwards, who admitted that “sometimes we did not have the availability to transfer information in a safe way to some of our delivery partners”, told us that “we have unblocked most of the problems now” since the Probation Service has “made real changes in those systems”. 340 Damian Hinds MP confirmed that “several enhancements have been made to the R&M digital tool since CRS services commenced in 2021”. 341 Carrie Peters agreed that “what is put on to Refer and Monitor has certainly improved in the last two years” while noting that “there are still gaps”. 342 Because a single offender, especially among male offenders, will likely be interacting with a range of commissioned services, Carrie Peters told us that organisations delivering them would also like to get updates from each other, which the platform doesn’t allow: “We are all on Refer and Monitor but we cannot see anything anybody else has put on there.” 343