Received from: NAPO
Congress notes the potentially positive developments arising from government policies relating to the Sentencing Act and the implementation of child-focused courts.
If operated within the Probation Service to their maximum potential, the impact on prison capacity, and the expected reduction in offending will be beneficial to society.
In the case of the reforms within the family courts, these will bring the prospect of easier and less costly mediated resolutions to parties who are going through especially difficult times. The beneficiaries of this will be children, who are all too often negatively impacted by protracted family discord.
These are welcome initiatives but jeopardised by the fact that existing staffing and resourcing in both probation and Cafcass is inadequate.
Congress therefore instructs the General Council to engage urgently with appropriate government ministers to review the current status of the probation service within the Ministry of Justice. The objectives being to determine its suitability or otherwise to remain as part of HMPPS, and to endorse the call by Napo for emergency investment in the service to remedy the current workload and staffing crisis
In Cafcass, there is a similar need for a fundamental review of its effectiveness under the auspices of the MoJ, but meanwhile, Congress instructs the General Council to press the government for a review of the impact of child-focused courts on current staffing levels, together with the emergency allocation of resources to ensure that the organisation attracts the staff it needs to guarantee the success of this programme.
Napo