Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth
Update message to staff – Friday 28 January
As I am sure you will agree, it has been pleasing to hear and read more positive news regarding COVID during recent days with infection rates lowering and government restrictions being lifted. Our Gold Command team continue to meet daily and work closely with Regional Probation Directors to review probation delivery and what the changes mean for us. We remain optimistic that we will be able to transition from Exceptional Delivery Model arrangements from Monday next week, enabling regions to implement the new Prioritisation Framework. This new tool has been developed as part of the Prioritising Probation project and will give Regional Probation Directors more flexibility in bringing together wider workload management considerations and the ongoing response to COVID in your region.
Staying on the subject of Prioritising Probation, Kim and the team involved are making steady progress with work to reduce pressure on front line teams. You can find the latest developments here, including a review of how we recruit to speed up the process and bring in more recruits than ever for the service.
I really enjoyed having the opportunity to talk to some of you during the last fortnight at all staff calls hosted by Wales and by the Greater Manchester region and at a NAPO event this week. I always appreciate opportunities to hear directly from you and to discuss examples of the great local initiatives taking place. Thank you to everyone who joined the calls and I look forward to the ones coming up in other regions over the next few months.
February sees two important events taking place which I wanted to highlight and encourage you to get involved in. It is LGBT+ history month and there are lots of events taking place throughout the month to celebrate the rich history of our LBGT+ community. You can find the details of these here.
February 7 sees the launch of HMPPS Young Adults Awareness week and I am very much looking forward to joining Phil Copple (Director General for Prisons) at the event we are hosting at 2.00pm that day – please do join us by following this link. There will be a programme of virtual events taking place throughout the week designed to improve understanding of the distinct needs of Young Adults and shine the spotlight on good practice, innovation and available tools. Further information on events taking place can be found here.
Finally, another reminder that the Prison and Probation Awards nomination process is now open. You have until 23 February to nominate your colleagues for the fantastic work they do every day. Nominations can be submitted via your PDU Head or your Head of Service so please do get involved – find out more here.
Thank you as ever for all you are doing
Amy Rees
