Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth
Update message to staff – Friday 25 March
Wednesday this week was the second anniversary of the initial national lockdown in 2020 and the National Day of Reflection when we were encouraged to pause and remember those we have lost and support people who have been bereaved during the pandemic. My thoughts continue to be with the families and friends of colleagues and people on probation effected.
Reflecting on the last two years, it really has been such a rollercoaster time with highs and lows, twists and turns whilst we responded to the pandemic personally and professionally. What has however remained steadfast throughout the time is the compassion and care you have demonstrated towards each other and the people you supervise. I continue to be so incredibly proud of you all and thank you for all you have done to keep delivering our important probation work during this time.
I was fortunate enough to have two recent opportunities to share my pride and gratitude to probation colleagues in person for their fantastic work at both the Butler Trust awards and the MoJ Awards ceremonies. I was delighted to meet lots of our brilliant staff who had been shortlisted including the Youth Transitions programme team pictured here at the MoJ Awards.
Huge congratulations to all the very deserving winners and nominees from both events.
Today 25 March is the launch of the Great British Spring Clean which is run by the charity Keep Britain Tidy. This is an annual campaign running until 10 April and encourages communities to participate in litter picks of their local area. We are supporting this great initiative by mobilising our Community Payback teams across England and Wales to spruce up their local areas and improve local spaces during a dedicated Community Payback Spring Clean week between 25 March and 1 April.
We have a number of MPs and Police and Crime Commissioners coming out to visit projects in their local constituencies during the week and we hope to have lots of positive coverage in the media and on social media to highlight the importance of Community Payback and the role it can play in local communities. I look forward to visiting one of the projects myself next week and meeting colleagues and people on probation whilst I am there. You will be able to read updates during the week on my twitter and on HMPPS Twitter and please speak to your regional teams to find out what projects are taking place in your area.
Staying with Community Payback, I really enjoyed reading about the fantastic project undertaken by the Norfolk team who have arranged for 130 knitted bobble hats produced by people on probation to be sent to the Ukraine. You can read this story here and a huge well done to everyone involved.
On the subject of Ukraine, an information pack which has been collated to provide staff and people on probation with the details of the various Ukrainian support schemes, useful information on services accessible to Ukrainians coming to the UK as well as describing how we can support and enable staff to sign up to the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Finally, a huge warm welcome to all our new PQiP – trainee probation officers who commenced their training at the beginning of the month, I look forward to meeting some of you over the coming months. Also a big thank you to all the mentors, Senior Probation Officers and Practice Tutor Assessors who provide invaluable support in helping our trainee officers throughout their journey.
As always, thank you for all you are doing.
Amy
EVENTS REMINDERS:
LGBT+ History Month – Art Exhibition 28.03.22
As part of the celebration of LGBT+ history month, an art exhibition focusing on the theme of “What does Belonging & Inclusion mean to you?”. It is being held at Newbold Revel Prison Service training college 10:00-12:30, event info & booking link is: here and is open to all staff across MoJ,
All Probation Staff MS Teams Live Event 30.03.22
We are holding our next all probation staff MS Teams live event 30 March at 10.30 – 12.00 where we will be updating you on a range of topics including the Race Survey and our Lived Experience work. I look forward to speaking to you then – please join via this link All Staff Event
Digital Events 04.04.22
On Monday 4 April, Sonia Flynn, Chief Probation Officer together with Mark Stanley, Deputy Director, Digital Probation will be introducing two sessions focusing on the developments in Probation Digital which are aimed at making things simpler, clearer and faster for frontline staff.
To join the 10am session please click here – Link to 10am Session
To join the 2pm session please click here – Link to 2pm Session