Amy Rees – Director General Probation, Wales and Youth

Update message to staff – Friday 24 September

Amy Rees - Director General for ProbationDuring the last fortnight, I have been delighted to be able to do two of the things I enjoy the most in my job.  Having the opportunity to meet some of you at your place of work and presenting the probation winners of the HMPPS Staff awards.

Last week I joined the official opening of Eden House – our first new Approved Premises in 30 years. It was great to take a tour of the new 26-bed facility in Bristol and meet its fantastic staff. They are rightly very proud of the new accommodation and to be able to use it to support women leaving prison make positive changes in their lives. Eden House is going to be such an important facility and I look forward to hearing of its future achievements.  A big thank you to everyone involved in ensuring Eden House opened and to the team for the brilliant work they are doing there.

On Tuesday this week, it was wonderful to meet our probation finalists at the HMPPS Staff Awards 2021 and recognise their incredible achievements. Being part of the awards ceremony, I was moved by the stories of how our people go above and beyond in their work. The event was the perfect opportunity to show our pride and gratitude for the efforts of those we work with and to celebrate their determination and achievement. My congratulations go to our richly deserving category winners and to all those who were nominated. You are an inspiration to all of us. You can read more about our fantastic overall Probation Champion of the year – Assad Asghar – later in this message.

In other news, I am sure you will have read or heard about the changes following last week’s Cabinet reshuffle.  This saw us welcome the Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP and Deputy Prime Minister back to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as our new Secretary of State for Justice as well as some changes to the ministerial team MoJ ministers appointed | Ministry of Justice HQ.  I am looking forward to working with our new Secretary of State for Justice and all the ministerial team to continue our progress on the path to excellent probation services.

Staying at MOJ level, Jo Farrar, Second Permanent Secretary, MoJ and HMPPS CEO, has announced the department is modernising its operating model. The changes centre on better alignment of resource, skills and talent and ensuring our people’s passion, professionalism and expertise is supported by our structures. This has resulted in two new groups (‘Service Delivery and Transformation’ and ‘Data, Analysis, Communications, and Strategy’) joining the MoJ senior leadership structure. It has also created a couple of key changes at HMPPS level – one of which sees a welcome addition to my responsibilities.

As you may have noticed from my job title, I now have responsibility for the Youth Custody Service (YCS). Already being part of HMPPS, the team’s ambitions align with those of the wider department with its principles firmly focussed on the children and young people in its care. Having already met with many colleagues in the team, I have been impressed with their collective passion to positively shape the future of children’s services in custody. I am confident closer working across our teams will support the YCS team with their critical work and I am incredibly proud to be leading them.

KEY UPDATES

People Survey 2021: Launches next week

The 2021 People Survey opens on 28 September – Giving colleagues across the Civil Service the opportunity to have their say on topics relating to their work and experiences.

There has never been a more crucial time for Probation Service colleagues to speak up as your feedback will help to inform the development of the unified service and how we rebuild from the COVID pandemic.

Each probation team will be provided with a code and link to access the online survey, and it’s worth keeping in mind that if you work in a prison, you will need to identify with your parent PDU/team, not the prison, when you come to complete it.

The survey will run until 3 November. Don’t miss out, have your say, share your voice.


National Inclusion week: 27 September – 3 October

Designed to celebrate everyday inclusion in all its forms, National Inclusion Week 2021 will take place from 27 September to 3 October.

A series of what are set to be both thought-provoking and practical events during the week will give everyone in HMPPS the chance to get involved.

More details are available on the MoJ intranet, including more on these sessions:

This is the ninth year of bringing organisations together from across the globe to celebrate, share and inspire inclusion practices.


#HiddenHeroes Day 2: 29 September

A reminder that this year’s UK-wide “#HiddenHeroes Day”will take place on Wednesday 29 September.

Championed by the charity The Butler Trust, in partnership with MoJ, it is an opportunity to pay tribute to those working in probation, youth justice services and prison, and thank them for their outstanding service throughout the pandemic.

For more information contact: info@butlertrust.org.uk

SPOTLIGHT ON: ASSAD ASGHAR – PROBATION CHAMPION OF THE YEAR

This year’s overall winner and Probation Champion of the Year at the HMPPS Staff Awards was Assad Asghar.

Assad is a Senior Administrative Officer from the West Midlands region who was nominated by colleagues in the Staff Support category for his incredible work in supporting colleagues and looking at ways in which he can help to improve how they work.  Assad has been working for probation since 2005 in a range of roles including supporting offender management and court teams.

ASSAD ASGHAR – PROBATION CHAMPION OF THE YEAR

Assad’s nomination centred on the work he has done to support his team through challenging times including the most difficult of times following the sad loss of a colleague.  He was also recognised for his day to day support for the team with issues such as IT and the improvements he has made to ways of working including court processes and raising health and safety standards.

Sarah Chand, Regional Probation Director for the West Midlands region, said: “Assad is such a quiet and unassuming individual, yet has an incredibly large and positive impact on all who work with him. 

“His kindness and generosity of spirit, sharing his time, knowledge and immense IT skills to support individuals, the team and the wider region, are the qualities repeatedly highlighted by colleagues and have simply made an enormous difference to staff.  

“I am delighted to see him recognised in this way, he is such a worthy winner!’”

We asked Assad what achieving these awards meant to him:

“Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to say congratulations to all nominees, finalists and winners of 2021- each person’s contribution to probation is priceless, we are winners every day when we are showing kindness and making a difference. I cannot express how grateful I am to ‘each and every person’ who has played a part in me achieving these awards- I could not have done it without you.

“I would also separately like to thank Vina Patel for nominating me, for the Staff Support category and recognising my work and believing in me. Additionally, I would like to thank Jo Farrar for selecting me as the Probation Champion of 2021- I am totally honoured. Another big thank you to the ‘comms team’ for making day so memorable.

 “I truly believe the work we all do in Probation on every level is invaluable. We are all like a building- each part having a supportive and impactful role- without each part we would not be successful. But, for me today, I feel very humbled and proud that the administrative role has got its own recognition and appreciation on a bigger platform!

“Once again thank you!”

Thank you Assad for all your incredible work – a truly worthy winner

Thank you all as ever for all you are doing

Amy