Amy Rees update message – 8 October

We may only be a week into the month, but October has already given us more reason to feel proud to be part of the Probation Service and optimistic for the period ahead. However, before I share some of my recent highlights, I feel it is important to reflect on the tragic case of Sarah Everard which has featured widely in the news over recent days. My thoughts continue to be with her family and friends at this difficult time.

I know from speaking to colleagues, many of you have been affected by this case. Given our dedication to protect the public it is natural that this tragic incident may affect us on both a personal and professional level.

I firmly believe that personal wellbeing is of the upmost importance and that it is okay so say when we are not okay. A range of professional services are available for when we feel we could use some extra support or advice. I highly recommend making yourself aware of these, which you can find via the ‘My Wellbeing’ pages on the Probation Hub.

There is rightly a lot of focus on the prevention of violence against women and girls at present and we will continue to play a key role in this area of work.  We are also working with colleagues across the Criminal Justice System to identify other opportunities we may have to further enhance how we do this in future.

Earlier this week, the Secretary of State for Justice announced some significant funding for us during his speech at the Conservative party conference.  He set out plans for £93 million extra investment in Unpaid Work over the next three years. This is great news for our fantastic colleagues who work in this important area as it will enable us to recruit 500 more community work supervisors, develop our partnerships with major organisations, and deliver a range of improvements on the ground. See more details on this announcement here.

An ambitious three-year, £180-million plan to expand the use of electronic monitoring was also announced. We already lead the world in GPS tagging and this extra investment will enable us to extend the project widely to further cases of concern.  This will include using it to monitor the whereabouts of high-risk domestic abusers and increase the use of alcohol monitoring tags for prison leavers known to commit crimes when under the influence. You can read more on this here.

As I have previously mentioned, having the opportunity to meet some of you at your place of work is a part of my role I truly relish. Last week, I was delighted to do this when I helped to officially open our new co-financing organisations (CFO) Activity Hub in Liverpool. It was great to see the new Hub, meet the team, and see first-hand the carefully designed activities they undertake to support the hardest-to-reach groups in our society with employability to reintegrate back into their communities. Thank you for the warm welcome and well done to all the team for the great work they are doing there.

October is Black History Month (BHM) 2021 with a range of online events for everyone planned throughout October. The Civil Service Race Forum, in partnership with the 12 race networks, has shared details for this year’s Cross-Network BHM schedule on the HMPPS intranet. I highly recommend you take a look at what’s on offer and get involved in this great programme of sessions.

Finally please do make some time to complete this year’s People Survey if you have not already done so.  We want to hear your thoughts on what it is like to be part of the new Probation Service.  Tell us what we are doing well and where we could do things differently or better.  We have two national days coming up on the 11 and 20 October where we are encouraging teams to make time to complete the People Survey or your team may have arranged another date.  Your views really do matter greatly to us so do not miss your opportunity to let us know what you think and ‘Pause for the People Survey’. You can find your team code for completion here.