The EMCDDA best practice portal is a valuable resource for commissioners, practitioners and researchers looking to ensure that their work is based on the best possible evidence.
This research highlights that, despite the fact that drinking has been linked to a number of health consequences, heavy drinking is still commonplace and is often seen as normal social behaviour.
However, it may be that many of these voluntary sector providers would have been neither able nor willing to deliver probation services at the prices eventually set by the MoJ. Indeed, some of the successful private firms may already ruing their good fortune as they wrestle with the “winner’s curse”.
The welcome fall in the number of children in custody means that those who remain represent a more concentrated mix of very challenging young people, held in a smaller number of establishments that are increasingly unsuitable to meet their needs, and cared for by a staff group beset by shortages and a lack of training for their complex and demanding role.
IPPR put forward the same rationale that was advanced to establish the Troubled Families programme; that the current response to people with complex needs is still largely reactive and uncoordinated, mainly consisting of expensive crisis services rather than preventative work.
In almost half (49%) of all offences recorded in 2014/15, the suspect was not identified and the case was closed.
The growth of service users’ involvement in the design and delivery of drug and alcohol services has made a big contribution to the evolution of those services so that they are more user-friendly and more likely to result in significant positive change for the people who use them.
This finding gives hope to the value of Mr Gove’s review; if the quality and availability of prison education can be improved, it appears that there are large numbers of prisoners committed to making a positive change to their lives with education a keystone to that progress.
The review has been met with some scepticism among seasoned justice commentators such as Rob Allen who are surprised at the exclusions and wonder if the review is an excuse to finally go through with the abolition of the Youth Justice Board. The next few months will be a good test of Mr Gove’s pledge to build a new justice system based on the evidence.
The new Justice Secretary Michael Gove has made much of the need to have an ethical criminal justice system. One step hemight take would be to make the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s recommendations legally enforceable.
I’ve long been a fan of Andrew Brown’s monthly round of interesting facts about alcohol and other drugs which he has unearthed from a wide range of recent reports, statistical releases and the like.
I think the main challenges will be as much to with the practicalities of ensuring that there are enough staff to ensure that prisoners get to classes and providing the right incentives to get talented teachers to work in custodial settings.
