Hampshire & Isle of Wight Local Criminal Justice Board Annual Review 2018

HAMPSHIRE & ISLE OF WIGHT LOCAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE BOARD ANNUAL REVIEW 2018

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FOREWORD Chair of the Local Criminal Justice Board, Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney Protecting the vulnerable has been at the heart of the focus of the work of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) during the last year. Members of the board have worked together to improve the service provided to victims and witnesses, reduce reoffending and reduce crime and deliver an effective and efficient criminal justice system.

I am proud of the collaborative approach members of the LCJB have taken, ensuring our combined efforts have played a significant part in offering the local people we serve stable and safe communities in which to live.

In delivering its priorities, the LCJB has taken into account emerging threats and demands and the wider criminal justice landscape which has felt the collective challenge of austerity.

Each member agency which makes up the board has in response to the challenges from central government made efficiencies, streamlined process and cut red tape and waste to ensure that the vulnerable people in our communities continue to be protected. Partnership working has been fundamental to how each of us has been able to reshape the relationship we have with the public and our users.

Recent Government announcements have been very welcome to easing the pressures we are facing in 2019 and beyond. Increasing the cap for Police and Crime Commissioners when setting the local policing precept; agreeing to revert back to the pre-2017 litigators graduated fee scheme and funding to support the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy to name the most recent.

There is however no doubt we will continue to feel the impact of austerity and will need to continue to show innovation and efficient working as individual agencies and collectively in partnership to support those most vulnerable and provide the most effective criminal justice system.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Criminal Justice Board agreed three key priorities at its Planning Day on 7th December 2017.

The priorities agreed considered local and national risks and the Police and Crime Commissioner’s (PCC) Police and Crime Plan, as well as incorporating the views of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight public.

Specific focus was given to vulnerability, particularly in the context of the current criminal justice landscape, and the emerging threats and demands. The Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) also committed to communicating the work within the criminal justice system to promote justice and the value of the LCJB and provide a better understanding.

This report, prepared by the LCJB Business Managers, looks to review progress against the activities that were identified last year.

All LCJB activity including environmental scanning and performance exceptions have been included alongside sub group work to address the priorities and also highlight emerging areas for focus.

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1. PRIORITY - IMPROVE THE SERVICE PROVIDED TO VICTIMS AND WITNESSES Lead - Assistant Chief Constable, Ben Snuggs Delivery through Victim and Witness Group To continue to build further on progress already made in understanding victims’ needs, we must ensure that we are doing all that we can to support victims and witnesses. There is a need to keep pace with the changing nature of crime and its reporting so that we can deal with the increasing pressures placed on the system.

Victims and Witnesses should be kept informed and supported by all criminal justice services throughout their experience. The LCJB Victims & Witness Group have worked in partnership to improve the justice system, support victims and increase confidence, by undertaking the following:

1.1

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Review Victim Code of Practice compliance for all criminal justice agencies and address any gaps/concerns

1.1.1

Representatives from all criminal justice agencies with responsibilities under the Victim Code were invited to a whole day Task and Finish event in July 2018 and a follow up session in September. The event was very worthwhile with agencies engaged and showing genuine commitment to move this forward. A master spreadsheet was compiled documenting each agencies responsibilities

1.1.2

As a group they agreed compliance/non-compliance and what actions are required next for all 189 responsibilities in the code. This highlighted 28 actions outstanding, ownership was then assigned and high level categorisation of themes

HAMPSHIRE & IOW, LCJB ANNUAL REVIEW 2018

1.1.3

Other areas under development include working on an easy steps guide as to what you can expect as a victim/witness attending court. Also starting to compile key themes and priorities as illustrated below to populate a ‘Safer Hampshire’ document. It is felt that the role of the PCC’s team is key in developing this victims’ work, for commissioning and strategy, and a victims law would strengthen the work already started. Taking into consideration the newly published Victims Strategy and the Victim Commissioners three areas of focus:• • •

Information about the criminal justice process at all stages of the case Timely and accurate updates about the progress of their case Information about the types of support services available to them

1.2

Review Victim Personal Statement (VPS) Protocol 2014, with a view to updating and ensuring compliance

1.2.1

The Group had planned to review the VPS Protocol 2014, however on 13th September 2018, an updated VPS Guide for criminal justice partners was published. The group have reviewed and are content it is fit for purpose and compliant so this activity is now complete

1.3

1.3.1

Review all Victim related literature to ensure accuracy, availability and relevance to all agency publications Victims and Witnesses are issued with a large amount of literature, either in hard copy or via links. There is no single organisation that has oversight of all the information given to victims and witnesses and therefore there may be overlaps and gaps with no process for ensuring the information provided by CJS partners is accurate and up to date. The Victims & Witness Group has taken on the role of overseeing a review of all documentation. At the previously mentioned workshop, all victim and witness related literature that was provided on the day was reviewed as to whether it was current, relevant and accurate. It was agreed a small group would convene to collate any literature that was outstanding, to review, feedback and file with a commitment to revisit annually. This will take place early 2019.

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1.4

Know and understand what services are available to victims, their effectiveness and usage

1.4.1

Work has been undertaken through the Victim Care Service, as part of their service delivery, to develop a website directory of all services available to victims and witnesses. Due to changes in personnel, this is not yet complete however there is a commitment to prioritise this and make it available by April 2019. This will then be shared with all criminal justice partners and be regularly monitored and maintained.

1.5

Improving Domestic Abuse prosecution and victim experience

1.5.1

The H&IoW Specialist Domestic Abuse Court Group, chaired by John Montague CPS Senior Crown Prosecutor, consider performance relating to Domestic Abuse across Hampshire & IoW to give assurances to the LCJB in relation to the 12 Specialist Domestic Abuse Court (SDAC) components established by national SDAC Steering Group. This brings together various agencies that are passionate and committed to assuring domestic abuse victims are properly supported in the criminal justice process both through and outside of the court process. As a multiagency group working to ensure get the best possible outcomes for domestic abuse victims and holding each other to account. Look at outcomes to ensure they are as effective as possible, including timeliness, conviction rates, effective trial rates, outcomes and to see if the process is the most efficient that it can be.

Looks both strategically and operationally. The group breaks down the measures into court area and scrutinises performance, there have been no specific areas of concern to highlight to the LCJB over the year. Along with monitoring the 12 SDAC components and the agreed SDAC performance measures, the following were identified as the key activities for the group at the V&W planning session in January 2018

1.5.2

Expand beyond monitoring court performance data to include quality by looking at domestic abuse offending rates and post court processes. John Montague also chairs partnership Violence Against Women and Girls Scrutiny Panel (VAWG) who are planning to conduct end to end scrutiny with a dip sample of cases. Delays have meant that this has not been undertaken yet, it was scheduled for the panel in September 2018 with an update at the SDAC Group meeting on the 22nd November.

It was identified that there was no statutory obligation to update victims on the offender’s release where they were sentenced to 12 months or less. The Witness Care Unit (WCU) has obtained licences to an external system that provides release date information and the WCU, from June 2018, performs this role, updating victims accordingly.

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1.5.3

Currently DA crown court performance and issues are not monitored through this group, this will be included in the end to end scrutiny of cases at the VAWG Panel and outcomes reported

1.5.4

Back in March 2018 the process for Interpreters was clarified and adopted, where the Court is responsible for the defendant and relevant agencies have responsibility for witnesses

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1.5.5 1.5.6

Incorporating victim’s views at sentence and updating the most vulnerable is included in the Victim Code of Practice compliance work already covered in this review Ensure restraining orders are being issued appropriately and relevant information sharing. It was agreed from July 2018 that restraining orders are the default position and it should only be for exceptional reasons they are not applied for or granted.

1.6

Oversight of Restorative Justice as a performance indicator

1.6.1

The new three year Restorative Justice Contract was launched in April 2018 and is fully inclusive, irrespective of offence type or time that has elapsed since the offence was committed.

1.6.2

Police can now refer cases of low level neighbourhood dispute. This will prevent situations escalating into crime, victims being created and repeated calls to the police for non-criminal incidents.

1.6.3

The new case management system ‘myRJ’ launched on the 1st April 2018, the V&W Group will see more detailed data moving forward.

1.6.4

The Restorative Justice Policy for cases of sexual crime and domestic abuse has been created with multi-agency consultation and contribution. It is subject to final sign off from LCJB Victim and Witness Group, policy will go live in November.

1.6.5

Between April 2017 and March 2018, the Restorative Justice Service received 397 enquiries, 45% increase on previous year. This resulted in 161 victims being contacted and offered the opportunity to engage in the restorative justice process.

The final referrals resulted in 27 restorative interventions between victims and those who caused them harm, a 93% increase on the previous year. 31 victims took part in a facilitated process and the practitioners involved in these cases spent 350 hours supporting the participants in person.

1.6.6

In the two month period (1st April -31st March 2018) – Restorative Solutions delivered over 80 awareness raising sessions, training events and partnership meetings with over 1000 professionals, volunteers and community members. In addition, RJ Coordinator facilitated over 30 partnership engagement events. Within the six month period April - September 2018 the Service has already received 305 enquiries and contact made with 242 victims. 12 Restorative processes have already been facilitated during the first six months and 37 cases currently active.

1.6.7

A further 22 cases have been referred to mediation providers for cases of neighbourhood dispute. The majority of referrals continue to be for cases of sexual crime, death by dangerous driving and burglary.

1.6.8

RJ week was held the week commencing 19th November 2018, where the RJ and Reintegration Event was held at HMP Winchester.

1.6.9

Other activities for RJ week included, visit by an ex-offender convicted of a manslaughter offence who took part in RJ with his victims family. Jacob Dunne visited schools and IoW Youth Offending Team (YOT) to talk about his experience of RJ and the fact that one punch can kill.

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1.7

Victims and Witnesses at Court

1.7.1

Exploring innovative ways of victims and witnesses (V&W) giving evidence, including remotely. For the early part of the year this was put on hold while work around establishing trial effectiveness issues was prioritised. The group has agreed to link in a task and finish group to the already existing regional working group.

Areas to explore will include establishing better ways for V&W to give evidence rather than travelling long distances and agreeing relevant Memorandum of Understanding. Also to explore what really is innovative (not just video links etc) although any new concepts would need judicial sign off.

1.7.2

Focus is on improving the effectiveness of trials and that will then lead to a reduction in the number of unnecessary witnesses. There are two Her Majesty’s Courts Tribunals Service (HMCTS) regional working groups for Crown Court and Magistrates Court developing a trial scrutiny model. Awaiting the outcomes from those two groups which will then shape the work for the regional working group moving forward.

1.7.3

1.8

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Impact on V&W when moving crown court trials. This group continues to be a good news story and at the last meeting there were only 11 cases to review in comparison to 70 when the group first formed. Timely communication and increased information sharing as to specific vulnerabilities has led to listing officers being better informed and able to move the most appropriate cases making the right decisions. This group will now link in the work of the above two areas.

Support the implementation of s28 (pre-recorded cross examination of vulnerable witnesses)

1.8.1

There has been a successful pilot in three areas of the country, however there are technical issues with the equipment so this is currently on hold awaiting further national direction. There is indication that this may be Spring 2019 for implementation.

1.9

Undertake an annual Court Facilities Audit

1.9.1

The Group has been awaiting the outcomes from the comprehensive audit undertaken by HMCTS at the end of 2017. When the outcomes are established, will then look at the gaps are and what the group can do to change or influence.

1.9.2

The results from the Courts Audit have been shared with HMCTS staff in July 2018, however the report is restricted and cannot be circulated wider. This has been escalated to the LCJB and Jon Ward has taken an action to explore the issues and report back.

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1.10

Focus on improving understanding of changing vulnerabilities in line with the changing crime profile to ensure the services are mapped accordingly

1.10.1

The group acknowledges the changing crime profile and changing vulnerabilities (eg sexual offences, exploitation of children, county lines and modern day slavery).

The aim is to identify and improve knowledge of vulnerabilities across agencies and ensure shared with partners. The challenge to all is to ensure we stay on top of emerging trends and issues now and into the future. For periodic updates at V&W and LCJB.

1.10.2

The group are starting by looking at the intermediary process and sharing this with partners. The intermediary process is well embedded, their role is one of impartiality and is there to support the court process for prosecution and defence.

The force have identified that there are some improvements they can make internally to improve guidance for investigators.

1.10.3

County lines is a key area of focus and the vulnerability of children and young persons within this environment. A serious organised crime day was held with partners and the force are looking to include county lines within their annual conference, widening the invitation to partners. Will continue to explore this work to understand how V&W are supported and what could be done better.

1.10.4

Victim Care Service to nominate “champions” with responsibility for keeping updated on changing crime portfolio and will share with colleagues. Police Victim Board to also keep linked in and the RJ Board.

1.10.5

A further area identified to explore is the threat and vulnerability from online which is a significant challenge and there is a need to understand access and use of social media.

1.10.6

Moving forward this activity needs to underpin all the key priorities for this group and it is proposed that the priority will be re-worded to ‘Improve the service provided to victims and witnesses in the context of increased vulnerability within the changing operating landscape’.

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2. PRIORITY – REDUCE REOFFENDING AND REDUCE CRIME Strategic Lead – Community Rehabilitation Company, Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Czajewski - Delivery through Reducing Re-Offending Strategy Group Over the past 12 months a significant amount of work has been carried out by partners engaged in the Reducing Re-Offending Strategy Group (RROG) and the LCJB in relation the priorities assigned to this sub group. The Group meet quarterly and have utilised specific task and finish groups to deliver certain pieces of work.

The overarching priority of this group is to develop strategies and practice to enable the reduction of re-offending and reduce crime by promoting joint working approaches that support this ambition.

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2.1

Cohort specific focus

2.1.1

Integrated Offender Management (IOM) has traditionally sat with the umbrella of the reducing reoffending group and over the past 12 months reoffending rates have continued to display positive results with consistent reductions in reoffending across the identified cohorts in comparison to the baseline recording period.

2.1.2

This year the existing delivery model underwent a significant review which began in January 2018 where a partnership workshop was held to evaluate the current scheme and take on board the changing face of crime, risk and resource levels. The main outcome following the multi-agency workshop was the decision to amend the composition of the existing IOM cohorts. Significant work took place outside of the RROG and the revised delivery model was launched in November 2018 with new cohorts identified as illustrated below.

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2.1.3

These changes are in line with the national trend, with IOM directed to follow risk and also reflect local pressures where the scheme was being overwhelmed with low level offence types which hampered proactive engagement with individuals.

2.1.4

The Criminal Rehabilitation Company (CRC) continue to have a significant number of cases within the model but there has been an increase in NPS IOM cases.

Closer links are also being made with safeguarding, particularly in the case of the domestic abuse cohort and officers will be able to carry out a greater number of unannounced visits.

2.1.5

Additional performance measures are to be captured with registration and deregistration reasoning’s and the length of time under the scheme being recorded by the central administration hub in Fareham. There will also be a new centralised referral selection panel which aims to bring consistency across the county for individuals being brought into the scheme. The aim is to have a caseload of about 250 across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight which is around half of current caseload with the new cohorts being actively measured from January onwards.

2.1.6

The last 12 months has seen increasing national focus on the journey of Women in the criminal justice system leading to the publication of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Female Offender Strategy in June 2018. Locally, this focus has been reflected with considerable work taking place, both in the RROG, and through a Task and Finish Group led by the CRC, to develop safe and appropriate provision for women offenders. This been contributed to the developing goal of having a women only induction and follow on appointment at core CRC sites as well as trauma informed practices. The task and finish group accepted that much of the existing approaches that partners had to working with women, was primarily done in silo and this was to be addressed.

2.1.7

In response to this; earlier this year a collaborative bid was submitted to the MoJ

by Hampshire Constabulary; CRC; Public Health and the Hampton Trust around female offenders. The proposal was available to women who have offended but are eligible for a conditional caution as well as those already under court orders or licences. The bid proposed running a programme in Women’s Centres and offered the option for multi-agency involvement, improved research and communication around what interventions are successful with women offenders. Although unfortunately this bid was unsuccessful it has created ideas and enthusiasm for more focus on this area of business and stakeholders are keen for this to be channelled into work delivered by the RROG partners.

2.1.8

In September of this year an inspection into domestic abuse was conducted, specifically looking into the work undertaken by Community Rehabilitation Companies. The report was thematic and evidence was not locally focused, however learning from this report should be undertaken by all partners to reinforce practice developments going forward as overall conclusions were that services were not effective enough to protect victims and reduce domestic abuse.

2.1.9

Locally the revision of the IOM scheme to now capture the high risk domestic abuse perpetrators illustrates an area in which work is being done to target this group of offenders and concentrate more resource on reducing their likelihood of reoffending.

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2.1.10

Project CARA is now rolled out across the Pan Hampshire area and is now police initiated.

2.1.11

Veterans. This topic was showcased at the RROG in November 2018. The need to ensure that partners share their practice in this area was noted and will be revisited in 2019.

2.2

Accommodation

2.2.1

Accommodation remains a significant factor effecting the ability of individuals to avoid offending and limited access to accommodation post release from prison has been identified as a key obstacle to effective rehabilitation.

2.2.2

Nationally, this year has seen the Homelessness Reduction Act come into force fully from April with requirements on Councils to accelerate the assistance given to those likely to be homeless. Probation Services have a ‘duty to refer’ those being released from prison for local authority housing. Data on this could be used to collate and present a clearer picture on housing need moving forward.

2.2.3

This priority resulted in the commencement of some initial work looking at improving local provision and supporting a prison integration unit at HMP Winchester where the majority of local male offenders are released from.

2.2.4

The need to pursue accommodation options will be an important strand of the RROG focus on release from custody in 2019.

2.3

Health and Wellbeing

2.3.1

Stronger ties have been made with health partners through the RROG. This ultimately led to the collaborative bid for government funding for enhanced women’s services and linked work for ‘Through the Gate’ principles.

2.3.2

Furthermore, throughout the year, the need for enhanced mental health expertise at RROG was identified and this was escalated to the main board. This has led to LCJB member Dr Kevin O’Shea confirming his attendance at RROG to support ongoing discussions around Mental Health. This also resulted in a successful court training session held in Winchester by HHJ Evans QC, Chloe Jay from Shentons Solicitors and Dr O’Shea covering the approach to report-writing, and sentence disposals, for those with mental health and learning disabilities.

2.3.3

The ‘Through the Gate’ model is being highlighted as a key mechanism to support offender well-being during the preparation for prison release. The model is being prioritised and the RROG is to host a ‘Through the Gate’ seminar in January 2019 to examine how this can be assisted in terms of development and linking to other initiatives.

2.3.4

Liaison and diversion schemes are expanding with a planned Isle of Wight roll out, a dedicated practitioner at Winchester Crown Court and peer support workers. This is reported on at the RROG.

HAMPSHIRE & IOW, LCJB ANNUAL REVIEW 2018

2.4

Reduce the Risk of Harm and Offending

2.4.1

The items below have remained on the agenda, for information, in 2018.

• Troubled families • How to collectively maximise rehabilitation of service users whilst they are confined in a custodial setting • The last planning meeting highlighted a group of CRC service users who were repeatedly reoffending and this lead to the activity to collaboratively work with these individuals to reduce recidivism

2.5

Support the Restorative Justice Programme Board and Strategy

2.5.1

The Restorative Justice strategy has been supported by RROG for a number of years with progress reports being regularly provided to update partners on the expansion of the scheme since its inception. In the last 12 months the service was re-commissioned and re-launched in April with the OPCC and Restorative Solutions working in partnership to deliver the service. A new microsite, leaflets and posters for the service have also been launched https://www.rjhampshire.org. uk/. Training packages continue to be provided across the county to Constabulary staff, Prison teams and a specific domestic abuse training course has been created in partnership with local domestic abuse stakeholders specifically for RJ practitioners. Ongoing work is planned with other criminal justice stakeholders (NPS, HMCTS & CRC) to increase engagement and referrals. The services has expanded to be fully inclusive of all offence types and time since the offence was committed. Low level neighbourhood disputes are also included to utilise mediation services and prevent situations escalating into crime.

2.5.2

Further promotion of RJ through the ‘RJ week’ (w/c 19th November) included media activities featuring individuals who have taken part in mediation processes is ongoing, alongside supporting HMP Winchester both for individuals held in custody and also staff who may be victimised whilst on duty.

2.5.3

Overall in the last 12 months there has been an increase in referrals and the process has become more embedded across the criminal justice system.

2.6

Young People

2.6.1

The Youth Crime Strategy remains under the ownership of the RROG. The current strategy was established in 2014 and has been reviewed and developed regularly in the intervening period. The most recent strategy was reviewed in early 2018 and will again be revisited in the next financial year when local authority finances and possible restructuring has been determined.

2.6.2

The Youth agenda is focussing more closely on prevention rather than recidivism for future planning. Local youth performance data is highlighting an increasing first time entrant rate particularly in Southampton and the Isle of Wight in comparison to overall national trends.

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2.6.3

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Improving the youth to adult transition was a separate area of focus that has not been further progressed under the RROG aside from the pilot of Project Gateway which specifically targets the 18-24yr old cohort.

2.7

Create and maintain a directory of services available to offenders

2.7.1

Understand all services available to offenders, how accessed, effectiveness and usage. This objective was identified, however no progress has been made to create a directory at this time.

2.8

Project Gateway

2.8.1

Project Gateway was launched in June 2018. It is a small proof of concept based in Southampton which seeks to provide an alternative to formal prosecution by way of a police conditional caution which offers young people between the ages of 18-24 contracts to engage with partner agencies based on critical pathways of need. To date the team (2 police staff and 4 case workers from No limits and Southampton City Council) have worked with 12 clients with 1 so far completing the up to 16 week course.

2.8.2

Feedback from individuals has been positive with clients having support in setting up bank accounts, booking on to further education courses, seeking housing advice and vocational training.

2.8.3

Challenges so far have been obtaining the referrals from the outset however numbers are rising as the project becomes embedded in the suite of disposal options. The project is looking for Southampton University to evaluate the project in the near future with an internal progress review due in December.

2.9

HMP Pathfinder Opportunities

2.9.1

No further detail has been provided from the prison in relation to this objective and whether there are opportunities for partnership engagement.

2.10

Other

2.10.1

In September last year the Lammy Review was published. An assessment of which of the recommendations within the report linked to the LCJB environment was completed by Jon Gardner and Helen Maunder with the support of RROG partners. Further work is planned for progression of this priority work area. At the October LCJB meeting it was agreed that Enzo Riglia Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner Justice was well placed to lead in this business area. (Please see separate section on Lammy)

HAMPSHIRE & IOW, LCJB ANNUAL REVIEW 2018

3. PRIORITY – DELIVER AN EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM Strategic Lead – Crown Prosecution System Chief Crown Prosecutor Jo Jakymec Delivery through Wessex CJS Efficiency Board From the Victim’s perspective, the progression of their case through the criminal justice system in Hampshire, from reporting to conclusion, should be seamless, with no delay or disruption. There should be end to end coordination across all justice agencies, understanding the demands and implications, ensuring any risks to delivery are identified and managed through collaborative working.

Establishing a modern digitalised criminal justice system is essential to providing an effective and efficient service with successful outcomes and better experiences for everyone.

The Wessex Criminal Justice Efficiency Board acts as the decision forum for the resolution of multi-agency issues arising from the effective delivery of justice across the Wessex area (Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset).

3.1

Sustain Transforming Summary Justice (TSJ) and Better Case Management (BCM) initiatives and build on the principles that already established.

3.1.1

Ongoing monitoring of TSJ (magistrates court) and BCM (crown court) performance is undertaken by the Quality Assurance Delivery Group (QADG), subgroup from the Wessex Efficiency Board. Included in their monitoring is reviewing the national quarterly TSJ dashboard to consider not just local performance but how the area is comparing nationally.

3.1.2

In October it was agreed at the Wessex CSJ Efficiency Board that there would be a refocus for the QADG moving forward based on the key areas where improvement is required. The following priority areas for focus are; • •

• • •

Magistrates Court Prosecutions dropped at third or subsequent hearings Numbers of hearings per case with a focus on ◇◇ Impact on victims and witnesses ◇◇ Ability for court to list cases ◇◇ Witness Care Unit impact Timeliness from charge to first hearing Released under investigation/Bail Pre-sentence reports on the day

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3.1.3

Below are some graphs for these measures to illustrate the current performance levels to indicate why they have been raised as the areas of focus. All these measures are indicators of the efficiency of the court process and impact on victims and witnesses.

3.1.4

This graph above illustrates why Magistrates Court dropped at third or subsequent hearing has been highlighted for Hampshire as an area for focus to improve performance to work towards being closer to the level of ambition at 25% or below. To note, nationally performance is approximately 26% similar to the ambition level.

3.1.5

This graph above shows that Magistrates Court hearings per case both guilty and not guilty cases are above the level of ambition which means there are more hearings than desired and impacts on the efficiency of the court process. This isn’t significantly higher but is consistent over the last 12 months. This will continue to be addressed by the QADG.

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3.1.6

Overall Hampshire is consistently above ambition level for Magistrates Court presentence report on the day in the magistrates court. However, Soton, Ports and IOW below ambition level and on decreasing trend

3.1.7

An identified area for improvement has been on the day reports in the Crown Courts, this has also been raised at the LCJB. Across the two counties there is a disparity in performance and this is being worked through with the judiciary to try to resolve the issues.

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3.2

Progress towards digital by default and increase the use of Video Technology

3.2.1

Continue to progress towards Digital by Default including court digitalisation programme and regional video work establishing an audit of what exists and how it is being used and scoping what further work is planned and what the barriers are to achieving desired outcomes and sharing learning across the region.

3.2.2

Some of the key developments in the court digitalisation programme include; •

• 3.2.3

Regional Video Work All areas across the South West are at different stages of video usage and limiting factors for progression are money and national drive. This group is struggling to be effective and is refreshing its terms of reference to agree focused areas of progression. Chair of the SW Video Group is looking to establish an audit of what already exists and how it is being used and scoping what further work is planned and what the barriers are to achieving desired outcomes.

3.2.4

In Hampshire the video enabled live links facility for traffic cases at Kings Worthy continues to operate however there are currently no plans to expand this provision.

3.3

Progress utilisation of Prison Court Video Link (PCVL)

3.3.1

Previously Prison Court Video Link performance data was included within the LCJB group of measures. A programme of work was undertaken by the courts and prison leads to drive up utilisation. Mid-way through the year the method by which the national data was captured changed making it less meaningful to report on so it was decided to remove from the framework. It was agreed that there were no issues locally with this performance and that it was working well and had become business as usual. It was decided that it would only return to the agenda on an exceptional basis

3.4

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The Digital Case System, Multi Hander Solution being rolled out – will allow all linked/joined defendants to be accessed in one electronic case file which improves efficiencies for all parties managing cases through the court Upgrade of WIFI services in all court centres to improve and provide business critical WIFI solution

Through collaborative working monitor and improve case work quality and performance including disclosure action plan

3.4.1

Ensuring that all procedures relating to the disclosure of relevant material that either undermines the prosecution case or assists the defence are dealt with fairly in accordance with the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act (CPIA).

3.4.2

The Wessex CJS Efficiency Board, through the Prosecution Team Performance Meeting (PTPM) continue to work through the Wessex CPS/Police tri-force disclosure action plan which was signed off in Autumn 2018. This was created following publication of the joint Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate “Making it Fair” Inspection Report and aligned to the CPS/NPCC

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National Disclosure Improvement Plan. Monitoring the impact of this action plan will be done through peer reviews and police file quality returns 3.4.3

3.5

Police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are collaboratively maintaining focus on sustaining improvements in the quality of prosecution case files and the procedures which support court hearings, sharing the common objective of delivering a high quality service to victims and witnesses. This will be achieved by CPS providing by meaningful analysis of file quality between the police and CPS teams Monitor performance and impact as a result of the Bail Act changes across the criminal justice system in the Wessex area, to enable action plans to be put in place to address and improve

3.5.1

The Wessex CJS Efficiency Board are undertaking a tri-force review on the impact of the Bail Act changes.

3.5.2

The Wessex team has identified the required Bail/RUI data set to be able to compare the position prior to bail act changes to current to ensure we are able to provide the same level service to V&W in light of bail act changes.

3.5.3

The identified data set that we would like to capture from our 3 forces existing data sets and this includes: 1. comparison between offence types looking at a bail case pre legislation change and post RUI changes 2. average length of investigation across crime types 3. average length of investigation across adult / youth 4. average time from date offence reported to date of disposal e.g. charge, NFA, caution etc 5. date of submission to Youth Offending Team and date decision received 6. submission to CPS for charge decision and date decision received 7. submission to police (CJU) for postal requisition 8. date postal requisition raised (TSJ timeliness) 9. failure to attend rate

3.5.4

Having established that the forces can provide the required data, work is now ongoing to establish how and who will undertake the analytical work.

3.6

RAPE/Serious Sexual Offences Performance – added in the year

3.6.1

Mid-way through the year concerns were raised regarding performance of rape and serious sexual offence cases, in particular outcomes. The police felt that their investigations were improving with dedicated teams and better engagement etc however the outcomes were still very low. Concerns were raised regarding the CPS NFA rate and that it was disproportionately low in the Wessex area compared to other areas and the question raised as to whether there was a different charging standard in Wessex Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) to other CPS areas? At the same time timeliness for early investigative and pre-charge advice was highlighted as not an improving picture (30 days and 80 days respectively).

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3.6.2

A CPS Wessex/Police rape scrutiny panel was implemented and taking good practice from other areas Hampshire force created the gatekeeper role to improve the management of investigation files. The CPS were experiencing staffing issues pending recruitment and emergency redeployment of resource measures were put in place to improve this. To ensure consistency the CCP and DCCP quality assured RASSO charging and NFA decisions.

3.6.3

There are three strands of activity in place: 1. Moderation / de-brief exercise NFA cases – currently underway 2. Agreed joints data sets - Hampshire / Wessex RASSO data > Number of rapes recorded > Number of referrals made to CPS > Number of charge decisions made by CPS > Number of Further Action Taken recorded 3. Peer review to be carried out with Yorkshire and Humberside, a similar area though performing better, to understand where improvement can be made.

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3.6.4

In the autumn, following a recruitment campaign, the CPS has increased its number of prosecutors which has had an impact on timeliness levels for advice.

3.6.5

It was agreed that the LCJB would keep this priority matter as a standard agenda item to keep close eye on progress and provide assurance to partners.

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4. LCJB COMMUNICATIONS AND ENGAGEMENT Strategic Lead – Head of Communications and Engagement, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner Laura Cadd – Underpinning all aspects of LCJB business plan.

4.1

In April 2018 a communications strategy and plan was presented to the LCJB, which outlined proposals for communication actions for the shorter term. The LCJB members agreed the approach set out in the strategy.

4.2

The initial focus has been on raising awareness of the board and criminal justice system with the public, through the OPCC communications channels. This can continue during the next 12 months, with some further opportunities to be explored during 2019.

4.3

The agreed communications objectives: • To promote achievements of the LCJB and the benefits of the achievements to partners and the public • To increase public understanding of the Criminal Justice System • To create opportunities for the Police and Crime Commissioner’s profile to be raised with LCJB partners • To increase understanding of the role of the Police and Crime Commissioner

4.4

Key audiences: • Members of the LCJB • Internal networks and staff • Police and Crime Commissioner • Partners • Public

4.5

As outlined in the strategy the first six months have been focussed on achieving the following:

4.6

Digital communications

4.6.1

We have developed a much stronger presence of the LCJB on the Commissioner’s website. The LCJB has featured on the sliding bar on the home page, which links through to the detailed pages on the LCJB, which have also been updated. The structure chart has been updated to be more accessible and visually appealing.

4.6.2

We have also reviewed which members of the LCJB are on social media, and actively share their posts, as appropriate.

4.6.3

Parliamentary Today alerts are monitored throughout the day for the Commissioner. These sometimes create opportunity for comments on relevant announcement or articles to give the Commissioner profile or a voice on certain issues. In the same way, we have started to scan for announcements relating to the criminal justice system. There is more opportunity in the future to use these to create a ‘hook’ for the LCJB to make a strategic comment on behalf of all members.

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4.6.4

Partnership events. Contacts from the LCJB have been added to our stakeholder lists and were sent invites to relevant Commissioner events. This included invites to be part of the annual Safer Together event and the bigger shows that we attended, including the New Forest Show. Members were also invited to the Victim Care Service launch on Monday 30 April 2018.

4.6.5

Southampton Court Open Day event took place on 15 September and was a very successful partnership event. It was attended by around 800 people, who were very interested in the topics and had a genuine desire to learn more. The Police and Crime Commissioner attended the event, along with Independent Custody Visitors (ICV). Victim Care Service, RJ, Youth Commission and Police cadets. Local media coverage promoted the event and flyers were sent to all local schools. The PCC’s office social media was also used, gaining almost 3,500 impressions and good engagement. Promotion was also undertaken by Southampton Court and other partners.

4.7

The OPCC 12-month plan looked to integrate the LCJB into the wider programme of work by the Commissioner’s office, and plans for the month of November were changed the focus on the Criminal Justice System. This provided the opportunity to focus communication activity on the wider CJS with a link through to the LCJB.

4.7.1

Activity undertaken during the Criminal Justice month was: •

•

•

•

•

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In consultation with LCJB Business Managers we were able to refresh the Criminal Justice System (CJS) poster, to try and simplify it to show how system all links together. The process poster is now ready to print for partners to use at their events and to share during their channels. It is now also on the PCC website in the LCJB pages To create a ‘hook’ for social media during November, we developed an A-Z of the criminal justice system. A post was prepared for the PCC social media pages for every day, using the A-Z, which linked through to the LCJB pages Three members of the LCJB prepared a guest blog for the PCC website.

Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney, Jo Jakymec CPS Wessex- Chief Crown Prosecutor and Chloe Jay Solicitor Representing the Defence all prepared a blog, which featured on the PCC website and can be found following this link: Michael’s Blog: http://eepurl.com/ddiHPP W/c 19 November was RJ Week, which had the objective is to raise awareness and increase referrals. Work during this week includes a launch at Portsmouth City Council, with a stand for public and staff, and the big screen broadcast awareness building messages during the week. There were also similar events – Tuesday Eastleigh, Wednesday Basingstoke and Thursday East Hants On 20 Nov an RJ and reintegration event was held at Winchester Prison, supported by the PCC through Restorative Solutions and a number of commissioned partners including Footprints, Society of St James, SAFA, Saints for Sport and CAB. Thank you to the new Governor for hosting the event, which has received very positive feedback with over 100 prisoners attending to find out about the services to support them in the future.

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4.8

Evaluation for the reach during this week (at time of writing this report):

4.8.1

On Twitter, the OPCC achieved 13 retweets and over 300k impressions (opportunity to see). The following two hashtags were used consistently: #criminaljustice #lcjbhampshire

68 13 11 306.5k 67 13 9 304.8k

4.8.2

The first figure is total tweets, then retweets, then people who have engaged with the content, then impressions. On Facebook, posts were seen by 5137 people (reach) and received 136 engagements (e.g. clicking on the picture/expanding the post to read all the text, liking, or clicking on the link.)

4.8.3

Website traffic to the LCJB page has increased 112.5% (85 visits compared to 40).

The ICV pages were also linked from some pages, which saw a 57.14% increase (99 views compared to 63). While these are small numbers, we are pleased to have achieved a significant increase which we can build on with other members of the LCJB sharing more social media posts in the future. The RJ content published on the website during the RJ week has seen a 36% increase in views.

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5. L AMMY REVIEW – LOCAL ASSESSMENT 5.1

The Lammy Report, an independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the criminal justice system was published in September 2017.

5.2

The context of the Lammy Review was that despite making up just 14% of the population, BAME men and women make up 25% of prisoners, while over 40% of young people in custody are from BAME backgrounds. If our prison population reflected the make-up of England and Wales, we would have over 9,000 fewer people in prison – the equivalent of 12 average-sized prisons. There is greater disproportionality in the number of Black people in prisons here than in the United States. The challenge for the Board in in putting in place a plan to address this level of disproportionality.

5.3

It is within this context that the Lammy Review was undertaken to make recommendations for improvement with the ultimate aim of reducing the proportion of BAME offenders in the criminal justice system.

5.4

Jon Gardner, LCJB member representing the Youth Offending Teams in Hampshire & IOW, prepared a report for the Board detailing the 35 recommendations from the Lammy Review and government response, with proposals for local LCJB focussed actions. A partnership working group was set up to identify whether this level of disproportionality exists locally, the first step was a dip sample of records for race/ ethnicity/gender and religious data. Early indications are that there are potential gaps in recording. Also to note local data identifies that HMP Winchester’s population is reflective of Lammy’s wider findings and has a disproportionate number of BAME prisoners; 32% according to the data return.

5.5

Jon’s proposal to the LCJB was that the next stage, in response to recommendation 1 from the Lammy Review, is to identify how the recording of ethnicity is undertaken by each part of the CJS and whether at hand off points between agencies the available information is correctly input into the next stage of the process. Then the next steps are for the LCJB to monitor and address disproportionality locally.

5.6

Moving forward it was agreed that Enzo Riglia, Assistant PCC Justice using the ‘whole system oversight’ would lead a collaborative approach based upon a multiagency review of data to establish whether ethnicity data has or has not been captured correctly. This will then provide a data set to be able to undertake some qualitative analysis to understand decisions made and explore disproportionality to identify if there are gaps in the system that agencies need to address. When the outcomes from this work in Hampshire are fully understood there will be an action for the LCJB to write to the National Criminal Justice Board to highlight findings locally including any barriers and challenges that are identified.

This work threads through each of the LCJB priorities.

5.7

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