CRIMINAL JUSTICE BULLETIN WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP FOR A MODERN CJS

Transcription

1 CRIMINAL JUSTICE BULLETIN WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP FOR A MODERN CJS A bi-monthly newsletter for criminal justice partners Issue 4 / 15 July 2014 MESSAGE FROM CRIMINAL JUSTICE BOARD I am pleased to write the opening article of this month s edition of the CJ Bulletin, particularly as today marks the publication of the CJS Strategy and Action Plan for 2014/15. We first published the action plan last June. This updated plan sets out how we will complete our ambition to transform the CJS, by building on the foundations laid and the very good progress made over the last year. For victims we have published a new Victims Code and Witness Charter and begun piloting pre-trial recorded cross-examination. We have set out our vision of a fully digital CJS by publishing a Digital Business Model, launched police digital pathfinders, tested a streamlined digital file with eight police forces and established an exemplar digital court in Birmingham. To improve efficiency, we have increased the speed with which cases are processed, increased the take-up of police-led prosecutions and established dedicated traffic courts in all police force areas. These and many other improvements have been achieved through the efforts of the criminal justice agencies, working in partnership both locally and nationally. The Criminal Justice Board has focused the updated plan on three priority areas: care and consideration for victims and witnesses, digitising the CJS, and doing things faster and right first time. The plan also contains actions to tackle priority crimes (modern slavery, sexual and domestic violence, hate crime and cyber crime) and actions to continue improving the fairness and transparency of the system and to support local partnerships. Much good work across the country is already contributing to the delivery of these priorities. TrackMyCrime, a secure IT system developed by Avon and Somerset Constabulary for victims to track the progress of their case, has also gone live in Kent and South Yorkshire. Surrey police is making mobile devices available to almost 2,000 front line staff so that officers can interrogate PNC and update force systems from the roadside. In the next 18 months the devices will allow CONTENTS p.1 Message from Board; Paul Kett (MoJ Director of Justice Reform) p.2 Cross-agency activity p.6 Local Perspectives p.8 Notices p.9 - Request for Help Annex A - Record of LCJB/P roadshow visits Annex B Minimum Expectations Annex C - Kent & Medway IDVA Data Report Annex D Forward planner of key dates officers to complete case files digitally at the roadside, access DVLA and PND images. Bromley Magistrates Court is the first criminal court in England and Wales to be equipped with digital technology as we aim to ensure criminal courtrooms across the country are digital by July Good practice from Chelmsford and other magistrates courts has led to the development of a model for transforming summary justice which we will roll out nationally this year. Strong and effective Local Criminal Justice Partnerships are vital to transforming the CJS. LCJPs are ideally placed to sustain the links between the agencies that need to work together to deliver change. In other developments recently, the new National Probation Service and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies were established on 1st June to improve the way that offenders are dealt with in the community. Lastly, I want to encourage you to attend the criminal justice roadshows, which have been attended by a range of criminal justice members and are receiving positive feedback. So far we have held six roadshows covering 17 LCJP areas. I would urge you to attend subsequent events if you haven t already done so. Paul Kett MoJ Director of Justice Reform 1

2 CROSS-AGENCY ACTIVITY CJS Partnership Communications CJS Performance LCJB/P Conference The May edition of the Criminal Justice Bulletin announced that a one day conference for LCJB/Ps and PCCs will take place on Tuesday 21 October 2014 at the Ministry of Justice HQ in London, 10am to 4.30pm. Invitations have now been sent out to local CJ leaders and PCCs. To ensure that this event is a success, LCJB/Ps should indicate what topics local CJ leaders would like covered on the day. A discussion has been set up in our online community to receive suggestions. Please sign up and share your thoughts with CJ colleagues via the online discussion or Adebola.Fabunmi@cjs.gsi.gov.uk. The day will provide CJ colleagues with an opportunity to engage in a range of activities, including presentations on key areas of CJS reform such as Digital and Transforming Rehabilitation, and provide further opportunities to directly engage with CJB members and senior policy leads. There will also be market stalls which will enable delegates to speak to policy leads on a variety of topics such as Hate Crime, TrackMyCrime and the Victims' Code. Roadshow visits Following a commitment made at their January meeting, Criminal Justice Board members and senior leaders have attended 6 roadshows covering 17 LCJB/Ps areas to discuss national and local priorities. Discussions have covered a range of topics, from the refreshed Strategy and Action Plan to improvements to victim and witnesses services and the CJS Digital Strategy. Feedback from LCJB/Ps, CJB members and senior leaders attending these events has been very positive and we will be exploring how we can continue to support such engagement opportunities going forwards. Well earned thanks must go to all the LCJB/P Business and Performance Managers who helped make the roadshows happen. The amount of effort in hosting a roadshow and in many cases, bringing together a number of LCJB/Ps, on top of everyday business cannot be underestimated and is much appreciated! Dates of future roadshows can be found at Annex A. If you would like to find out more about the Roadshows please send your query to joyce.connell@justice.gsi.gov.uk Minimum expectations In response to requests from LCJB/Ps the Criminal Justice Board commissioned a piece of work to more fully articulate how it expected local partnerships to operate. Thanks go out to the LCJB/P Business Managers, Chairs, Members and representatives from CJS agencies and organisations who assisted in developing the set of minimum expectations at Annex B. The expectations cover how LCJB/Ps should generally operate including planning, delivery and evaluation and are accompanied by illustrative examples of the type of behaviour that would demonstrate that the expectations are being met. We now want to develop a set of commitments that the CJB should make to LCJB/Ps. An online discussion, via our online community has been set up so that local practitioners can let us know what commitments they would like the CJB make to LCJB/Ps. Please sign up and join the discussion. Performance data Some LCJB/Ps have recently expressed an interest in having greater access to NOMS data. In line with the Strategy and Action Plan commitment to making national data more accessible - to facilitate local performance management MoJ are keen to gauge views on what information would be of use and the key questions that LCJB/Ps would like to answer in accessing this data. Please could representatives of LCJB/Ps send thoughts to claire.steeksma@justice.gsi.gov.uk by Friday 25 July Once MoJ has a better idea of the information LCJB/Ps would value having access to, they will consult colleagues in NOMS to determine what is available. On a separate but related point, some local partnerships will be aware that an LCJB/P performance guide is currently being drafted to support local partnerships in using published data to monitor performance locally. This will be available on the Local Criminal Justice Partnerships online community later this month and comments are welcome. MoJ will be reviewing the guide regularly to ensure that it is fit for purpose and aligned to national priorities set out in the CJS Strategy and Action Plan. Contact claire.steeksma@justice.gsi.gov.uk for more information. 2

3 CJS Digital Strategy CJS Equality & Diversity CJS Common Platform Programme The CJS Common Platform (CJSCP) Programme is a ministerial priority and is integral to the Criminal Justice System Strategy and Action Plan. The Programme is a partnership between Her Majesty s Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to support the development of their respective digital organisations. It is an IT-enabled business change programme which will be a key contributor to CJS departmental business plans. It will bring essential information about crime together so that criminal justice practitioners will be able to access unified criminal case management digital services where and when they need to, which will radically change the way they work. The Common Platform provides a once in a generation opportunity to design, build and embed a single shared process. Through digital working, the experience for all court users and those working within the criminal justice system will be improved, whilst reducing cost and maintaining transparency. For further information contact pritha.ray@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk. Fry s Delight The Crown Prosecution Service, working in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, Stonewall and Gendered Intelligence have produced a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Hate Crime Resource for Schools. This resource, endorsed by the National Union of Teachers, teaches students about the impact of homophobic and transphobic bullying on victims and the potential consequences of this behaviour. The LGBT Hate Crime Pack contains a DVD and lesson plans for teachers, designed to help students discuss stereotypes and prejudice. The free resource is available to all teachers and educators to download from the CPS and True Vision websites. It is hoped that it will help victims feel confident in reporting hate crimes to the police and also help to change attitudes to prevent these crimes from happening in the first place. Media coverage included a feature on BBC Radio 1 s Newsbeat programme and Stephen Fry has tweeted about it to his millions of twitter followers. For further information, please contact stacey.davis@cps.gsi.gov.uk Toolkit to Help Forces Exploit Video Linking Technology A new Police Tool Kit has been designed by the CJS Efficiency Programme to help Forces understand the opportunities for efficiency and greater effectiveness offered by video technology. Police forces across England and Wales are increasingly looking at how video linking technology can help reduce the unnecessary movement of police officers and defendants in custody between police stations and courts. Increasing the utilisation of video technology to improve the efficiency of the Criminal Justice System is a key priority in the Criminal Justice Strategy and Action Plan. Using video technology can save the system money, save time for police officers and other criminal justice staff, and improve the experience of victims, witnesses and defendants. It means police officers can appear in court without leaving the police station, meaning more flexibility for officers to undertake other duties. It means victims or witnesses who are vulnerable, frightened or incapacitated have an alternative, and, where appropriate, defendants in police custody can appear at magistrates courts for first hearings from the police custody suite. In a context of reduced budgets, video technology represents one of the key opportunities for delivering an enhanced service whilst reducing costs to the public purse. Contact sagar.sharma@cps.gsi.gov.uk for further information. Transforming Rehabilitation National Probation Service The formal establishment of the new National Probation Service and 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) took place on 1 June. Good progress has been made with the transition and probation staff continue to work hard to embed the new structures. Reforms are being rolled out in a controlled way to ensure public safety is maintained and to minimise the impact on probation and the wider CJS. The next step is for organisations from the voluntary and private sectors interested in running the CRCs to submit their final bids to the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry will assess these bids over the summer and are on track to appoint owners by the end of the year. The project is on schedule for the new rehabilitation providers to be in place to deliver services by MoJ will continue to work with members of the wider criminal justice system in taking through these reforms to ensure that staff and wider CJS are informed of any changes that may affect local planning and delivery. Contact alex.gaze@justice.gsi.gov.uk for queries. 3

4 Criminal Justice and NHS Joint Mental Health Project During 2012 Kent criminal justice agencies and National Health Service (NHS) England commenced to build greater investment in health services for mentally ill detainees. In January 2014, this culminated in obtaining additional funding from NHS England to provide the enhanced service for defendants in police custody, creation of Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) Courts and also greater links with Community Mental Health Teams and Prison In Reach Teams. Between 1st July 2013 and 30th April 2014, a total of 2612 detainees were seen in Police custody overall; 322 detainees with mental health illnesses were seen during the new Saturday service in Police custody; 232 detainees were seen in Community Psychiatric Nurse Courts (previously known locally as Mental Health Courts); and 38 referrals were made to Forensic Clinics. The Police Court Liaison and Diversion service currently operates between hrs Monday to Friday in Police Custody and Courts and 0800 to 1400hrs on Saturdays. Work is underway by Kent Police and Her Majesty s Courts and Tribunals Service to track offenders that have been supported through the CPN courts to analyse their offending behaviour as part of a wider strategy to reduce or stop offending behaviour and in turn decrease the numbers of victims. Contact david.jedrzejewski@kent.pnn.police.uk for more information. Transforming Summary Justice The Transforming Summary Justice (TSJ) programme is underway, having been agreed by the Criminal Justice Board as a top priority. Summary Justice involves too many hearings and takes too much time. Implementation of TSJ is a key priority for the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and is vital to ensuring that the CJS becomes more effective and efficient for the benefit of the people that use it. Implementation of all TSJ components, as endorsed by Board, is planned across all Criminal Justice Areas in England and Wales by the end of March An exception is connectivity for each agency at court, which is not expected to be completed until Responsibility for operational implementation will fall to local criminal justice partnerships through Local Implementation Teams, with a cross-agency national implementation group supporting and monitoring progress. There is a significant alignment between the TSJ model and the judicially-led recommendations of the Magistrates Court Disclosure Review, published in May this year. The proposals will be implemented through a single, joined-up programme. For further information contact: Nicolette.Movick@cps.gsi.gov.uk, tony.hirst@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk or David.Evans11999@nottinghamshire.pnn.police.uk. Victims and Witnesses Hardship Fund The Hardship Fund is a discretionary fund which provides temporary relief from financial hardship for very low paid workers who are temporarily unable to work as a direct result of a being a victim of violent crime. The Government agreed that a review of the Hardship Fund would be held one year after its implementation to check the extent to which the original policy objective is being achieved. Ministry of Justice has now published the review of the Fund (click here) where findings show that it is administered well but that very few awards have been made. As part of the review we have made recommendations which should increase awareness of the Fund among victims of crime and the changes will allow applicants more time to submit their applications. For further information, contact harjit.jassal@justice.gsi.gov.uk Independent Domestic Violence Advisor Kent Criminal Justice Board working with health, county and district councils has secured 2.4m over 3 years to provide a countywide Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVAs) service to support high risk victims of domestic abuse through the county s four Specialist Domestic Violence Courts (SDVC) and Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) referrals. First year results ending 31 March 2014 have exceeded expectations with the service supporting 1,295 MARAC clients and 576 SDVC clients through the criminal justice process. Feedback from clients whose support has finished shows that the IDVA service is exceeding 9 out of 10 Coordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse benchmark figures around client safety, improved health and wellbeing and increased independence. For example, the end of year report for the service (attached at Annex C) indicates that 75% of clients have seen a significant or moderate reduction in risk, 88% of clients feel the service has had a positive impact on their children s wellbeing and 71% of clients feel the service has also had a positive impact on their economic and financial stability. Contact chris.turner@kent.pnn.police.uk for more information. New national Homicide Service The national Homicide Service that was set up in 2010, run by the Victim Support service, is responsible for supporting people in England and Wales who have been bereaved by acts of homicide. As the grant agreement for this service ends on 30 September 2014 the MoJ has undertaken a competitive grant process to commission a new national Homicide Service to operate from 1 October On 8 June MoJ announced that the new service will continue to be run by Victim Support and support people in England and Wales bereaved by homicide (including where homicide occurs abroad). 4

5 The new service will also provide a more integrated model of support, including a range of practical and emotional support and specialist counselling, as well as peer support and advocacy. Since 2011 the MoJ has provided separate funding to a number of peer support groups and to specialist therapy organisations to provide support to families bereaved by homicide prior to the establishment of the national Service. The Government remains committed to ensuring that families bereaved through homicide prior to 2010 should continue to have access to necessary support, and MoJ has made arrangements for peer support and specialist therapy organisations to continue to receive separate funding for this purpose. Contact peter.brown@justice.gsi.gov.uk for further information. Restorative Justice Conference (Wales) Powerful and moving stories from victims and offenders were at the heart of a Restorative Justice conference organised by the National Offender Management Service Wales recently. The event, held at Cardiff s iconic Millennium Stadium involved probation staff from Wales Community Rehabilitation Company and the National Probation Service, prison workers and Police and Crime Commissioners. Husband and wife Ray and Vi Donovan spoke movingly about how they became involved in Restorative Justice following the murder of their son Chris by a group of teenagers. Eleven years after the event the couple met the three who had been sentenced and were able to hear their apologies and say they had forgiven them. Another speaker was a 12- year-old girl who explained why she wanted to meet the man she had discovered burgling her gran s house. The offender, shown speaking about the conference on video from prison, said how much he had been moved by the girl s tears and her plea for him to turn his life around. For further information contact margaret.o'reilly@wales.probation.gsi.gov.uk Women s Pathfinder launches pilot in Cardiff The Integrated Offender Management (IOM) Cymru Women s Pathfinder project, funded by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), launches their first pilot this month in Cardiff. This women-specific, whole-system approach to service provision across the Criminal Justice System will include a Diversion Scheme, continued focus on improving community sentencing and a multi-agency Hub. Building on the success of triage within the Youth Justice System, the Diversion Scheme will seek to divert low risk women into community provision at the earliest opportunity. The Welsh Government Minister for Local Government and Government Business has provided support with grant funding towards IT provision. Women on the Scheme will engage with victim work, restorative approaches and support with issues such as substance misuse, finance and debt and domestic abuse. The Pathfinder Hub, including Probation, Police, Integrated Offender Intervention Service (IOIS) and a range of third sector organisations will also provide a coordinated approach for women serving community sentences or coming out of prison. Developed though reconfiguring existing resources, this is testament to the positive partnership working in Wales and is a model which we hope to develop in other local areas later this year. Contact wendy.hyett@wales.probation.gsi.gov.uk for further information. MoJ invites applications for new or emerging female rape support centres In 2010 the Coalition Government made a commitment to deliver 15 new Rape Support Centres and since then 13 centres have been commissioned. The Ministry of Justice is now commissioning the final two new or emerging rape support centres for women and girls and is inviting interested organisations to submit applications between 7 July and 1 August Up to 300,000 is available to commission two centres in 2014/15 and up to a further 300,000 will be available in 2015/16. The total length of the grant will be eighteen months (October March 2016) with the possibility to extend for a further 12 months subject to ministerial approval. For further information, click here. If you have any questions or queries please contact via at Rapesupport@justice.gsi.gov.uk CJS-related news Veterans in the UK Criminal justice System Conference Joy Coles from HMCTS together with MoJ policy advisor Kathryn Nichol facilitated at a War Veterans Services conference. The aim of the event was for stakeholders and practitioners to share and discuss their efforts to support and rehabilitate veterans coming into contact with the Criminal Justice System. The MOJ is currently reviewing this area and this event will enable a variety of views to be captured to inform that review. At the conference Kathryn gave a summary on a project called NOVA, a local pilot running in Norfolk aiming to identify, assess, support and divert Veterans within the CJS. Joy who is on the project board for the Liaison and Diversion programme led by Department of Health also gave an update on the services the programme plans to deliver but additionally captures a wide range of health issues and vulnerabilities relevant to age, gender and culture. An early outcome from one of the workshops was that more training is needed for the Judiciary and probation staff and the need for joined-up work with the Military court services. For more information please contact: Joy.Coles@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk or Micky.patel@justice.gsi.gov.uk 5

6 Modern Slavery Bill The Modern Slavery Bill, introduced on 10 June, imposes a statutory duty on all public bodies (likely to include the police, local authorities and immigration personnel) to notify the National Crime Agency about potential victims of slavery to inform an improved law enforcement response. The Bill will create a new Anti- Slavery Commissioner and makes modern slavery offences eligible for criminal lifestyle confiscation under the Proceeds of Crime Act It introduces provision to allow victims of modern slavery to receive reparation from their trafficker or enslaver for the harm they have suffered and a statutory defence for victims so that those who are forced to commit an offence as a direct consequence of their situation are not treated as criminals. The Bill also provides statutory guidance on victim identification and victim services, creating an enabling power for child advocates to support victims of child trafficking. MoJ is working with the Home Office to settle the requirements of a new victim care contract with the supplier who will provide support to adult victims of modern slavery from 1 April 2015 which will need to take account of the Bill requirements and also the outcomes of the National Referral Mechanism Review due to report in the autumn of 2014 to ensure that victims receive the appropriate support in dealing with the effects of slavery. Contact catherine.kemp@justice.gsi.gov.uk for more information. Children and Young People First Strategy A new joint strategy of the Welsh Government and Youth Justice Board Wales was published on Thursday 10 July It is appropriately titled Children and Young People First. The creation of a new joint Youth Justice Strategy for Wales was a key outcome of the Youth Justice Green Paper Consultation 2012 and has been developed to improve services in Wales to better meet the needs of children and young people who are at the risk of entering, or who are already in the youth justice system. The Youth Justice Board and Welsh Government work together to ensure the youth justice system works effectively. This Strategy is underpinned by a number of key principles and sets out eight high level outcomes which should be the main focus of those involved in delivering services to children and young people in contact with the youth justice system. Contact sarah.evans26@wales.gsi.gov.uk for more information. LOCAL PERSPECTIVES As part of its community engagement work, Bedfordshire Criminal Justice Board was represented at the Bedfordshire Learning Disability Sports Day on 1 July by its Business Manager Kathy Taylor who worked with colleagues POWhER Bedford Borough Council and Deputy PCC to run an information stall on the county s hate crime strategy, handing out easy read leaflets and providing user-friendly advice reporting a hate crime incident. Many who attended the games had a good awareness of hate crime because of sessions run by POWhER and were keen to engage and report that they understood when to call 999 or 101. POWhER is an advocacy organisation working in the county to support people who are disabled, vulnerable, distressed or socially excluded in dealing with daily life by providing information, advice and support. Reflecting on the day, Kathy said Being a small part of the Learning Disability Games was such a privilege; to know that messages about hate crime and incidents have been received and are understood by some of the county s most vulnerable people means that all of the hours spent in meetings and pouring over draft documents have been worthwhile. Contact kathy.taylor@bedfordshire.pnn.police.uk for further information. Devon and Cornwall CJB are fortunate to now have NHS England as a member of the Board. Through the LCJB, the PCC, Police and NHS England are jointly leading on a number of priority actions to reduce the need for mentally ill people to be held in a police cell and to improve the service provided to them. Actions include strengthening the strategic partnership group for health and CJS agencies, holding local partnerships to account for operational issues and oversight of liaison and diversion schemes and the street triage pilot. Other actions include creation of a performance framework for health and police; revision of a Peninsula section 136 protocol (covering detention in custody and diversion away from custody); process mapping an agreed gold standard for partners to work towards; and drafting a Peninsula version of the national Crisis Care Concordat. An action learning set (ALS) has been set up for executive leads across health, local authorities and CJS agencies to jointly work on the future vision for services. Contact Hannah.Hart@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk for further information. Gloucestershire has established an Out of Court Scrutiny Panel, which meets quarterly and is chaired by the local Bench Chair Magistrate. Membership includes OPCC, Prospects, CPS, GAVCA and HMCTS. The Panel reviews around 25 cautions/restorative Justice solutions randomly selected by the Chair with a particular focus on violent or sexual offences. Once scrutinised, the Panel come to a conclusion based on four possible outcomes: (1) Appropriate and consistent with Gloucestershire Constabulary policies/the CPS Code for Crown Prosecutors; (2) Appropriate with 6

7 observations; (3) Inappropriate and inconsistent with policy; and (4) Panel fails to reach a conclusion. Individual constructive feedback is then provided to officers, with wider recommendations delivered across the Police force. A summary report of the outcomes and recommendations of each Panel is published on the OPCC website, demonstrating the openness and transparency of the Constabulary s decision making. Any particular themes of work are undertaken and reviewed by the Head of Criminal Justice within the Constabulary. For further information contact amanda.segelov@gloucestershire.pnn.police.uk. The Kent Restorative Justice Delivery model went live on the 4 December 2013 and has resulted in approximately 48 referrals for restorative justice conferencing to date. There have been referrals for: grievous bodily harm, murder, road traffic collisions, robbery, sexual offences, drugs, arson, burglary, criminal damage and assault. Of referrals received to date, some have resulted in restorative justice conferences and letters of apology. The model is starting to bed in now across the local criminal justice system. The Kent Criminal Justice Board is actively seeking additional funding to sustain and enhance the delivery model. Work with Kent s co-commissioned service partnership Project Salus and Restorative Solutions is going from strength to strength and has triggered new and innovative ways of completing various elements of the restorative justice delivery model. Victims and offenders are considering restorative justice throughout the criminal justice system reinforcing the importance of the local end to end model. Kent Criminal Justice Board Chair Nick Wilkinson says "whilst it is early days this is a really innovative approach to joint working". Guidance on best practice in cocommissioning can be found here. Contact david.jedrzejewski@kent.pnn.police.uk for more information. Norfolk and Suffolk CJB are about to launch their own blog, following members' requests for public facing communications that will help to deliver positive messages about the work of the Board and the CJS as a whole. In the past Criminal Justice Board's each had a centrally provided, dedicated website and communications officer, but in times of austerity the CJB were unable to maintain this post and the website was archived. The Board has therefore undertaken limited local engagement with the public in recent times and needed a cost effective way to begin to do this again. Both Norfolk and Suffolk support teams have undertaken a crash course in WordPress and Twitter, provided by a partner agency, and will be blogging when the site goes live on 11 July. The Board will work closely with all partners beyond the CJS, including for example the Community Safety departments within the Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils to spread as many relevant, informative, interesting and thought provoking stories as they can. Contact tracey.hardy@suffolk.pnn.police.uk for more information. On 5 June, the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Shaun Wright hosted a regional conference on Protecting the Vulnerable. The conference focussed upon the issues of forced marriage, honour-based violence and female genital mutilation. The event aimed to raise awareness amongst those most likely to come into contact with victims how to recognise tell tale signs, what to do about it and how to go about preventing such crimes. The conference had been planned by the Commissioner with the support of other agencies, such as CPS, and was aimed at heads of service working in the fields of Health, Education and Policing. Representatives came from across Yorkshire and the Humber. After listening to experts and hearing testimony from victims first hand, delegates sought to identify ways in which they could make a difference within their own sphere of work. All information gathered from workshops is being collated and distributed to partners to help them work together to combat these crimes. Further information can be obtained from Linda.Mayhew@southyorks.pnn.police.uk A joint initiative between a Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), the Crown Prosecution Service and Police in Staffordshire is expected to lead to offenders going to court faster, more convictions and less court time being used. Initial findings from the Intelligent Justice pilot in north Staffordshire suggest the new arrangements for Police and CPS staff working more effectively together could result in value for money across the criminal justice system. Although we can not say conviction ratios have increased as a result of the pilot with certainty, performance data suggests improvements are happening. From April 2013 to April 2014, convictions went up increased from 81% to 83% in magistrates courts where the pilot was conducted. Staffordshire PCC Matthew Ellis said: Evaluation of this new approach shows it has markedly improved the quality of prosecution cases the CPS are bringing before the courts. It proves that looking at the different processes that agencies use and then helping those agencies to work better together can see really dramatic results. Click here for further details and/or contact peter.bate@staffordshire.pcc.pnn.gov.uk. Policing Minister Damien Green's Keynote Address at the recent Modernising Justice conference in London on 14 June made reference to Surrey Police's mobile innovation in the journey of end to end digital policing. Surrey Police officers are using the latest smartphone technology allowing them instant access to back office systems such as PNC and Command and Control. 7

8 Information instantly available from these systems is imported and populated into the handset to initiate over 20 digital processes including fixed penalty notices, stop and search, crime reports, and electronic witness statements. Surrey Response Inspector Andy Oldham said "Officers are delighted to have information available at their fingertips, allowing them to record accurate information which ultimately saves their time and facilitates the start of the digital file process". Contact for more information. The Sussex Criminal Justice Board (SCJB) is now delivering its strategy to extend restorative approaches to victims and wrongdoers through the Sussex Restorative Justice Partnership (SRJP). The SRJP has evolved as a coalition of commissioners and providers of restorative justice through statutory and voluntary partners. Capacity building has been enabled through a programme of training of facilitators and managers delivered by Restorative Solutions and funding from the Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC), Katy Bourne. The SRJP will galvanise the strong elements of restorative justice already embedded in Sussex to provide a platform for future development with potential for new partners and demonstrates a strong commitment to restorative justice from the SCJB and PCC. On the 14 May the LCJBs in the Yorkshire and Humber Region joined together to host a roadshow visit from NOMS CEO and Criminal Justice Board Member Michael Spurr. The Regional approach worked well as the LCJB/Ps involved (North, West and South Yorkshire and Humberside CJBs) already have regular regional meetings and the roadshow was timed to coincide with one of them. Question covering priority issues for the LCJB/Ps were submitted to Michael in advance of the meeting. This worked extremely well and helped to focus the discussions with Michael answering related questions as they arose. The roadshow gave the LCJBs the opportunity to share with Michael their concerns in relation to: the need for better communication between National project teams and LCJBs to reduce conflict and duplicated efforts, better mechanisms for LCJBs to contribute to setting CJB strategy; opportunities for harmonising Business Planning; ongoing need for a performance/data facility for LCJBs; issue of direct funding for LCJBs and; whether LCJBs should be put on a statutory basis. The feedback from those who attended was really positive and the region would welcome a repeat event. For queries, contact Linda.Mayhew@southyorks.pnn.police.uk. Representatives across Wessex from the three LCJBs Hampshire & IOW, Dorset and Wiltshire met to host a roadshow on 23 May, attended by CPS CEO and CJB member Peter Lewis. Peter gave a verbal presentation on the national vision and ambition for the CJS. Peter and attendees also took the opportunity to explore some of the key issues currently facing the CJS both nationally and across the Wessex region. Discussions covered key themes such as national priorities, expectations of LCJB/Ps, future direction, coterminosity issues involving criminal justice partners and performance challenges in the face of limited resources. After the event a written response covering all areas discussed was provided by the MoJ for circulation to LCJB members across the Wessex region to confirm the messages conveyed by Peter at the roadshow. Delegates agreed that Peter was very informative, that that the event was very useful and welcomed the opportunity to make roadshows a regular event for Wessex. For queries, contact fiona.sullivan@hampshire.pnn.police.uk NOTICES Restorative Justice work introduced into Wales just under a year ago was celebrated at the national Probation Awards when Probation Officer Sue Frame, an enthusiastic advocate of Restorative Justice, was named as finalist in the Victim Services category. Sue has supported victims directly through organising Restorative Justice conferences with offenders and provided training for colleagues, allowing Wales to organise a dozen meetings between victims and offenders and facilitate letter exchanges between others. Nicola Collins, Wales Probation s other finalist, was nominated in the Public Protection category for her success in building strong relationships with criminal justice partners as part of her work with high risk, high profile offenders. Liz Rijnenberg, the new Chief Executive of Wales Community Rehabilitation Company saw her former team at Wiltshire Probation scoop the award for best team. A total of 500 nominations were received for the awards this year. CJS Efficiency Programme Newsletter has been renamed CJ Digital Reform Newsletter. Its publication cycle has also been aligned with the CJ Bulletin to communicate updates CJS digital strategy. The CJ Digital Reform Newsletter will be a standing supplement to future CJ Bulletins enabling readers to receive updates on CJS reform activities in one go. 8

9 Taking on board suggestions made by LCJB/Ps in the online survey on the Criminal Justice Bulletin earlier this year, please find a forward look of key dates at Annex D that impact on local partnership planning and delivery of CJS reform workstrands. This document will be a standing Annex in future editions of the Bulletin. Lead policy officials at agency HQ level who wish to include a date in the forward look should contact the editor at criminaljustice.bulletin@justice.gsi.gov.uk The first newly introduced Domestic Violence Protection Notice (DVPN) and Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) have been obtained in Bedfordshire. The alleged offender had been arrested following a complaint from his partner who stated that she was a repeat victim of domestic violence. Although she did not then support the DVPO, and CPS was unable to prosecute due to insufficient evidence, a DVPN was authorised by a senior police officer. Following legal advice to magistrates that it was within their power to grant the DVPO, it was issued for 28 days to allow police and other agencies to provide support to the victim and also the alleged offender. For information contact Kathy.Taylor@bedfordshire.pnn.police.uk Between 19 th June and 13 th July the Ministry of Justice gave the public a chance to have their say on how new funding for male rape and sexual abuse survivors should be spent. Using Dialogue, an online crowd-sourcing tool, the Ministry encouraged survivors, their friends/family and support providers to post their ideas and to comment and vote on the ideas of others. The voting system allows popular ideas to rise to the top, while unpopular ideas sink to the bottom. This engagement is to inform the commissioning process for the male rape support fund which will take place in the coming months. Further information is available here. REQUEST FOR HELP The Restorative Justice Council (RJC) has commissioned Sheffield Hallam University to undertake to map the services of restorative justice providers within the Criminal Justice System (CJS) in England and Wales. This will enable PCCs to understand and expand on the existing provision in their areas and create a directory of providers which will be useful to commissioners and victims of crime when searching for available services in their area. The mapping exercise is the first undertaken on a national scale, and will provide an accurate insight into the availability of restorative justice throughout the criminal justice system. MoJ is supporting the RJC in developing this project. To help ensure that the survey covers as many RJ services as possible, please bring this to the attention of the most appropriate local policy lead in your LCJB/P. A high return rate will help establish a more complete picture of RJ delivery across the CJS for the benefit of victims and offenders. For more information please contact dani@restorativejustice.org.uk In line with open policy making and digital engagement at national level and collaborative working (as highlighted under the minimum expectations) at local level, LCJB/P Business and Performance managers are encouraged to sign up to our online community and encourage other members of their local partnership to do the same. This will enable digital engagement, allowing members to express their views on CJS reform activities and help shape national strategy. Discussions have so far has covered the survey on the CJB Bulletin, minimum expectations for local partnerships and the Criminal Justice Board, and more recently topics that local partnerships would like to see covered at the 21 October LCJB/P and PCC conference. The intention is also to make our online community the first port of call for information relating to criminal justice reform and to provide a repository for reports, publications and other newsletters that can be shared widely. Please sign up at to POLKA here to help pave the way to greater digital engagement nationwide. The Government is committed to ensuring that every victim of sexual violence has access to appropriate support. Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Young Peoples' Advocates (YPAs) are an important part of the support available. ISVAs are trained specialists who can provide pastoral care and advice to victims and witnesses. YPAs support young people, particularly females, at risk of suffering gang-related sexual violence and exploitation. Following consultation it was agreed that it would be beneficial to develop the skills of ISVAs and YPAs to better equip them to support victims at court. The MoJ is now looking to commission the training company who will provide these advisors with knowledge in court processes and is inviting interested organisations to submit 9

10 applications between now and 12th August Up to 60,000 is available to the successful applicant to arrange workshops by 31st March For further information please see the full advert. If you have any questions please The College of Policing is currently running two consultations on Pre-Charge Bail (closing on 21 July) and Custody and Detention Guidelines (closing on 12 August) and welcomes the submission of comments on both. If you require content in an alternative format, please contact The College of Policing may not be able to respond to individual feedback. All feedback will, however, be considered in the development of the final products. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has been working with 15 areas to test Neighbourhood Justice Panels (NJPs) over the last two years. NJP meetings bring local victims and offenders together before a panel meeting facilitated by local volunteers to deal with incidents of low level crime and antisocial behaviour. The NJP process has also been used to deal with non-criminal behaviours which impact on the local community, such as Neighbourhood Disputes, Noise Nuisance, and Littering etc. The test period has now concluded and, in response to the recommendation in the Process evaluation of the NJP, MoJ is assisting the NJP Test Areas to cascade lessons learned through a series of practitioner workshops. We are inviting practitioners to attend one of the workshops, which are free to attend, please feel free to forward this invite to collegues who maybe interested in attending: Manchester Police HQ 22 nd July - Dewsbury Town Hall 29 th July - MoJ Petty France - 1 st August - If you have any queries regarding the events contact NeighbourhoodJusticePanels@justice.gsi.gov.uk on The Criminal Justice Bulletin is a bi-monthly publication. The next edition will be published week commencing 8 September and a commissioning and template for contributions will distributed in advance. If you would like to share thoughts on the Criminal Justice Bulletin, please the editor at: criminaljustice.bulletin@justice.gsi.gov.uk Working together to: reduce crime and re-offending, protect the public, punish offenders, provide reparation, be fair and just, increase public confidence 10

11 Annex A Record of LCJB/P roadshow visits Dates LCJB/Ps hosting roadshow Confirmed CJB members/senior leaders 14 May Yorkshire and Humberside (Humberside; North Yorkshire; South Yorkshire; West Yorkshire) Michael Spurr (CEO NOMS) 14 May All Wales CJB Matthew McGonagle (CPS Director of Strategy and Policy) 23 May Wessex (Hampshire; Dorset; Wiltshire) Peter Lewis (CEO CPS) 5 June East (Essex; Norfolk; Suffolk) Oliver Heald QC MP (Solicitor General) Steve Wade (MoJ Deputy Director, Justice Reform) 9 June Thames Valley Anthony Green (MoJ Deputy Director, Justice Reform) 16 July West Midlands (Staffordshire, West Midlands, Warwickshire, West Mercia) Paul Kett (MoJ Director Justice Reform) 22 July Cleveland & Durham Ben Connah (MoJ Deputy Director, Justice Reform) 9 September Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire Jo Rowland (Head of CJS Efficiency Programme) 25 September Kent Antonia Romeo (MoJ DG of Criminal Justice Group) 7 October London Criminal Justice Partnership Jo Rowland (Head of CJS Efficiency Programme) 9 October Bedfordshire CJB Peter Handcock (CEO HMCTS) 10 November Surrey and Sussex Mary Callam (DG Crime and Policing, Home Office) 14 November North West (Greater Manchester; Lancashire; Cumbria; Merseyside; Cheshire) 2 December South West (Avon and Somerset; Gloucestershire; Devon & Cornwall) Peter Lewis (CEO CPS) Oliver Heald QC MP (Solicitor General) 11

12 Annex B LCJB/P Minimum Expectations Local Criminal Justice Board/Partnership - Minimum Expectations July 2014 In response to requests from LCJB/Ps the Criminal Justice Board commissioned a piece of work to articulate how it expected local partnerships to operate. A number of LCJB/P Business Managers, Chairs, Members and representatives from CJS Agencies were engaged in developing the minimum expectations below. The expectations cover how LCJB/Ps should generally operate including planning, delivery and evaluation and are accompanied by illustrative examples of the type of behaviour that would demonstrate that the expectations are being met. Effective LCJB/Ps will be comprised of CJS leaders who: Operating Planning Ensure that the right people are around the table to enable decision-making and action to be taken. Work openly and collaboratively with all important stakeholders in the local CJS. Ensure that the views of service users- victims and witnesses and the general public- are fed into prioritisation, planning and delivery discussions. Work towards shared CJS outcomes to improve the overall CJS for the areas they serve. Gather a wide range of evidence of problems and issues with their local criminal justice service. Decide what they want to achieve and how to align resources, and resolve tensions within agency plans. Create thorough delivery plans to ensure maximum coordination between their work and that of CJS colleagues. Partnerships that are meeting these expectations will have/be: Representatives from all of the key CJS Agencies and Organisations including the Police, CPS, HMCTS, Probation providers, Youth Offending Services, the Prison Service and victim services. Members with the understanding of the extent of the delivery challenges. Members with the authority to take decisions and if necessary the ability to commit resources to a task. Open, mature and regular dialogue with the PCC and/or their office. Proactive engagement with the Judiciary and will keep them informed and consulted about changes to the local CJS. Effective ways of having regular and reliable dialogue with private organisations involved in the delivery of justice services. A means of involving the defence community. Strong co-operative links to non-cjs agencies and organisations, such as local authorities, Community Safety Partnerships and health stakeholders, whose activities affect delivery of justice services. An expectation on members that their plans will consider a range of service users at all times. Ensuring that the PCCs experience of working with victims and witnesses is brought out in discussions. Established ways of engaging directly with victims and witnesses or their representatives. A culture of no surprises for members and will work to foster a belief that members are all on the same side. Members that operate with a commitment to openness and building trust. Members that think and work collegially outside the boundaries of their own organisation for the greater good of the CJS. Considering the strategic direction and national priorities set by the Criminal Justice Board. Looking at evidence, opinion and testimony of those involved in the criminal justice system- including victims and witnesses. Considering the business plans and priorities of the individual CJS agencies. Considering the local Policing and Crime Plan. Sought input from non-cjs partners and considered what impact their work could have on CJS activity. Gathered together necessary performance information to support the investigation of CJS issues. Made sure that the interests of all Board members are considered in drawing up priorities. Made sure that any inherent tensions or conflicts with individual agency plans are exposed and explored. Providing opportunities at least annually for Board members to express their priorities. Regularly looking to identify opportunities for CJS organisations to provide mutual benefits and assistance to each other. Accountability for delivery clearly defined. 12

13 Delivery Evaluation Ensure that priorities and plans are shared, open and transparent. Maintains and improves value for money local delivery mechanisms. Work at a geographical level that is most appropriate to individual projects. Work to create a forum for open and frank discussions about risks and issues between those involved in the delivery of justice services. Delivers national priorities, or adapts to reflect local circumstances. Monitors how well they are collectively performing against their shared aims and priorities. Annually evaluates performance to check what further work needs to be done and what should feed in to the planning cycle for the upcoming year. Informs the public and staff working within the CJS about their performance. Plans and priorities available in an easily accessible format for the general public to view and respond to. Sharing their planning with other LCJB/P areas so that opportunities for collaborative working can be identified. Sharing their planning with the CJB so that common local priorities can inform national priorities. Measures in place to ensure that changes in the system do not adversely affect the delivery of services. Actively seeking out opportunities to work across LCJB/P areas to achieve economies of scale through the pooling of resources, knowledge and experience. Regular meetings with an opportunity for all members to discuss issues in a confidential and safe space. Made allowances at the meetings for the escalation of issues that cannot be solved bi-laterally. Entering into a dialogue with national leaders about major delivery issues and risks. A forum for discussing and managing changes which impact on the CJS organisations and their services. Having an ongoing dialogue between local and national CJS leaders about the delivery of priorities. Ensuring that national priorities are given full consideration as part of the planning process and deviation from national policy can be rationally explained. Delivering on commitments to maximise the efficiency of the overall CJS. Gathers robust performance information about their priorities. Uses this information to identify progress, risks to delivery and where action has been successful. Checks whether priorities are still relevant and live issues. Identify what learning and best practice can be shared with others. Publicly articulates in an accessible manner which performance aims have been met, which haven t, and what action has been taken to tackle priority areas. Members who actively promote cross CJS activity to their colleagues. Ensured they operate in line with the ongoing Government commitment to openness and transparency. 13

14 Annex C Kent & Medway IDVA Data Report IDVA Service Quarter 4 data report Kent & Medway

15 The first year of delivering a brand new, consistent, wide-ranging service to those deemed to be high risk of harm through domestic abuse is a challenging task. The four consortium partners have brought together existing and many new staff into a whole team formation to deliver this complex, intensive and demanding service. The co-commissioners funding has been spent on 23.5 staff providing a dynamic risk focussed service across Kent & Medway. This is more than double the staff that were providing these vital services in Kent & Medway before this funding was put in place. There have been on-going recruitment drives and capable, determined IDVAs are now in place for all districts community support (MARAC) referrals have been received by the IDVAs in the first year of operation which has exceeded the commissioners projection for Year 1 (+25%) of 1195 by 26%. Case volumes are being monitored closely to ensure that quality is maintained. All the signs are that this year we will exceed the Year 2 projection of 1690 cases putting the service under further strain. In addition to this 576 clients have been supported through the courts, with some clients overlapping with the community IDVAs. In total 1854 clients have been referred for support. The Kent & Medway IDVA team have maintained a high engagement rate at 82% despite these increasing referral volumes. They continue to match or exceed CAADA benchmarks in 9 out of 10 areas. We have identified that cessation of abuse is measured differently by us which is why we do not achieve the CAADA benchmark in this area. However, of the clients who did not achieve a cessation of abuse there has been a significant reduction in their risk. IDVAs have spent on average 4.8 months supporting each client. They have a very specific safety remit which means being incredibly focussed whilst maintaining compassionate humanity; combining these approaches is integral to the restoration of people s wellbeing. The consortium partners continue to deliver and signpost to a range of other services for longer term intervention. The accumulated additional services offered by the consortium partners enable clients to gain access to more holistic support and recovery opportunities. We have analysed 4 of the 13 troubled families lists and this work is on-going. It s time consuming but we are learning that many of our families are also appearing within this work. So far we have identified 69 in the 4 areas assessed. Our Service Manager has met with the Troubled Families cluster group and Year 2 will see us training the troubled families teams, continuing to assess cohort overlaps and developing joint working approaches. There has been a lot of national publicity lately about losses to vital domestic abuse services such as these. Kent & Medway should be very proud of its innovative commitment to making safe those at highest risk of harm in this consistent service. We have offered IRIS (Identification and referral to improve safety) to all Kent & Medway G.P practices. Only one is currently engaged in a discussion, and another has expressed an interest. We hope they will be ready to accept the offer by September. We will assess alternative opportunities for G.Ps during the course of year 2. The helpline has received an incredible 230 calls in the final quarter of the year. This brings the total calls received in the 10 operational months of the helpline to 595. In this quarter 20 calls have been handled by IDVAs on weekends. 90 of the calls this quarter have been self-referrals, and this is an excellent reflection that the helpline is reaching those who are not engaged with, or aware of, other services. See below for more information on the helpline calls. Deborah Cartwright, CEO, Oasis Domestic Abuse Service

16 Outcomes at a glance Outcome Area Client Numbers Increasing Client Safety Outcome CAADA Benchmark % KDAC Progressive Actual % Number of Clients Engagement: Percentage of closed cases where client engaged with the Service Cessation of Abuse: Abuse ceased We now know that we are basing this on IDVA perception and CAADA base it on clients perception. This will explain the huge disparity. Our combined significant reduction and cessation accounts for 66% of cases. We will ensure that consistent method for benchmarking is adopted in Year 2. Risk Levels: Clients experienced a significant or moderate reduction in risk Client Felt Unsafe at Intake: Client feels much safer or somewhat safer Children s Wellbeing: Client feels that the service has had a very positive or positive impact Relationship with Children: Client relationship with children has improved Improved Health & Wellbeing Increased Independence Emotional Wellbeing: Client feels that the service has had a very positive or positive impact Frightened at Intake: Service has had a very positive or positive impact on how frightened the client feels Confidence in Accessing Other Appropriate Local Service: Client feels very confident or confident Economic / Financial Stability: Client feels that the service has had a very positive or positive impact

17 Client Numbers - Kent & Medway Overall KDAC Caseload QTR 1 QTR 2 QTR 3 QTR 4 Progressive Same Period (MARAC & Non-MARAC) Total Apr- July - Oct - Jan - June Sept Dec March Last Year 2 Years New referrals Number of children on referrals Unable to contact Total Clients Number of Clients Closed Number & % of Closed Clients Engaged* (CAADA Insight Benchmark = 80%) % of Clients Contacted Within.. (Target within 48 hrs.) % 77% 81% 82% 24 hrs. 26% 74% 79% 59% 48 hrs 69% 24% 20% 38% > 48 hrs 5% 2% 1% 3% Current Client Caseload * Engaged is defined as the client has agreed to or been recommended a Safety Plan Progressive 1. MARAC Clients QTR 1 QTR 2 QTR 3 QTR 4 Same Period Total Apr- July - Oct - Jan - June Sept Dec March Last Year 2 Years Number of MARAC Cases Number of Children in Households Number & % of MARAC Clients Contacted by KDAC % 80% 84% 84% 82% Note: KDAC will not be picking up all MARAC clients as where appropriate to do so, the referral agency will continue to work as the lead agency, and local organisations will be supported to continue to do their IDVA work. Progressive 2. Non MARAC Clients QTR 1 QTR 2 QTR 3 QTR 4 Same Period Total Apr- July - Oct - Jan - June Sept Dec March Last Year 2 Years 4 districts only to date Troubled families programme Number of New Clients Number of SDVC Clients Note: The total number of new clients and children in households may at times be less than the sum of MARAC and non-marac numbers due to duplication e.g. a MARAC client can also be an SDVC client. Note: Q1 all 30 and Q2 62 of the 353 cases closed are Maidstone CAB SDVC IDVA and will not have associated outcomes. No Maidstone CAB SDVC data is included for Q3/ Q4.

18 Added Value Consortium partners add value to this work through their own charitable resources. They deliver counselling, pattern changing groups, mentoring for children and young people, outreach, advice and support services, local helplines and awareness raising initiatives. All of these services enable IDVA clients to have access to more holistic support. The IDVA Service funding enables these local charities to raise more funds for this additional work to undermine both the causes and consequences of domestic abuse. We have completed our 6 month Central Referral Unit project with an IDVA based within this team. Her work was very successful, but unsustainable into the longer term due to a lack of funding to specifically support this role. We would like to have IDVAs based in the CRU for partnership working in the future but they will not be able to offer the level of service that occurred within this pilot. We are also currently developing an office in the Witness Care Unit for the Court IDVAs to enhance their joint working and referral processes. During the CRU placement, the IDVA was passed details of 325 clients by the Sergeants, Managers, CAF co-ordinators and senior practitioners working within the CRU. She was able to talk to 77% of these clients and 187 (39%) were given advice regarding local services or referred onto other non-idva services. This included Counselling, the National Centre for Domestic Violence, Community Services and One Stop Shops. 24% (57) of all clients contacted were considered to be at risk of significant harm and so were referred into KDAC. They were referred into the IDVA service on the same day and received ongoing support, either through the Special Domestic Violence Court by or the Community IDVAs. Having scrutinised the outcomes on our database, 25 MARAC referrals were made by KDAC following IDVA involvement. Furthermore, they received additional support from a range of professionals, including counselling services, Sure-Start, Health, Turning Point and Probation. These clients would not have been identified for IDVA support without this intervention. The CRU pilot was funded from Oasis Domestic Abuse Service funding so is unable to continue at this time. Our IDVAs will take part in the World Cup incident support by being based within the Kent Police Silver Command and taking calls from incidents in order to offer immediate support to victims. In the past year we have undertaken four domestic abuse car initiatives with Kent Police. These involve IDVAs volunteering additional time to go out at night on weekends to support police officers at the point of incident. We have committed IDVAs to the Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO) and Clare s Law schemes where resources allow ensuring that those people get adequate safety planning for their needs. This work has begun and in year 2 reports we will be telling you the impact this is having on the work. One Stop Shops continue to be served by IDVAs across the county which enables their specialist knowledge to be harnessed in these advice centres. Increasing numbers of people utilise these valuable resources and again the multiagency approach is integral for clients who may benefit from a range of professionals in one place. The ability of these services to engage clients early on in their journey of change is essential for those experiencing domestic abuse.

19 Helpline Call volumes: Total number of helpline calls received Number of helpline calls received on weekdays Number of helpline calls received out of hours Number of self referrals Number of agency referrals Where did the caller get our number? Poster/leaflet IDVA Dr's Surgery OSS Police Children's Social Care Turning Point Family Action Children Centre Repeat caller KMDASG website Probation NCDV Unknown National DV Helpline Victim Support Health Visitor Freedom IDVA Answer machine KMDA Co-ordinator