By Gary Craig, Marilyn Taylor, Mick Wilkinson and Kate Bloor with Surya MunroRelationships between local and central government and voluntary and community organizations have been controversial for some time, and particularly since the introduction of the ‘contract culture’ during the 1980s. New Labour now argues that it wishes to develop a ‘partnership culture’ in which the voluntary sector is a major partner. New local partnerships, or compacts, of varying kinds are now being developed across the UK, involving a range of local public agencies including councils, health bodies and Learning and Skills Councils. This report is the first national evaluation of how this new approach to partnership working is being implemented at a local level.
People acting in an anti social way and causing harassment, alarm or distress are going to find life more difficult. Currently the police or local council can apply to magistrates for an Anti Social Behaviour Order which is a preventive measure placing restrictions on the subject such as a curfew. The orders work in the same way as an injunction and breeching them becomes a criminal offence.Under new proposals there will be a fast track to civil legal action against those committing disorder in the community. An interim order will be introduced to allow immediate action to be taken before going through the full process. This interim order would be made at the first court appearance and it would protect the community from a persistent offender without delay. To deal with the problem of people moving to other areas and resuming their anti-social behaviour, it is proposed that an order should travel with the person on whom it has been served
Over half of prisoners discharged from UK jails re-offend within two years. The National Audit Office in its latest report: ‘Reducing Prisoner Re-offending’ reveals that many prisoners leave prison without having had the opportunity to address their offending behaviour. The auditors found that the degree of support prisoners receive to reduce the risk of re-offending was a postcode lottery. This lack of a strategic approach to the issue was characterized by the absence of a reliable information system to show the impact of programmes and the performance of individual prisons.The report re-states the well known characteristics of the re-offending problem. Many of the prisoners have drug problems and poor levels of literacy and numeracy. Prison regimes do little to improve educational or work skills. Finding accommodation and work on discharge from prison can be a major challenge for many. So called ‘unaccredited’ schemes have addressed these issues with varying levels of success, but the Prison Service has not built on this experience.
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