Funding for Prisons Violence Reduction Lead

This decision details a proposal for a Prisons Violence Reduction Lead role working between MOPAC and the London Prisons Group. This role will provide strategic leadership to reduce violence across London by improving the strategic co-ordination of resources and interventions available in London prisons, and by working with partners across the London CJS.

The role will also be a key part of future plans to commission violence reduction interventions to reduce the risk of violence posed by high risk offenders being released back into London in the next three years.

The role will initially be funded by MOPAC for one year at a cost of £75,000, with the post being filled from within Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to ensure that the person has the required expertise, knowledge and skills in working within the prison system. There will be close collaboration between MOPAC and the London Prisons Group to ensure delivery of a mutually agreed workplan for this role.

The payment to HMPPS will take place via grant agreement for the one year period.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:  

1. Approve maximum funding of £75,000 per annum to fund the Prisons Violence Reduction Lead post.

2. Approve the grant funding of this post to HMPPS for a period 12 months.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. This year’s Police and Crime Plan includes a commitment to “reduce and prevent violence in all its forms”. Part of this work includes ensuring that effective violence reduction interventions take place with those most likely to reoffend violently in London, many of whom are already serving sentences within the criminal justice system (CJS).

1.2. MOPAC has been working in partnership with the London Prisons Group since the instigation of the Prison Pathfinder pilots, which started at HMP Isis in October 2019, and expanded to HMP Wormwood Scrubs This pilot saw the introduction of a range of violence reduction interventions and included a dedicated MPS presence to improve the response to prison violence. As the pilots finished in March 2022, an evaluation report is now being written to examine the performance, learning and impact of the pilots in reducing violence in prisons for those who completed interventions.

1.3. A literature review of “What works to reduce violent reoffending” has also been commissioned to develop the evidence base for the most effective interventions for those within the CJS.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. London data shows that the majority of those assessed to pose a high risk of serious harm and violence within the CJS spend time in prison as part of their sentence, later going on to be released back into London as part of licence supervision. For this reason, it is vital that the prisons serving London play an active, integrated and co-ordinated role with other London partners in reducing the risk of future violence, both in prison and after release.

2.2. This decision seeks approval for one year of funding for a Prisons Violence Reduction Lead role, which will be funded by MOPAC and provide an effective link between the London Prisons Group and the violence reduction work led by MOPAC as part of the new 2022-25 Police and Crime Plan.

2.3. The new Prisons Violence Reduction Lead will develop a strategy to align work across all prisons in London around the aim of reducing violence, both in prison and after release. This strategy will also provide a to the aims and work of partners across the London CJS to reduce violent re-offending. This role will provide benefits for other London CJS partners involved in violence reduction, such as MPS, probation and London Councils, by offering a single point of reference and expertise for violence reduction work involving prisons. The strategy will include consideration of how London prisons, as an integrated system and as separate entities, can best work to reduce violence. This will provide a strong foundation for future MOPAC funded programmes in prisons to reduce violence. It will also include alignment of HMPPS funded resources and interventions for high risk groups, such as young adults, care leavers and IOM offenders, with the processes and resources of other stakeholders.

2.4. The post holder will have specialist knowledge, relationships and authority within the prison system to identify and implement required changes in each establishment and across the system. The post holder will interact with all ten London Prisons, not just the six within the HMPPS London Prisons group.

2.5. This decision also seeks approval to enter into grant agreement with HMPPS to provide this funding for a one year period.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The total cost for the Prisons Violence Reduction Lead post will be £75,000 (including on-costs) for one year. The funding for this post has been identified from carry forward from the 2021/22 Prison Pathfinder budget.

3.2. This person will remain employed by HMPPS during this one year period, with MOPAC providing funding via grant agreement.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. MOPAC’s general powers are set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). Section 3(6) of the 2011 Act provides that MOPAC must “secure the maintenance of the metropolitan police service and secure that the metropolitan police service is efficient and effective.” This is a broad power and the extension of the pilot is aimed at deterring further offending, improving rehabilitation and enhancing crime detection all of which would enable the efficiency and effectiveness of the police service. All of these purposes are directly relevant to IOM work and the new framework.

4.2. In addition, under Schedule 3, paragraph 7, MOPAC has wide incidental powers to “do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of the functions of the Office.” Paragraph 7(2) (a) provides that this includes entering into contracts and other agreements.

4.3. MOPAC must in exercising its functions have regard to the police and crime plan issued by MOPAC.

4.4. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all bids for grant funding.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. Officers must ensure the Financial Regulations and Contract Regulations are complied with.

5.2. HMPPS are the only agency with statutory responsible for the group of London prisons and hence are the only agency with which this partnership arrangement and grant agreement can be entered into.

6. Public Health Approach

6.1. This piece of work has been informed by discussions and feedback from the Violence Reduction Unit and it is agreed that the provision of more integrated services in prison to reduce violence and a system that better promotes rehabilitation across the London CJS supports the public health approach to reducing violence.

7. GDPR and Data Privacy

7.1. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.

7.2. The role will not involve the sharing or transfer of personally identifiable data from HMPPS to MOPAC and as such a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) will not be required. All information and data exhanged will be aggregate and anonymised.

8. Equality Comments

8.1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

8.2. The recruitment for this post will be carried out jointly with HMPPS in line with good practice around promoting diverse recruitment.

9. Background/supporting papers

9.1. None.