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NOMS Infrastructure grants announcement

29.2.08

Following a contest, the Ministry of Justice National Offender Management Service has awarded funding of £1.8 million over three years to Clinks, Action for Prisoners Families, and the Development Trusts Association to advise and support frontline organisations working, or wishing to work, to help reduce adult re-offending and protect the public, and to facilitate communication and engagement between NOMS and the third sector. As part of the implementation of the new Third Sector Action Plan the grant funding to national third sector infrastructure will help NOMS and the Ministry of Justice meet its commitments to a diverse third sector working with offenders, their children and families across England and Wales.

The funding, for three years from April, will:

• help create a sustainable, diverse and effective third sector to improve the quality and quantity of support and guidance provided to front line delivery organisations working to reduce adult re-offending, through direct capacity building support  and effective signposting to development and funding opportunities;

• help NOMS meet its key policy objective around increasing the diversity of NOMS suppliers in order to enhance the value of available resources and drive better service delivery; 

• assist NOMS to meet its commitments to increasing engagement with third sector in line with Government policy and the Compact on relations between Government and the voluntary and community sector.

• support actions emerging from the NOMS Third Sector Action Plan 2008-2011 including better engagement with the third sector as partners in planning and service design; in reaching small, black and minority ethnic, women’s, faith-based, and other diverse groups; as advocates of users and service providers; in supporting effective volunteering and mentoring; and overcoming barriers to delivering public services, subcontracting and cross-sector partnership working.

Clinks is awarded £250,000 p.a and Action for Prisoners Families is awarded £155,000 p.a to deliver outcomes in relation to representation and voice, communication and partnership working, and capacity building. The Clinks award includes within it support for a shared member of staff with the National Association of Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) to broker relationships between local CVS and VCS working with offenders to build capacity and sustainability via local networks, and further work with NAVCA to develop relationships with Regional Voluntary Sector Forums to identify opportunities for region wide working.

The Development Trusts Association (DTA) is awarded £50,000 p.a. to support work across all areas to better support and engage the community sector particularly groups working with offenders but not currently linked to Clinks and NOMS. As part of the Community Alliance, DTA bring experience, tools, resources and mechanisms for engaging with and developing community organisations and enterprises.

A further £145,000 p.a. is awarded to Clinks to undertake a strategic role in promoting and supporting the effective recruitment, management and support of diverse volunteers and mentors working with offenders to reduce re-offending. This will include establishing a Reducing Re-offending Volunteering and Mentoring Network, and there is an expectation that Clinks will sub-contract some activity including investigating the development of specific indicators within mentoring National Occupational Standards for offender and offender peer mentoring.