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Reducing Re-offending Beacon Award winners

14.3.08

At the Beacon Awards Ceremony in London on 4 March the winners of the Reducing Re-offending Beacon Theme were announced. 

The winners were:

• Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
• the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
• Sunderland City Council and
• the joint application of Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council, Melton Borough Council, Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council .

These authorities are congratulated for demonstrating excellence against a very challenging set of criteria.  Salford was short listed, but fell just short of the standards required for the award.

The following is a summary of why each authority was successful:

Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

Bolton has a well-developed and successful re-offending strategy underpinned by an evidence-based approach, community involvement and well-founded partnerships. The use of data and software is impressive, and supports the work of the co-located police and probation Offender Management Unit. Housing partners and the voluntary sector provide a wide range of services for vulnerable groups such as sex workers, as well as impressive multi-agency partnership action with priority and prolific offenders.

Leicester City Council (Lead) Leicestershire County Council, Melton Borough Council, Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council (Joint)

There is coherent partnership working between the authorities involved in this joint award. Political commitment to reducing re-offending and working across boundaries gets the most out of resources. Activities to support skills and employment have had a real impact on employment opportunities for ex-offenders, and examples include the work of Leicestershire Cares, an umbrella organisation for local employers, the Work Wise scheme from the probation services and support from volunteer mentors.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Tower Hamlets impressed the assessors with the commitment of the whole council to reducing re-offending, and the link with plans to tackle social exclusion in the borough. This is backed up with action on the ground and the authority has a dedicated Resettlement Development Officer to lead and ensure a co-ordinated approach to reducing re-offending. One example is the safe exit diversion scheme for women involved in prostitution.

Sunderland City Council

Sunderland has demonstrated improved outcomes on youth offending, and against the national trend, the rate of custody for young offenders has dropped from 12 per cent in 1999 to a current figure of 2.8 per cent, with no negative impact on levels of offending. This has been achieved through tackling issues such as access to accommodation and mental health services. There are also increases in the number of adult offenders accessing services and the authority has demonstrated innovative actions for both adult and young offenders, and a willingness to re-shape services to meet the needs of service users.

In April, NOMS Partnerships Unit will work with the Winners and the Improvement and Development Agency to promote their best practice to local authorities across England. 

Background

The Beacon Scheme identifies authorities - and increasingly, partnerships - that are delivering the best services to their local citizens and can teach others to do the same.

Reducing re-offending was one of 10 Round Nine Beacon themes.  12 authorities initially applied for the reducing re-offending beacon.  Their performance was assessed against 6 criteria: leadership, vision and strategy, actions; community and customer engagement and empowerment; partnerships; equalities and diversity; and outcomes. 

Five local authorities (Bolton, Salford, Leicester etc, Sunderland and Tower Hamlets) were short listed and visits to each of these authorities were made, followed by presentations and questioning in London.