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NOMS Attendance Centre Policy and Practice Instructions
This instruction applies to:- / Reference:-
NOMS Headquarters - Agency Instruction (AI)
Probation Services- Probation Instruction (PI) / AI 09/2012
PI 15/2012
Issue Date / Effective Date
Implementation Date / Expiry Date
19 November 2012 / 1 December 2012 / 31 December 2016
Issued on the authority of / NOMS Agency Board
For action by / Attendance Centre Regional Managers (ACRMs), Officers in Charge (OIC) and managers and staff of other providers of Attendance Centres including those Probation Trusts which are providers.All managers and staff at attendance centres.
NOMS HQ
All prisons
High Security Prisons only
Contracted Prisons*
Probation Trusts
Governors
Heads of Groups
Contract Managers in Probation Trusts
Probation Trust Chief Executives
*If this box is marked, then in this document the term Governor also applies to Directors of Contracted Prisons
Instruction type / Service improvement
For information / Youth Justice Board, NOMS HQ
Provide a summary of the policy aim and the reason for its development/revision / The aim is to provide a comprehensive set of up to date operational and support procedures to ensure effective delivery of Attendance Centre requirements.
Contact / Richard Pearce
Offender Management Implementation Manager, OMPPG

07920 083880
Associated documents / See content of policy for references.
Replaces the following documents which are hereby cancelled: AI 16/2011 NOMS Attendance Centre Policy and Practice Instructions
Audit/monitoring:The Directorate of Probation and Contracted Services will monitor compliance with the mandatory actions set out in this Instruction.
Probation Trusts who provide Attendance Centres must demonstrate compliance with these actions when required to do so by contract managers and Commissioners.

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CONTENTS

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Section / Subject / For reference by:
1 / Executive Summary / All Managers and Staff in Attendance Centres
2 / OperationalInstructions
3 / Policy andStrategic Context
4 / Guidance
Annex A / Managing Allegations
Annex B / Dealing with disruptive behaviour
Annex C / List of other guidance documents

1.ExecutiveSummary

Background

1.1When AI 16/2011 was issued, it provided a set of operational and support procedures to ensure that Attendance Centre regimes were delivered in a more consistent manner throughout England and Wales, together with information about targeting and use of the Centres. At that time, more work was required to develop procedures concerning safeguarding and allied matters and this Instruction now consolidates all the procedures that have been developed.

Desired outcomes

1.2This instruction is designed to achieve:

  • Alignment of Attendance Centres with National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and Youth Justice Board (YJB) overall strategy to reduce re-offending and reduce first time entrants to the criminal justice system
  • Compliance with the NOMS National Standard for the Management of Offenders and congruence with YJB Standards for Youth Justice Services
  • Appropriate use of Attendance Centres within the range of interventions available for sentencing youth and adult offenders.

Application

1.3This instruction is relevant to the following NOMS Directorates: Probation and Contracted Services; Commissioning and Commercial; National Operational Services.

Mandatory actions

1.4Managers within the Probation and Contracted Services Directorate will ensure that this instruction is fully deployed within Attendance Centres through line management arrangements within the Directorate, periodic audit, and/or through Contract Management of providers as appropriate.Practice instructions which will be issued via HERM and EPIC, must be followed by Attendance Centre Regional Managers (ACRMs), Officers in Charge (OIC) of Attendance Centres, and all staff working within Attendance Centres, in pursuance of National Standards for the Management of Offenders and YJB Standards for Youth Justice Services, irrespective of the provider and/or business model of individual Attendance Centres.

Resource Impact

1.5This instruction has no significant impact on the resources of the NOMS Attendance Centre function. Where Attendance Centres are commissioned from external providers, quality assurance and contract management are absorbed within NOMS Probation and Contracted Services Directorate and the resource impact for the provider considered in the context of negotiating contractual delivery requirements. There is no intention to increase the overall resources NOMS commits to the delivery of Attendance Centres.

(signed)

Colin Allars

Director of Probation and Contracted Services

2.Operational instructions

Regime

2.1Provision of Junior and Senior Attendance Centres is the responsibility of NOMS. Attendance Centres may be commissioned by NOMS from Probation Trusts and other providers under contract. Those sentenced by the courts, or otherwise lawfully ordered to attend aged 10 – 24, (hereafter referred to as ‘offenders’) can be required to be present within an Attendance Centre for between 12 and 36 hours as a requirement of:

Junior:A Youth Rehabilitation Order and a range of other Youth sentencing provisions; an Attendance Centre Order as penalty for non-payment of fines and some preventative and diversionary sanctions and initiatives.

Senior:A Community Order or Suspended Sentence Order and an Order as penalty for non-payment of fines.

2.2 Although Attendance Centres are primarily a punishment through the restriction of liberty in a controlled environment, the activities and instruction offered within the centres must be, at a minimum, safe and decent. The regime is also designed to strengthen desistance factors among those attending. Senior Attendance Centres must include, therefore, social education and life-skills training to:

  • increase employability
  • maintain physical and mental health (including being aware of the effects of alcohol and drugs)
  • have successful relationships (including respect for parents/partners; parenting skills and social skills)
  • deal effectively with high risk situations (including first aid, risks of carrying weapons and gang culture).

In Junior Attendance Centres, the regime must address:

  • citizenship and inclusion
  • safety of self and others
  • maintaining health
  • strengthening ties
  • communication, interpersonal and problem solving skills.

2.3Offender compacts for individual centres must be used to make clear the requirement to attend the Centre as instructed and to promote compliance with the regime and behavioural requirements, and must be enforced in keeping with the nature of the relevant Court, or other, Order.

Offender Engagement

2.4All offender management processes within Attendance Centres, e.g. induction, instruction and enforcement, will be conducted in a manner designed to secure engagement as well as compliance, reinforced by the offender compact. Offenders will be provided with regular opportunities to give feedback about their experience of the Attendance Centre and they (and/or their parents or carers as appropriate for those under 18) will be told about complaint procedures on the first attendance. OICs must ensure that progress made forms the basis of a positive exit plan on completion of the requirement to attend.

Assessment

2.5 Where a Pre-Sentence Report is available and/or an OASys or ASSET assessment is undertaken, the OIC must note the content of the risk of serious harm assessment, keep this under review and use it for planning delivery of the requirement to attend. Where there is no existing assessment, the OIC must use what information is available to them from the offender, the referrer and the Court to complete a risk screening, identifying any known risks to children, public, staff and self.

Sentence Planning

2.6 In cases of ‘stand-alone’ Attendance Centre requirements, the OIC and the offender will together compile a sentence plan including the dates when the offender is required to attend, the sessions they will be required to undertake and the benefit it is anticipated they will derive. The offender will be asked to sign the plan and compact and may keep a copy. Where the offender is subject to a Court Order with multiple requirements, attendance and desired outcomes from this will form part of the overall sentence plan completed by the offender manager, and the OIC will form part of the offender management team.

Review

2.7 The OIC must review the assessment and sentence plan, wherever possible with the offender, whenever there is a significant change in circumstances and/or following breach action if the requirement to attend continues.

Evaluation

2.8 The OIC will ensure that, as part of the exit plan, a final review of the sentence plantakes account of the offender’s views of what benefit they have derived from attendance.

Contact to secure compliance

2.9It is NOMS policy that staff employed as OICs or sessional instructors in Attendance Centres will not, as a matter of routine, undertake home visits to offenders or their families but contact by telephone and/or text messaging will be used to support compliance.

Enforcement

2.10In adult cases where there is a sole Attendance Centre requirement, the OIC is the officer responsible for all decisions about warnings and breach in relation to failure to comply. In cases where there is more than one requirement in the relevant Court Order (even if purely punitive or restrictive in nature, e.g. curfew or prohibited activity), the Probation Trust offender manager is responsible for these decisions and the OIC must seek their direction in relation to re-negotiating compliance. In all youth cases, failure to comply will be referred to the relevant Youth Offending Team to follow up.The process and guidance for enforcement of orders made requiring offenders to attend Attendance Centres, flowcharts and draft non-compliance letters are available for OICs on the H (Herm) Drive and EPIC,OICs may amend standard letter templates to reflect the circumstances of individual cases, seeking advice from the ACRMs as necessary.

Equality and Diversity

2.11All work in Attendance Centres will reflect the NOMS Equality Policy which states ‘NOMS is committed to fairness for all. NOMS treats our staff properly and ensures equality of opportunity. NOMS delivers our services fairly and responds to individual needs. NOMS insists on respectful and decent behaviour from staff, offenders and others with whom they work. NOMS recognises that discrimination, harassment and bullying can nevertheless occur and takes prompt and appropriate action whenever we discover them’.

2.12It is NOMS policy to encourage use of a diverse group of sessional instructors and that staff will be responsive to individual need, particularly where an individual feels, or is likely to feel, isolated. It is NOMS policy to provide women-only facilities where possible, but as a minimum OICs should plan for a female staff member to be present whenever a female offender is required to attend the centre. Staff members will be alert to signs of discomfort by participants (particularly where he or she is the only member of a group with protected characteristics present at the Centre) and will provide appropriate support to those individuals. Where religious observation or nature of disability prevents attendance and Attendance Centre provision is not available at alternative times and/or venues, Probation Trusts and YOTs will propose an alternative sentencing requirement which restricts liberty in a commensurate manner (as is the case where no Centre is available at all within reasonable travelling distance). Where offenders have communication difficulties that would impede their full participation in the core regime, use of interpreters and/or alternative regimes will ensure that the provision remains open to them. During the induction interview, the component parts of the regime will be reviewed with participants and OICs will ensure that activities are suitable for individual needs.

2.13 Offenders, or families in the case of those under 18, dependent upon state benefits to achieve an income of minimum subsistence levels will be offered assistance with the cost of travel by public transport if the Attendance Centre is further than three miles from their home (or for all travel required in the case of offenders with a disability). For those under 14, where a journey on foot is judged hazardous in view of their age, assistance with public transport costs may also be offered for journeys shorter than three miles.

2.14For an offender to be required to report to an Attendance Centre, s/he must live within reasonable travelling distance. This is usually taken to be within 90 minutes travel time each way. Where, however, other Centres are not available and the offender is willing, distance itself will not preclude the Attendance Centre being made available to the Court for that offender.

Recording, Storing, Sharing and Destruction of Records

2.15Attendance Centre practicemust conform to the requirements of the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act.

2.16Personal offender records must be kept by the OIC of:

  • any screenings, assessments or records completed pre sentence by Probation Trusts or Youth Offending Teams
  • the sentence made
  • personal details (including race, ethnicity, age, gender, disability and other protected characteristics) and any individual needs of the offender (medication, language, literacy etc.)
  • instructions given and sessions attended/missed
  • conduct within the centre
  • qualifications or skills gained
  • any enforcement action taken
  • liaison with other agencies
  • any complaints made

2.17When not in direct use, these records must be held in a secure, locked filing cabinet. Records must be retained and subsequently destroyed within timescales determined by reference to AI 2/2009.

Employment Practice

2.18NOMS will ensure compliance with safe and fair recruitment and selection practice for staff working in Attendance Centres. Where NOMS is the direct employer, staff members must be managed in accordance with NOMS policy and procedures.

Health and Safety

2.19Attendance Centres must comply with Ministry of Justice policy and instructions in relation to Health and Safety. Premises used for this purpose by NOMS must be inspected bi-annually (as a minimum) for compliance with health and safety requirements by NOMS employees, generally through the ACRM. Where the Centre is commissioned from other providers, the provider is responsible for ensuring Health and Safety legislation is observed. Staff members must comply with MoJ policy on safe working practices, including lone working if, exceptionally, undertaking visits to offenders’ homes.

2.20The ratio of staff to offenders must be sufficient to ensure a minimum of two members of staff are present during the operating hours of the Attendance Centre. Where the Attendance Centre is staffed by NOMS employees and takes place in a venue not otherwise staffed by NOMS, the ratio of expected participants to instructors must be 8:1, in addition to the OIC, once the threshold of 16 anticipated attendees has been reached. Where fewer than 16 offenders are expected, two sessional instructors and the OIC will generally be on site. ACRMs have discretion to authorise the most efficient combination of sessional instructors and receptionist/clerks to manage the movement of offenders within the Centre. Where the Centre is commissioned from other providers, appropriate staffing levels will be determined by the provider.

Safeguarding

2.21Attendance Centres must comply with the requirements to safeguard children and vulnerable adults. OICs and instructors employed on a sessional basis must be subject to enhanced vetting procedures and any visiting speakers and volunteers must be escorted by an OIC or instructor at all times. The recommended procedure for managing allegations against staff and sessional workers concerning children and young people under 18 is at AnnexA.

2.22NOMS policy is to have separate provision of child/youth (10-17) and adult (18 and over) offenders. NOMS is committed to ending the practice of instructing 16 and 17 year olds to attend Senior Attendance Centres and will work with the Judiciary to that effect.

2.23OICs must have an appropriate point of contact with the local authority for children and vulnerable adults and be familiar with local policy and procedures for safeguarding. ACRMs must confirmthat OICs have a copy of the procedures and relevant instructions and information.

2.24Where centres are commissioned from other organisations, that provider must ensure compliance with local safeguarding practices.

Dealing with disruptive behaviour

2.25 From time to time staff in Attendance Centres will need to deal with disruptive behaviour. The recommended procedure for dealing with disruptivebehaviour is at Annex B.

Local Liaison

2.26OICs or other providers of Attendance Centres must, as a minimum, agree local protocols for the exchange of information with HMCS, the local Probation provider and Youth Offending Team. Probation providers will be contracted to prosecute breaches on behalf of the OIC. Protocols with Youth Offending Teams will include prosecution of JAC breaches. Local managers from Probation providers and Youth Offending Teams are encouraged to support the ACRM in quality audits of Centres and in the recruitment and selection of OICs.

Financial Management

2.27OICs must comply with NOMS financial management processes and procedures.

Case Reviews

2.28 Where an offender, of whatever age, subject to a ‘stand-alone’ attendance centre requirement or order, dies or is charged with a serious further offence as defined by PI 20/2011, the OIC must report this to the ACRM, who will notify Probation and Contracted Services prior to reviewing the management of the case. Reviews of deaths or serious further offences (or serious incidents, in the case of offenders under 18) by offenders who are subject to orders with multiple requirements will be initiated by whichever Probation Trust or Youth Offending Team manages the case.

AI 09/2012 UNCLASSIFIEDISSUE DATE 19/11/2012

PI 15/2012

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3.Policy and Strategic Context

Strategy

3.1NOMS promotes Attendance Centres as a cost effective means of punishing offenders through the restriction of liberty within a controlled environment. NOMS is committed to efficient and effective delivery of the sentence but will also seek, through a regime of social education, life-skills training and reparation, to maximise the potential of this short intervention to support the development of lifestyles and associations that encourage desistance from offending. The use of the requirement will be targeted at offenders at the lower end of the risk continuum for likelihood of re-offending and potential to cause serious harm to the public, as follows: