Musings and Snippets from a recently retired JP. I served for 31 years, mostly in west London. I was Chairman of my Bench for some years, and a member of the National Bench Chairmen's Forum All cases are based on real ones, but anonymised and composited. All opinions are those of one or more individuals. JPs swear to enforce the law of the land, whether or not they approve of it. Nothing on here constitutes legal advice.
Friday, July 13, 2012
It's Official
Serco has won the contract to run Community Payback and suchlike , displacing the Probation Service.
I believe MagsЯUs are bidding to staff all the benches. They will be using just-in-time recruitment to keep the costs down, mags will be hired and trained a few minutes before the start of the case and given a P45 immediately on pronouncing a verdict.
The justice minister will be joining the MagsЯUs board as soon as decently possible after leaving government.
Different rules apply with volunteers. No P45s and the like. No pay either, and there's the rub. The trouble with these pesky magistrates is that they are independent, don't accept instructions on verdict, sentence or the credibility or otherwise of a particular witness.
G4S or "MagsRUs" (or whatever!) may well advocate free market doctrines, but - as we have seen with the Olympics - the market doesn't always respond as presented in the marketing pitches.
What's the betting that the criteria by which delivery standards and performance are assessed when it comes to "competitioned" Probation Services will be changed within a year of any contract award, and that there will be no longitudinal comparability? Hand on heart, do you seriously believe that G4S is more or less likely to change offending behaviours than the professionals who currently serve in the Probation Service?
In the meantime the MoJ will commence a programme of webinars for interested members of the emergency services to fit them for short-notice deployment where MRU is unable to meet its contractual obligations.
MOTVG - where do I start, magistrates 'are independent, don't accept instructions on verdict, sentence or the credibility ...' Magistrates don't get through the vetting process unless they follow the liberal ethos that offenders are victims (unless they are racists it seems.) They follow the sentencing guidelines and don't have the confidence to step outside of them, when they clearly should. That was why DJ's were tasked to deal with the rioters, much to the annoyance of some of the prima donnas on this blog. Quite frankly, other than not guilty pleas, I could produce a computer program that could do the job better. Private companies have been monitoring tagged offenders for years and proven themselves completely ineffective. I would love to say that the Probation Service are of some effect, but quite frankly they are one of the most useless and ineffective parts of the justice system. I doubt if SERCO will be any better but they will have to be going some to be any worse.
"Thank you for calling G4S Policing Services Inc. Now that you have reported that pub fight, we will recruit and train an officer to attend. Please expect him in three to five days, and have no idea how to stop the fight."
Bystander - just for once a Londoncentric attitude has come through on one of your posts - it's "only" CP for London that Serco has been awarded. Our contract doesn't go out for tender until much later
In New Zealand Serco got a contract to run a remand prison a couple of years ago. There is a 'penalty' of 75000 pounds (approx) for each escape. There have been 2 escapes so far so the executive bonus pool is presumably down 150000 pounds.
Posts are pre-moderated. Please bear with us if this takes a little time, but the number of bores and obsessives was getting out of hand, as were the fake comments advertising rubbish.
I believe MagsЯUs are bidding to staff all the benches. They will be using just-in-time recruitment to keep the costs down, mags will be hired and trained a few minutes before the start of the case and given a P45 immediately on pronouncing a verdict.
ReplyDeleteThe justice minister will be joining the MagsЯUs board as soon as decently possible after leaving government.
Different rules apply with volunteers. No P45s and the like. No pay either, and there's the rub. The trouble with these pesky magistrates is that they are independent, don't accept instructions on verdict, sentence or the credibility or otherwise of a particular witness.
DeleteG4S or "MagsRUs" (or whatever!) may well advocate free market doctrines, but - as we have seen with the Olympics - the market doesn't always respond as presented in the marketing pitches.
What's the betting that the criteria by which delivery standards and performance are assessed when it comes to "competitioned" Probation Services will be changed within a year of any contract award, and that there will be no longitudinal comparability? Hand on heart, do you seriously believe that G4S is more or less likely to change offending behaviours than the professionals who currently serve in the Probation Service?
In the meantime the MoJ will commence a programme of webinars for interested members of the emergency services to fit them for short-notice deployment where MRU is unable to meet its contractual obligations.
DeleteMOTVG - where do I start, magistrates 'are independent, don't accept instructions on verdict, sentence or the credibility ...'
DeleteMagistrates don't get through the vetting process unless they follow the liberal ethos that offenders are victims (unless they are racists it seems.) They follow the sentencing guidelines and don't have the confidence to step outside of them, when they clearly should. That was why DJ's were tasked to deal with the rioters, much to the annoyance of some of the prima donnas on this blog. Quite frankly, other than not guilty pleas, I could produce a computer program that could do the job better.
Private companies have been monitoring tagged offenders for years and proven themselves completely ineffective. I would love to say that the Probation Service are of some effect, but quite frankly they are one of the most useless and ineffective parts of the justice system. I doubt if SERCO will be any better but they will have to be going some to be any worse.
"Thank you for calling G4S Policing Services Inc. Now that you have reported that pub fight, we will recruit and train an officer to attend. Please expect him in three to five days, and have no idea how to stop the fight."
ReplyDeleteAround here, Serco empty the bins and clean the streets.
ReplyDeleteLooks like another branch dealing with trash.
Ministerial Code: If it's contracted out, it's not my responsibility. If it's not my responsibility then I don't have to fear the next reshuffle.
ReplyDeleteIf it saves money and they do it better - then I don't have a problem
ReplyDeleteTrue, but in the majority of cases it doesn't and they don't, so therefore you do.
DeleteG4S didn't get to bid
ReplyDeleteBystander - just for once a Londoncentric attitude has come through on one of your posts - it's "only" CP for London that Serco has been awarded. Our contract doesn't go out for tender until much later
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is it is a scandal.
ReplyDeleteIn New Zealand Serco got a contract to run a remand prison a couple of years ago. There is a 'penalty' of 75000 pounds (approx) for each escape. There have been 2 escapes so far so the executive bonus pool is presumably down 150000 pounds.
ReplyDelete