Commissioning Strategies Group

Joining up services for children and families of offenders

National and local responses

Sarah Davis, national lead, National Offender Management Service (NOMS)

Tim Carter, Assistant Director, Barnardo’s and seconded to NOMS

Commissioning Strategies Group

Why are drain covers often round?

Commissioning Strategies Group

Commissioning Strategies Group

Joining up services

What are the barriers to overcome?

• No shared outcomes between agencies• Prison narrow focus on child protection• Problems in identifying the children• Commissioning across LA boundaries• OASYs limitations in focusing on risk than need• Limits to information sharing • Removal of regional planning structures• Impact of re-structuring on momentum• Overcrowding works against local planning for

prisons

Commissioning Strategies Group

What enables it to happen?

• Resources• Partnership working• Links with existing integrated approaches• Strategy/ Policy• Practice• Identification of families and information sharing• Schools• Wales

Commissioning Strategies Group

Moving forward

1. National framework guidance to support prison specifications and outcome guidance

2. DCLG Troubled Families unit

specific focus on families with multiple/ complex needs

3. Community Budget pilotsdevolved decision making and budgetary control for children and family related services

4. Growing awareness Local Authority Children’s Plans, Hidden Sentence Training, engagement of Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards

5. Reducing offending / re-offending the economic case

Commissioning Strategies Group

National picture

• Cross government working• Social Justice Strategy• Troubled Families programme• NOMS / DfE family support programme• Building the evidence base – Desistence theories• Commissioning intentions and specification of

service• National strategy – local interpretation and

implementation