DECISION RECORD · 2020. 7. 30. · Disposals Budget within the Commissioning Budget, which has been provisionally allocated as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy. £83,125

DECISION RECORD

Decision ID: PCCML 000504 2019

Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, Southampton

Decision title

Aligning the timescales of three out of court disposals (OoCD) to support a review of their effectiveness, and time to mobilise future commissioning arrangements

Executive summary

Conditional Cautions are a type of Out of Court Disposal (OoCD) which aim to reduce reoffending and address low level crime through an alternative means to the court process. They provide rehabilitative opportunities for offenders to turn their lives around at the earliest opportunity. Conditional Cautions also cascade savings to the rest of the Criminal Justice System, for example the Office for Criminal Justice Reform estimate that it costs up to £1,400 to prosecute an offender, but only £450 to issue a Conditional Caution.

This report seeks to align three Conditional Cautions so that they all end in March 2021. Aligning these Conditional Cautions gives time to learn from the university evaluation, and the option to merge interventions from April 2021. Furthermore, if all three Conditional Cautions were to end March 2021, there would be time to follow a procurement process to ensure the right interventions are commissioned from April 2021, which are cost effective and awarded to the best provider.

The three Conditional Cautions relate to ‘Project CARA’ which tackles intimate domestic abuse and is due to end March 2020, a second Conditional Caution which tackles ‘non-intimate domestic abuse’ and which is due to end March 2021, and a third Conditional Caution which supports Female Offenders called ‘Women and Desistance Engagement’ or WaDE which is due to end August 2020. As the non-intimate Conditional Caution already ends March 2021, this does not form a part of this decision report.

Subject to achieving good outcomes and offering value for money, the longer term plan is to go out to tender and provide these three Conditional Cautions through contracts from April 2021. This decision notice proposes that the Police and Crime Commissioner allocates £83,125 for the 2020/21 financial year from the Out of Court Disposals Budget within the Commissioning Budget, which has been provisionally allocated as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

£83,125 is the total amount needed to extend ‘Project CARA’ and ‘WaDE’ until March 2021.

This proposal supports the Police and Crime Commissioner’s priorities of Reducing Offending (as offenders are supported around rehabilitation), Championing Community Needs (as the victim has their say in Out of Court Disposals), Supporting

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Frontline Policing (as police can access a quick and effective means of dealing with less harmful offences, allowing them to spend more time on tackling serious offending).

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Commissioner agrees:

To align the Conditional Cautions of ‘Project CARA’ and ‘Women and Desistance Engagement’ (WaDE) to end March 2021

To allocate the sum of £83,125 for the 2020/21 financial year from the Out of Court Disposals budget within the Commissioning Budget, which has been provisionally allocated as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy. This is broken down as follows:

1. To extend the Conditional Caution relating to Women and Desistance Engagement (WaDE) from August 2020, through a variation of the grant agreement so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant amount is increased by £23,125.

2. To extend the Conditional Caution relating to Project CARA from March 2020 through a variation of the grant agreement so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant amount is increased by £60,000.

Statement on publication

This Decision Record and supporting Decision Request documentation is suitable for publication.

Police and Crime Commissioner approval

I hereby approve the recommendation above.

Comments on the decision taken:

Considering the OoCD environment as a whole could undertake better effectiveness and aligning the review dates creates this opportunity.

Signature:

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Name: Michael Lane Police and Crime Commissioner – Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, Southampton

Date: 30-Oct-19

DECISION REQUEST


v3.0 dated 15-Oct-19 Page 1

Decision Window: 2019-09

Document version history:

Version Number

Version date Requester of change Summary of change(s)

v1.0 12-Sep-19 n/a – First issue n/a – First issue

v1.1 16-Sep-19 OPCC Programme Office Minor formatting changes only.

v2.0 24-Sep-19 Consultation group Changes made as a result of consultation comments.

v3.0 15-Oct-19 PCC Changes requested following review by the PCC.

Decision title: Aligning the timescales of three out of court disposals (OoCD) to support a review of their effectiveness, and time to mobilise future commissioning arrangements

Requester details:

Requester: Karen Dawes

Role title: Commissioning and Contracts Manager

1 Summary

Hampshire Constabulary is leading the way with the enhanced use of Out of Court Disposals (OoCD) and was the first police force in the country to receive dispensation from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) to use Conditional Cautioning for domestic abuse in cases of intimate partner violence through ‘Project CARA’. Project CARA is currently grant funded until March 2020 and this decision seeks approval of a variation of the agreement, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, to change the funding period and the grant amount so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant amount is increased by £60,000.

The Police and Crime Commissioner recently introduced two new OoCDs to be offered as part of a conditional caution: ‘Non Intimate Domestic Abuse’ which is grant funded and currently approved until March 2021, and Support for Female Offenders through a project called WaDE or Women and Desistance Engagement. WaDE is currently grant funded until 15th August 2020 and this decision seeks approval of a variation of the agreement, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, to

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change the funding period and the grant amount so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant amount is increased by £23,125.

This report seeks to align three Conditional Cautions so that they all end in March 2021. Aligning these Conditional Cautions gives time to learn from the university evaluation, and the option to merge interventions from April 2021. Furthermore, if all three Conditional Cautions were to end March 2021, there would be time to follow a procurement process to ensure the right interventions are commissioned from April 2021, which are cost effective and awarded to the best provider.

Subject to achieving good outcomes and offering value for money, the longer term plan is to go out to tender and provide these three Conditional Cautions through contracts from April 2021. This decision notice proposes that the Police and Crime Commissioner allocates £83,125 for the 2020/21 financial year from the Out of Court Disposals Budget within the Commissioning Budget, which has been provisionally allocated as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

£83,125 is the total amount needed to extend ‘Project CARA’ and ‘WaDE’ until March 2021.

2 Recommendation

It is recommended that the Commissioner agrees:

To align the Conditional Cautions of ‘Project CARA’ and ‘Women and Desistance Engagement’ (WaDE) to end March 2021

To allocate the sum of £83,125 for the 2020/21 financial year from the Out of Court Disposals budget within the Commissioning Budget, which has been provisionally allocated as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy. This is broken down as follows:

1. To extend the Conditional Caution relating to Women and Desistance Engagement (WaDE) from August 2020, through a variation of the grant agreement so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant amount is increased by £23,125.

2. To extend the Conditional Caution relating to Project CARA from March 2020 through a variation of the grant agreement so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant amount is increased by £60,000.

3 Strategic context

This proposal supports the Police and Crime Commissioner’s priorities of Reducing Offending (as offenders are supported around rehabilitation), Championing Community Needs (as the victim has their say in Out of Court Disposals), Supporting

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Frontline Policing (as police can access a quick and effective means of dealing with less harmful offences, allowing them to spend more time on tackling serious offending).

In October 2017, the National Strategy for Charging and OoCDs was prepared by Hampshire Constabulary’s DCC Sara Glen, and launched by the National Police Chief’s Council ‘NPCC’. This proposal supports and aligns with the strategy and the Commissioner’s priorities, particularly in relation to the following:

1) ‘Conditional Out of Court Disposals provide rehabilitative opportunities to offenders to turn their life around at the earliest opportunity and before they find themselves in the Criminal Justice System and court process’.

2) Nationally, ‘the profile of crime is changing and more serious offences are being reported. A simplified framework and conditional Out of Court Disposals provide efficient and effective processes for PIP1 investigators to deal with lower level offending whilst providing rehabilitative opportunities and reparation for victims, which allows PIP2 investigators to focus on serious and complex crime’.

3) ‘Victim Satisfaction – conditional Out of Court Disposals allow victims to be involved in decision making and condition setting, the victims voice is heard and reparation is delivered’

In May 2018, Hampshire Constabulary moved from six OoCD options to the simplified Two-Tier Framework; Community Resolutions and Conditional Cautions, as below;

Community Resolution (CR) – a voluntary informal agreement aimed predominantly at first-time offenders for less serious offences. CRs offer victims an informal, flexible response to the matter they have reported. They empower victims by allowing them to have a say in how their matter is dealt with. Conditions can be attached to a CR, however there are no enforcement options available if the offender fails to comply.

Conditional Caution (CC) – a caution with conditions attached which aim to focus on rehabilitation and reparation to the victim. If the offender fails to comply with the conditions they may be prosecuted for the original offence.

The NPCC Strategy for OoCDs and Charging states that while the two tier framework may see an increased cost/resource to policing by using the conditional OoCDs framework and funding interventions, it is expected that reductions will be seen in case file preparation and in demand if offenders receive appropriate diversion to prevent reoffending.

A report written by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, which included an indicative resource cost of disposals showed that it costs up to £1,400 to prosecute

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an offender, compared with £450 to issue a Conditional Caution. Conditional OoCDs can provide rehabilitative opportunities without the significant cost of court time.

The strategy also highlights the benefit of proportionate frontend decision making providing an overall cost benefit to the Criminal Justice System. While arresting someone, taking them to custody and handing them over to investigations may save time for the initial attending officer, it takes significantly longer overall than if they had been dealt with by way of OoCD.

In 2018, the Commissioner’s Team in partnership with police undertook a review of Out of Court Disposals and as a result identified the following gaps. Much has been progressed since that time, as highlighted in italics below:

Hate Crime – (currently subject to a dispensation being granted by the DPP)

Non-Intimate Partner Abuse (now in place)

Anger Management (currently being considered as an OoCD for Emotional Coaching)

Conflict Resolution

Harassment related to Social Media

Debt/Finance Management

Interventions specific to female offenders (now in place)

Some of these interventions were welcomed in the invitation to bid document as part of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s (PCC’s) Safer Communities Grant Fund.

WaDE – Women and Desistance Engagement

WaDE was one of the successful projects through the Commissioner’s grant bidding round to be offered as a pilot to test its effectiveness. WaDE or Women and Desistance Engagement is an Out of Court Disposal which relates to an intervention to support female offenders. The Hampton Trust have been awarded funding to deliver WaDE until 15th August 2020 and this Decision Request seeks approval of a variation of the agreement, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, to change the funding period and the grant amount so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant amount is increased by £23,125. WaDE is being evaluated by Southampton University. The evaluation is due to end around the same time as the current grant expires. Therefore, there would be no time for the Commissioning and Partnerships Team to learn from the evaluation, understand its effectiveness, including value for money, and ultimately be in a position to recommend the best future commissioning arrangement.

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Domestic Abuse – Project CARA

Project CARA is the first completed randomised control trial of a domestic violence policing strategy in the history of the United Kingdom. Hampshire Constabulary was the first police force in this country to receive dispensation to use Conditional Cautioning for intimate partner violence. As a result of the successful pilot and evaluation, Project CARA was rolled out across the whole of Hampshire and other police forces are now applying for their exemption in this area.

Project CARA is due to end March 2020, and this Decision Request seeks approval of a variation of the agreement, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, to change the funding period and the grant amount so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 to align Project CARA with the OoCD for non-intimate Domestic Abuse (also grant funded until March 2021). Both interventions focus on healthy relationships. As the non-intimate domestic abuse intervention only commenced in September 2019, aligning both timescales enables the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Team to understand the effectiveness of the non-intimate domestic abuse intervention and realise any potential opportunities for tendering both OoCDs through one contract (commencing April 2021).

4 Options appraisal

Option 1 - Do nothing

The female offenders OoCD called WaDE would continue until 15th August 2020 with nothing in place from that point onwards.

The intimate domestic abuse OoCD called Project CARA would continue until March 2020 with nothing in place from that point onwards. Furthermore, it would not be aligned to the non intimate domestic abuse OoCD which has already been approved until March 2021 and therefore commissioners would miss potential opportunities to jointly tender both OoCDs (i.e. intimate and non-intimate domestic abuse).

If these OoCDs were not in place, offenders would miss the opportunity for early support and rehabilitation which may lead to re-offending.

Recommendation - Option 2 - Do something

It is recommended that the grant agreement relating to support for female offenders called ‘WaDE’ (Women and Desistance Engagement) be varied, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, to change the funding period and the grant amount so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant amount is increased by £23,125. This variation gives commissioners time to learn from the Southampton University evaluation and understand the effectiveness of WaDE, including value for money, and to be in a position to recommend the best future commissioning arrangement.

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It is also recommended that Project CARA grant agreement which addresses intimate domestic abuse be varied, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, to change the funding period and the grant amount so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant amount is increased by £60,000. This would align both non intimate and intimate domestic abuse PCC grant funded OoCDs, allowing time for the non-intimate domestic abuse intervention to be embedded and evaluated, and highlighting future opportunities to tender both OoCDs through one contract commencing April 2021.

5 Timescales

If approved, the OoCDs for WaDE and Project CARA would continue until March 2021. The OoCD relating to non-intimate domestic abuse is already approved until March 2021.

This would align all three OoCDs to 31 March 2021.

Commissioners would have time to work with procurement and go out to tender with new contracts in place from April 2021.

6 Financial and resourcing implications

This proposal has financial implications of £83,125 in total to be distributed in the 2020/21 financial year.

It is recommended that £83,125 be allocated for the 2020/21 financial year from the Out of Court Disposals budget within the Commissioning Budget which has been provisionally allocated as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Funding allocation in each financial year

2018-19 2019-20 2020-21

Capital £0 £0 £0

Revenue £0 £0 £83,125

Funding source Capital (insert ‘Yes’ if applicable)

Revenue (insert ‘Yes’ if applicable)

Transformation reserve

Commissioner’s reserve

Commissioning budget Yes

Approved capital programme

General fund

Other: Specifically the Out of Court Disposal budget within the Commissioning and Partnership’s budget APC15

Yes

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7 Communications and engagement implications

The Communications and Engagement team will continue to work in partnership with Hampshire Constabulary Corporate Communications team to ensure that the range of interventions available are communicated effectively to frontline officers.

This would be a suitable decision notice for wide publicity which also supports the outcome of raising awareness of the work of Hampshire Constabulary and the support from the PCC in keeping communities safe.

8 Legal implications

Under Section.143 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, the PCC may provide or arrange for the provision of services to secure or contribute to securing crime and disorder reduction, or which help victims or witnesses of, or other persons affected by, offences and antisocial behaviour.

It is proposed that the Project CARA grant agreement which addresses intimate domestic abuse be varied, in accordance with the provisions of the agreement, to change the funding period and the grant amount so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant amount is increased by £60,000.

It is also proposed that the grant agreement relating to the project which supports Female Offenders called ‘WaDE’ (Women and Desistance Engagement), be varied, to change the funding period and the grant amount so that the funding period terminates on 31st March 2021 and the grant is increased by £23,125.

9 Risks and mitigation

There is a risk that the evaluation from Southampton University will conclude that WaDE is not an effective intervention. The current provider of both interventions (WaDE and Project CARA) is the Hampton Trust, and there are no known concerns around sustainability and resilience.

10 Strategic policing requirement

OoCDs are designed to provide simple, swift and proportionate ways of responding to anti-social behaviour and low-medium risk offending. As a result, it is extremely unlikely that this decision will have direct implications on national strategic policing requirements. However, indirectly these disposals give police officers a quick and effective means of dealing with less harmful offences, allowing them to spend more time on frontline duties and on tackling serious offending.

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11 Equalities

Hampshire Constabulary arrest and issue OoCDs to a wide range of vulnerable offenders, many of whom have protected characteristics. The services that will be commissioned will contribute towards the elimination of unlawful discrimination and the advancement of equality of opportunity. The service needs to be responsive and include those who traditionally find it difficult to access services.

12 Data Protection implications

There are no General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) implications associated with this decision request. The PCC’s Office would not hold any personal information of the offenders accessing diversionary courses as a result of this funding.

The clauses include within the grant agreements for both Project CARA and WaDE reflect current GDPR requirements.

13 Publication status

This report is suitable for publication.

14 Personnel consulted

The following personnel were consulted on the Decision Request.

Role Organisation Confirmation of consultation

(insert ‘Yes’ if applicable)

Chief Executive OPCC

Deputy Chief Executive / Assistant PCC (Criminal Justice)

OPCC Yes

Chief Finance Officer OPCC (HCC) Yes

Head of Strategic Commissioning and Partnerships OPCC Yes

Head of Communication and Engagement OPCC Yes

Head of Performance and Information OPCC Yes

Head of Public Affairs OPCC Yes

Head of Standards and Compliance OPCC Yes

Head of Estate OPCC Yes

Programme Office Manager OPCC Yes

Accountant OPCC (HCC) Yes

Deputy Monitoring Officer OPCC (HCC) Yes

Head of Strategic Procurement HCC Yes

Commissioning and Partnerships Officer OPCC Yes

Police Tactical Advisor to OPCC HC Yes

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15 Annexes

None.

16 Background papers

None.

Documents

DECISION RECORD · 2020. 7. 30. · Disposals Budget within the Commissioning Budget, which has been provisionally allocated as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy. £83,125