THE Department of Home Affairs has welcomed the feedback from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation contained in a report about the Isle of Man Probation Service published yesterday.
The document A Report on Offender Case Management in the Isle of Man assesses the service delivered by the Island with the aim of ‘providing a focus for future improvement work within that service’.
The UK’s Chief Inspector of Probation, Andrew Bridges, reported inspectors had found that ‘overall there has been some welcome improvement when compared with previous inspections’ and in particular noted ‘improvement in the leadership of the Probation Service and positive engagement with key external partners, particularly in respect of public protection’.
Additional praise was given for increased emphasis on performance management within the Service, although he found more emphasis was needed on improving the qualitative aspects of work with offenders, and this was recognised by the Service’s senior managers.
The report follows an inspection undertaken in November last year at the invitation of the Department, which is not subject to statutory inspections by HMI.
Home Affairs Minister Adrian Earnshaw MHK said: ‘Having heard the Inspectors’ verbal feedback immediately following their inspection, I view this report as constructive. Recommendations contained in the report will help to shape the way forward for the future of the Probation Service.
‘Probation officers have an important role to perform within the work of the Department. Such work is often difficult and bears great responsibility and I am heartened by the positive comments about the Service’s work, in particular its input into protecting the public on the Island.’
The report included some examples of good practice and culminated in eight recommendations, the majority of which were centred on the need to further improve the quality of the work. The quantitative work of the Service and its performance management was seen to be good but the actual quality of some of the Service’s interventions was deemed to need varying levels of improvement.
Chief Probation Officer David Sellick said: ‘Staff have worked hard since the previous inspection in 2006 and, whilst it is recognised that the report identified that varying levels of improvement were still needed in some areas of work, it is very much a case of building on the positives.’
He added: ‘I am particularly proud of the recognition the HMI noted of the significant strategic input of the Probation Service as, with such a small Service, such dedication needed real commitment. Also that with such a “lean” management team this reflected well on the Director of Operations, Pat Ingram.’
Acting Chief Executive Mark Kelly commented: ‘The Department has accepted all the recommendations within the report that can be actioned immediately while those recommendations that have resource implications are being given further attention.’
The Report can be viewed online at the HMI website: http://www.justice.gov.uk/inspectorates/hmi-probation/. Published copies are being distributed to Members of Tynwald and are available to view at the Department of Home Affairs, Homefield, 88 Woodbourne Road, Douglas, or at the Tynwald Library.
