Attorney General's Office

Solicitor General: opening speech to North Eastern Prison After Care Society

Vera Baird QC MP

NEPACS (North Eastern Prison After Care Society) Annual Lecture

Thank you for inviting me to speak this evening at your annual meeting. I am delighted to be here, in a room filled with people dedicated to supporting the needs of vulnerable families and their relatives in prison. I find it inspiring that you have put in place a range of activities and support for some of the most at risk.

We know that there is a strong association between parental imprisonment and adverse outcomes for children. Compared to their peers, children of prisoners have about three times the risk of antisocial or delinquent behaviour, mental health problems, and other adverse outcomes.

Research has found that for most offenders a number of complex issues including drug and alcohol misuse, financial exclusion, temporary accommodation, homelessness, chaotic lifestyle, separation from children and families, domestic violence and abuse were contributing factors to their re-offending.

Whilst offenders' families can be affected by the offender's behaviour, and punishment, it can also be a source of support and stability.

That is why providing children and young people with a place of support and activities as you are doing through NEPACS are so important. And for the offender, who may be isolated from family and friends, offering services to help maintain a relationship with their family may help to reduce re-offending and strengthen family bonds.

Shocking statistics
It is shocking to learn that a child born into the most disadvantaged 5 per cent of families is 100 times more likely to have multiple problems at age 15 than a child from the 50 per cent best-off families.

One-third of child protection cases show a history of domestic violence to the mother.

Families of 3 or more children with complex problems can cost the state between £250,000 to £350,000 pounds each.

To make a difference for these families we need a programme with power, a programme of sufficient intensity and depth to change what can be a spiral disadvantage for life. After all, the influence of a parent is the most important influence in anyone's life.

Government achievements
The Government is committed to implementing innovative measures including the legislative framework and early intensive interventions to create safety and well-being in relationships and communities, which is something that I feel very strongly about.

We now have the:

• Youth Crime Action Plan
• Violent Crime Action Plan
• Over £90m is being allocated to Local Authorities each year to provide targeted parenting and 'Think Families' programmes

The cornerstone for our ambition for young people is our 'Every Child Matters' approach. This cuts across all areas, with the aims that children:

• Be healthy;
• Stay safe;
• Enjoy and achieve;
• Make a positive contribution; and
• Achieve economic well-being.

It is right that in the Criminal Justice System we are behind these aims. They are at the heart of our aims to build safer communities. I firmly believe that young people with the right opportunities to achieve and contribute, and are protected from the very worst levels of deprivation and violence, are less likely to offend.

Addressing domestic violence has been one of our government's key achievements. We provided the legal framework to address domestic violence through the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, which ensures that all victims have coherent, appropriate and effective legal protection. We have also been improving services on the ground. Through these combined measures, domestic homicides are lower than they have been in twenty years. We now have a range of programmes to help reach priority and excluded families including those families of prisoners. Together for Children has produced guidance for Sure Start Children's Centres on working with the families of prisoners. By 2010, every community will be served by a children's centre.

The National Academy of Parenting Practitioners has produced a webpage 'Focus on Parents in Prison' which looks at the latest research and examines what the Government has been doing to address the needs of prisoners and their families. It also provides practitioners working with such families with a range of resources, including training. [www.parentingacademy.org]

Family approach
'Think Family' practice - making sure that the support provided by child and adult services is coordinated and focused on problems affecting the whole family is the only effective way of working with families experiencing the most significant problems.

This is why the Government is committed to a national programme of reform and culture change which involve all schools and children services, the NHS, Job Centres, Police, Probation and prisons:

to improve the identification and support of adults experiencing problems who are parents or carers
to co-ordinate the support that is provided by different agencies to each family, especially those experiencing significant problems

Since 2007 we have been testing the Family Nurse Partnership across England, with family nurses working with young, vulnerable first time parents and ensuring that they are linked into their Children's Centres and support.

This programme is supported by a research and development programme to help build our evidence base on effective interventions in England. As part of the Respect Action Plan, launched in January 2006, the government set up a national network of Family Intervention Projects (FIPs) to challenge and change the behaviour of the most difficult families.

In the past, local authorities, support services and enforcement agencies have struggled when confronted by challenging families whose behaviour blights their local communities and reduces their own life-chances.

These failures have often been rooted in services targeting adults or children within one family without working together, sharing information or thinking about the family as a whole.

Family Intervention Projects support and challenge families to help them address the causes of their anti-social behaviour, reduce homelessness, reduce child poverty, prevent youth crime and achieve improved outcomes for children.

FIPs gain the agreement of the family to a range of behavioural changes and engagement in interventions. Accredited parenting programmes are delivered and services such as health are brought in and coordinated around the families needs.

A key worker 'grips' the family and builds on strengths. There are over 164 FIPs operational now, and by next year there will be a FIP in every area in England. This will benefit over 50,000 families with over 100,000 children.

Barnsley, Teesside, Middleborough and other areas of the NE have already rolled out FIPs and are starting to realise the benefits of partnership working in this way.

Some of the outcomes following FIP interventions are remarkable. In one of the evaluation studies, over eighty per cent of FIP families experienced poor mental health and substance misuse, and over fifty per cent were affected by domestic violence. Some of the FIP families have family members in prison.

Typically FIPs work with families for six to twelve months. Significant early outcomes includes a reduction in the number of children going into care, reduction in domestic violence, and a high proportion of children back in school.

For families with serious levels of anti-social behaviour a reduction from sixty one per cent to just seven per cent when they left the project.

A good example of how FIPs work is a family initially referred to South Tyneside Family Intervention Project (FIP) by the police as a result of the anti-social behaviour of the eldest child, K.

K, aged 14, regularly drank alcohol and smoked cannabis and had been permanently excluded from school. He was in breach of his 12 month Supervision Order with the Youth Offending Service and the local magistrates Court had imposed a 2 year CRASBO following his involvement in a series of racially motivated public order offences.

The state of the living conditions, as well as concerns about poor parenting and parental substance misuse, saw all three children made subject to Child Protection Plans. Repeated attempts to engage with the family had failed. K was destined for custody, the younger two siblings for care.

After initially struggling to engage with the family, the persistent approach of the FIP key worker eventually paid dividends. She carried out a whole family assessment, brokered a structured programme of support from all involved agencies, and set out the consequences for the family of failing to make the significant changes outlined in the bespoke FIP agreement.

Six months after engaging with the FIP, a suitable school placement has been identified for K, and his most recent report showed 100% attendance, and greatly improved behaviour and attainment. The attendance and behaviour of his younger siblings has also improved significantly and they now engage in positive activities. K has not re-offended or breached his order.

The family's living conditions are also much improved, and K and his siblings now benefit from more appropriate levels of supervision, daily structure and boundary-setting. Both parents have benefited from intensive one-to-one parenting support, and mother continues to attend weekly drug rehabilitation sessions and with ongoing support is now clean from the drugs which once impacted so heavily on the quality of family life. She is also attending courses to help improve her self-esteem and confidence and ultimately her employability.

We have been on a journey, from dysfunction to function, from poorly coordinated support of agencies to co-ordinated community support, as Family Intervention projects demonstrate.

Women offenders
The Government is aiming to reduce the number of vulnerable women in prison; enable access to improved community provision for women at risk of offending and offenders who do not pose a serious risk to the public. And I highlight this programme of work as it will help improve support to the children of these women.

The rise in the female prison population is an issue of major concern and the Government's approach is integrated across all relevant departments, to implement key recommendations of the 2007 report by Baroness Corston into Women in the Criminal Justice System with Particular Vulnerabilities.

The work is led by Maria Eagle, the Ministerial Champion for Women and Criminal Justice Matters and chair of the Inter-Ministerial Subgroup and as part of that group I can stress that oversee the plans that include not just the criminal justice system but partners who can provide the support needed for women and their families.

We know that women offenders are some of the most disadvantaged members of our society. When we began looking at women as defendants in the CJS, we found that at least 50% of women in prison have experienced domestic violence - compared to 25% of all women in their lifetime. About a third of women offenders have been raped. These figures show DV and sexual abuse at far higher rates than in the general population. Experiences of violence and abuse can be a key factor in women's pathways to crime; if this link is not addressed, we can do little to support women to stop offending.

As part of our shared plan across Government the Ministry of Justice has provided £15.6 million of new funding for additional services in the community for women at risk of offending and offenders. This funding is aimed at building the capacity of one stop shop services at women's centres and other specialist provision in the community and including improving bail provision.

Children of offenders
We also want to do far more to support the children of all offenders. The facts are stark:

• 160,000 children with a parent in prison a year rising to 200,000 if population projections prove accurate
• Over a half of women prisoners have a child under 16 and 1 in 3 a child under 5
• 1 in 4 men in YOIs are or are about to become fathers
• 1 in 3 prisoners children suffer from mental health problems

And we know that 65% of boys with a convicted parent go on to offend and that children with mothers who have been in trouble with the law are at greater risk of poor outcomes such as poor parental interactions, anti-social behaviour and emotional problems.

Therefore all NOMS regions and Wales have Children and Family partnership plans as part of their Reducing Re-offending partnership plans. Priorities focus on promoting and maintaining positive family relationships.

Visitor Centres and play areas have been established in most prisons supported by Third Sector partnerships, and many hold dedicated children and family visit days.

NOMS and DCSF have a joint development programme including;

• Hidden Sentence-an awareness training programme for those working with families in custodial settings;
• Family Support Workers in 3 prison pilot sites;
• The Families Do Matter project that has been extended from the West Midlands to include London and the South West where partnership models are being tested.

We also need to equip frontline practitioners with the necessary tools to improve service provision. We have good practice programmes and 'toolkits', plus improved information in courts, and have provided guidance for those working with the children and families of offenders.

We are working with DCSF and other partners to ensure women offenders are recognised as a priority for action to support families at risk through the national roll out of 'Think Family'. This includes a strong focus on early intervention and tackling child poverty which are both part of our vision for working with women offenders.

A joint MoJ/DCSF Conference on 3 November will provide an opportunity to spell out just what is needed to support children whose parents are offenders and to highlight the support that is being provided and as part of wider developments.

There are some challenges we face, which include strengthening partnership arrangements and joint commissioning in the context of tightened financial constraints.

We are however developing better information on the size and nature of the problems and on what works.

The value for money is being demonstrated, with Family Intervention Projects as example. We are building the evidence base that early interventions work, are cost effective and can reduce the harm to those most vulnerable.

Conclusion
We have done, and continue to do a lot to focus attention on these important areas, to equip practitioners to tackle the problem effectively, to improve services for vulnerable families and to reduce re-offending and cycles of dysfunction.

There must be skilled, committed, collaborative working at local level if full advantage is to be taken of a co-ordinated community response.

We know that none of this is achievable without the excellent contributions to addressing these issues from the voluntary sector. Much good work has already been done, including the valuable work that NEPACS has done and will do to make a difference to prisoners and their families.