- Conference
- 2004 Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 3 June 2004
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes with alarm the Government’s hasty, ill-thought and misguided proposals to break up the National Probation Service and create the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The proposals have received no proper parliamentary scrutiny and are being rushed through without due consultation, or the ability of unions or probation employers to affect the outcome of reform.
Conference is horrified at the scale of the proposals which will:
·fragment the Probation Service into artificial purchaser/provider arms
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·split the Service into two seperate employers
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·force the provider arm to compete for work with the private and community and voluntary sector
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·reduce the current 42 Probation Board employers to 10 Regional Management Boards (9 English regions and Wales)
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·amalgamate existing probation offices in 10 new Regional Business Centres
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Conference opposes these dangerous proposals because they will:
·break up the Probation Service
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·replace the public sector social work ethos of probation with that of the market
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·usher in the widespread privatisation of probation service
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·lead to job insecurity and stress for our overburdened probation members
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·create a US-style corrections agency, based on the flawed concept that punishment is better than rehabilitation
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Conference therefore calls upon the Executive to:
·support the National Probation Forum in its fight to oppose the NOMS proposals
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·seek the support of the UNISON Labour Link in fighting the NOMS plans when the proposals come before Parliament
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·call upon the Government to extend the two-tier workforce protections into the Probation Service
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·campaign with the other criminal justice trade unions against the NOMS proposals
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