th
Equality and Diversity Report
20 April 2015
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1
2
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3
The Equality Act 2010 ........................................................................................................ 3
3
4
Our Commitment ............................................................................................................... 4
Our Strengths .................................................................................................................... 4
4.1
Service Delivery ..................................................................................................................... 4
4.2
People Management & HR .................................................................................................... 5
Evidence-based ................................................................................................................. 6 5
6 Vision and Plan .................................................................................................................. 6
Annex 1
– NOMS Reporting.......................................................................................................... 7
Annex 2 – HLNY CRC Specific Report ......................................................................................... 9
Record of Changes
Issue v0.1 v0.2 v1.0
Date Changes
30 Mar 2015 First draft issue for comment
17 Apr 2015
20 Apr 2015
HR Amendments
First Issue – CRC Specific as Annex
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Purple Futures is a Limited Liability Partnership led by Interserve and including Shelter, P3 and 3SC.
It has agreed contracts for five community rehabilitation companies (CRCs) to deliver services that are mainly described in the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014, the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and various other criminal justice acts. The five CRCs include Hampshire and the Isle of Wight as well as three CRCs that stretch across the north of England, from Merseyside, Cheshire and Greater
Manchester, West Yorkshire through to Humberside, Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire. Three of the
CRCs (Merseyside, West Yorkshire and Hampshire/Isle of Wight) are based on former existing probation trusts, while two (Cheshire & Greater Manchester and Humberside, Lincolnshire & North
Yorkshire have been formed from two or more former probation trusts. Collectively these five CRCs form around 25% of the total national service, reflecting Purple Future’s success in the Transforming
Rehabilitation (TR) Programme.
TR focuses on reducing re-offending by addressing offender rehabilitation and charges new providers to use innovative methods to achieve higher levels of effectiveness at reduced cost, effectiveness largely being measured as reductions of re-offending against predicted offending rates.
The Equality Act came into force in October 2010. It provides a legislative framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all. The Act is a major simplification of discrimination legislation that makes the law easier to understand and comply with.
The Equality Act contains a new integrated Equality Duty on all public bodies which brings together the existing duties on disability, race and gender and extends them to cover gender reassignment, age, religion or belief and sexual orientation. The general duty set out in the Act requires public bodies, and others who exercise public functions, to have due regard to the need to “eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation; to advance equality of opportunity; and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not”.
This duty applies across all of our functions e.g. services, employment, planning, procurement, policy making etc, and public bodies must publish information to show that they consciously considered the equality Duty as part of the decision making process.
The ‘protected characteristics’’ covered by the Equality Duty are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership (only in respect of eliminating unlawful discrimination), pregnancy and maternity, race (including ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex and sexual orientation.
The Act provides a power to make regulations imposing specific duties on public bodies. These specific duties will help deliver better performance of the public sector Equality Duty by reducing bureaucracy, and increasing transparency and democratic accountability across the public sector.
Purple Futures recognise that the duties set out in the Equality Act 2010 that will apply to
Community Rehabilitation Companies as directed by NOMS (See Annex 1.)
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Purple Futures is committed to ensuring that every individual has the opportunity to achieve their potential where people treat each other with dignity and respect”. (Equalities and Human Rights
Commission, “How Fair is Britain?” 2010)
PF led by the MD of Interserve Justice and led by the Chief Executive, has a significant role to play in achieving this national vision through the services we deliver to the community within each CRC and through the fairness of our employment policies, procedures and practices. As part of the wider
Criminal Justice System and as a significant public authority, we have the ability to recognise people’s different needs, situations and goals, and remove the barriers that limit what people can do and can be.
To effectively achieve these outcomes PF will deliver services tailored to the needs of women and other protected characteristic groups as defined by the Equality Act 2010. In the design and development of services PF is committed to conducting Equalities Analysis to ensure particular groups are not intentionally, or indeed unintentionally, discriminated against. Moreover PF is cognisant of the requirements contained in the Equality and Human Rights Code of Practice on employment and intends to fulfil its obligations to staff and suppliers of services.
To fulfil our duties under the Equality Act 2010, PF will ensure that in working with service users, victims, staff, contractors and the public that we will:

advance equality of opportunity

work to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation

foster good relations between people
This plan has been compiled in the absence of the availability of a full contract year Service Report and a Continuous Improvement Report.
Purple Futures (PF) has made a commitment to prioritise rehabilitative interventions and service provision designed to have a positive impact on women offenders and other protected characteristic groups, building on their strengths and reflecting the differences in learning styles, age and maturity, and gender.
To achieve the desired outcomes our approach and interventions will include:

Collaborative learning styles in approach

A holistic and multi-agency approach

Interventions focussed on empowering women

Effective links with mainstream provision

Women-only environments

Culturally sensitive

Provide written material in a variety of accessible formats

Ensure older service users with social care needs have a resettlement and care plan

Provide translation services where relevant
Critical to the approach is the early identification of diversity needs and the ability to understand individual needs to adopt a personalised approach for all service users to identify enablers of change and matching of provision to produce a rehabilitative support package. The interventions
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will, therefore, be underpinned by gender-informed case management and assessment, planning and implementation processes in consultation with the woman service user as appropriate.
In relation to women w e recognise the distinct factors associated with women’s offending particularly relating to high prevalence of histories of abuse, leading to increased vulnerability, inappropriate relationships, low esteem, limited efficacy and mental health concerns. To address these issues we will provide access to local providers who have a track record in working with women. Ideally these services will be delivered as ‘one-stop-shop’ services in supportive environments while integrating into the community and maintaining appropriate family links.
An analysis of protected characteristic groups has been conducted and we will offer enhanced provision to deliver the sentence of the court and address specific needs as part of RAR delivery; women; people with learning disabilities; people with mental health and physical disabilities; BAME heritage, and people who do not have English as their first language.
Moreover:

we will build on the existing service provision across the CPA

we will ensure a choice of a female case manager

provide options on effective engagement e.g. remote access and

flexibility to work around commitments such as childcare
PF aims to develop, promote and deliver employment and training opportunities without discriminating on the basis of any of the protected characteristics, or other differences which can result in unfair treatment or unlawful discrimination.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development defines Managing Diversity as “based on the concept that people should be valued as individuals for reasons related to business interests, as well as moral and social reasons. It recognises that people from different backgrounds can bring fresh ideas and perceptions which can make the way work is done more efficient and products and services better. Managing diversity successfully will help organisations to nurture creativity and innovation and thereby tap hidden capacity for growth and improved competitiveness”.
As an employer PF will monitor our practice to ensure that it is fair across the protected characteristics to:

Fairly recruit, attract, develop and retain individuals, and ensure that our workforce is representative of our community at all levels of the organisation;

Provide all employees with fair access to promotion, learning and development opportunities;

Provide a safe and accessible working environment;

Identify and put into place reasonable adjustments in a responsive and timely manner and support managers to review the effectiveness of these adjustments;

Regularly review our people management policies and practices to ensure that they support these commitments;

Support all employees to understand their rights and responsibilities in relation to discrimination, harassment and bullying, and to encourage them to challenge any unfair practice;

Maintain a workforce that reflects the diversity of the local community;

Encourage employee feedback and engagement to ensure PF meet their commitments outlined in this document.
Moreover we will:
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
Ensure compliance with Employment Law.

Monitor employment practices and policies.

Embed equality principles in training and development initiatives.

Support managers in investigating potential discrimination issues.

Provide advice/guidance to line managers and staff.
PF will monitor the needs of minority groups through our engagement with the Policy Evaluation and
Research Unit at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). Using the unit’s expertise in evidenceinformed policy, economic evaluation and policy reform in the criminal justice system the MMU will support us to:

Analyse data about protected characteristics

Analyse local demographic information

Consult with representatives of minority groups to receive feedback and improve services

Monitoring service outcomes
Each CRC will also maintain information and data on protected characteristics of staff and service users. From 01 April 2015, the CRC’s will be required to complete the data as set out below to ensure the PF can collate and analyse information to ensure that it meets it obligations.
To meet the commitments made in this document and to ensure the service provision complies with statutory equality duties and Clause 11 contract compliance PF will:

Harmonise the core Equality Plans across the CRCs

Explore the merits, and implement where benefits identified, bringing together staff networks across the CRCs

Further develop ways to demonstrate outcomes and effectiveness

Invest in assistive technology and support to ensure employees are able to fulfil their duties and roles

Implement auditable and consistent approach to the Equalities Analysis on changes to policy and working practices
 Adopt a ‘core training’ approach modelled on Interserve’s ‘Skills for Life’ training package

Produce quantitative and qualitative information on protected characteristic groups

Improve disability monitoring to ensure needs will be met

Develop and implement practice informed by the Corston Report and the Young Review

Publish the data including an annual update on websites (end January) to meet equalities duty
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Services Agreement: These clauses are part of the Services Agreement reached between the providers and NOMS/MoJ.
11. Equality and Human Rights Requirements
11.1The Contractor shall not, and shall procure that each Contractor Related Party shall not:
(a) Discriminate directly or indirectly, or by way of victimisation or harassment, against any person on Prohibited Employment Grounds; or
(b) Contravene Sections 29(6), 39, 108,109, 11, 112 and 149 of the Equality Act 2010; or
(c) unlawfully discriminate within the meaning and scope of any Applicable Law relating to discrimination in employment.
11.2 The Contractor shall, and shall procure that each Contractor Related Party shall, for the purposes of ensuring compliance with this Clause 11 in relation to personnel engaged in the provision of the Services observe as far as possible the provisions of:
(a) the Equality and Human Rights Commission Code of Practice on Employment; and
(b) any other relevant code of practice introduced by a commission or other body set up by
Parliament to promote, monitor and enforce Equalities Legislation, including those provisions recommending the adoption, implementation and monitoring of an equal opportunities policy.
11.3 The Contractor shall, at the end of each Contract Year, provide a report to the Authority demonstrating its compliance with the obligations set out in this Clause 11 during that Contract Year and its proposals in respect of equality and diversity for the following Contract Year.
11.4 The Contractor shall, and shall procure that each Contractor Related Party shall, in performing its obligations under this Agreement, comply (to the extent permitted by Applicable Law) with the provisions of Sections 149 and 150 of the Equality Act 2010 on the basis that it is a person who exercises public functions within the meaning of Section 149(2) of the Equality Act 2010.
Bidder Response Requirements: These were the equality related questions relating to service users that the bidders had to respond to:
Question 1 - Providing Services to ensure appropriate provision for all groups by reference to protected characteristics
How does the Bidder intend to deliver services in accordance with the Services Agreement that respond to the needs of all offender groups with shared protected characteristics (by reference to the protected characteristics defined by the Equality Act 2010) The Bidder should include, as a minimum:


Its assessment of the likely distribution of protected characteristics amongst the offenders in your cohort.
How the services that the Bidder provide will be tailored to meet this profiled distribution, and any other minority groups that the Bidder have identified.
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 How the Bidder will take account of legislation and protected characteristics (where appropriate) including data gathering and reporting
Question 2 - Ensuring compliance with Equality legislation and promoting workforce diversity
Describe how the Bidder will comply with the duties under s149 and s150 of the Equality Act 2010 in the provision of the services in the Services Agreement. The Bidder should, as a minimum, include:
 Its understanding of the duties set out in the Equality Act 2010 that will apply to Community
Rehabilitation Companies
 A clear plan for how the Bidder will comply with these duties in delivering the services in accordance with the draft Amended and Restated Services Agreement.*
Target Operating Model
The Target Operating Model (version 3) which was issued in advance of the Invitation to Negotiate confirms that CRCs will be obliged to comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010:
Many of the functions performed by the CRCs will be public in nature (for example the supervision of offenders in the community) and therefore in exercising those functions the CRCs will also be obliged to comply with the requirements of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010.
This obligation will be reinforced by contractual provisions. As part of their response to the
Transforming Rehabilitation competition, the CRC owners will have provided details of their intended approach to meeting these requirements and these commitments will be enforced through the contract management process.
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Humberside, Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire (HLNY) CRC consists of three former probation trust boundaries, covering a large geographical area (around 7,500 square miles). It has a population of just over 2,250,000 who are predominantly White British. The area is also a popular destination for
Eastern European migrants who now make up three percent of our resident population.
Whilst there are three main cities within the CRC, being Lincoln Hull and York, the geography of
North Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the East Riding brings significant rurality and low population density, with similarities in offender needs and types of offending.
The HLNY CRC currently manages approximately 5000 cases and is organised into four Local
Delivery Units (LDUs), which include Lincolnshire, North and North East Lincolnshire, Hull and East
Riding and North Yorkshire. The CRC employs 445 people across the four LDUs including contracted and casual staff members.
The CRC has a strong ethos of encouraging equality and diversity in all areas of its service delivery.
Specific examples of our commitment in this area include:

Service Users induction – specific individual needs assessed, recorded and incorporated into the sentence plan from the outset.

Translation services used to break down language barriers

Written information available in a number of different languages and formats

Specific female only initiatives offered in partnership with Together Women Project and the
Health Support Service

Offer gender specific programmes groups and unpaid work placements

Tailor programme delivery and materials to take into account specific learning requirements and other reasonable adjustments

Offer interventions available around school times to support those with childcare responsibilities

Equality and Diversity information captured and monitored to support service delivery development
The three former Probation areas of the CRC have a strong history in promoting equality of opportunity, eliminating discrimination and harassment and fostering good relations between people.
As CRC we continue to place diversity at the heart of our operations and have enshrined treating people with dignity and respect as a core value. Equality and diversity is a core component of our staff induction training establishing our expectations from the outset about how we treat and support our colleagues and those we work with.
Working in partnership with our colleagues in the National Probation Service, other statutory and non-statutory agencies and voluntary organisations increases our understanding of the issues facing our population and service users within the criminal justice and social care arena. We work collaboratively and supportively, training our staff and sharing expertise around safeguarding the most vulnerable members of our society.
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The work we undertake with our female service users is particularly strong with the gender specific service provisions we offer encouraging stronger engagement and completion of orders. This is an area of good practice we will be developing and rolling out further across the CRC to maximise the positive impact this service provision has had.
Whilst foreign nationals comprise a low percentage of our population and service user group, our forms and leaflets are available in a number of different languages. We also work with Big Word and local translators to assist in breaking down language barriers.
Supporting staff and service users with disabilities is also a key strength which the CRC continues to promote. The CRC looks to make all possible reasonable adjustments for service users to encourage the successful completion of their orders and supports staff throughout their employment with adjustments made to how or where people work.
There has been significant research into the impact of maturity on offending and the need for a specific approach when working with young people aged 19 to 25. Through a personalised approach
PF will develop interventions or access relevant services which recognise the different needs for the
19 to 25 cohort. PF also recognises that the type of offending an individual commits can change over a life time, and that older offenders face different challenges and barriers to engaging with services compared to younger offenders.
Age
Group
<18
18
19 - 25
26 - 54
55+
Number Percentage %
2
16
1163
3431
216
Not
Recorded
16
Total 16
0.04
0.33
24.01
70.83
4.46
0.33
An individual’s ability to engage with the criminal justice system can be significantly affected by having a disability. The collection of information around an individual’s disability has long been problematic. Often an offender is unaware that a particular condition is classed as a disability.
Offenders have often had a history of being in the care system or chaotic parenting which has led to healthcare provision and childhood and routine tests being absent or sporadic. It is acknowledged that it is likely that there is significant under-reporting of disabilities across all fields. Being able to identify and understand the demographic of our case load in relation to disability is crucial in terms of being able to design and implement interventions that will be effective.
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Disability
Status
Learning
Disability
Other Disability 182
No Disability 664
Refused
Missing
0
82
Total
Number of Commencements % of Total
18
946
1.90
19.24
70.19
0
8.67
Analysis of successful completions within the various diversity strands provides an opportunity to look at where improvements can be made in both engagement and compliance.
Gender No of successful completions Successful completion rate %
Male 499 71.90
Female 105
Total 604
77.78
72.86
There have been two significant developments in relation to ethnicity and racial background within the Criminal Justice System in recent months. Firstly the publication of the Race in Probation documentation and the recent publication of the Young Report. Both of these highlight the importance of understanding the impact that ethnicity can make upon an individual's experience of and engagement with the criminal justice system.
British,
Number Percentage %
53 1.09
Ethnic Category
Asian or Asian
Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi/Chinese
Black or Black British African/Afro-Caribbean
White British
Other BME
Missing/Refused
Total
40
4308
353
90
4844
0.83
88.93
7.29
1.86
Successful completions by ethnicity
Ethnicity No of successful completions Successful completion rate %
Asian
Black
White
British
4
10
528
Other BME 53
Total 595
80
90.91
72.13
74.65
72.65
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Asian or Asian British, Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi/Chinese,
Black or Black British African/Afro-Caribbean,
White British,
Other BME - offenders not identified in other categories
Refusals and missing data excluded.
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BA+
B6
B5
B4
B3
B2
B1
Total
It is important to note that the PF staff surveys do not presently record pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnerships.
Pay
Band
Male
Number
Male
%
Female
Number
Female
%
8
1
32
78
4
3
14
140
0.44 5
37.50 5
46.67 16
31.37 70
34.67 147
11.59 61
50 1
31.46 305
0.55
62.50
53.33
68.63
65.33
88.41
50
68.54
Staff Ethnicity
The following information is an ethnic profile of the workforce across the PF CRC’s from 01 April
2015.
Ethnic origin
Asian or Asian British: Indian
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani 2
Number Percentage (%)
0 0
0.45
Asian or Asian British:
Bangladeshi
0 0
Asian or Asian British: Other
Black or Black British: African
1
1
Black or Black British: Caribbean 2
Black or Black British: Other
Mixed: Other
7
2
Mixed: White and Asian
Not Recorded
1
Mixed: White and Black
Caribbean
0
0
0.22
0.22
0.45
1.57
0.45
0.22
0
0
Other Ethnic Group
Refusal
White: British Inc Northern Irish
4
8
413
0.90
1.8
92.81
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White: Irish Eire
White: Other
Total
2
2
445
0.45
0.45
Workforce Age Profile
Age
Band
Number Percentage
(%)
19 - 24 12
25 - 34 94
0.27
21.12
35 - 44 98
45 - 54 104
55 - 64 121
65+ 16
Total 445
22.02
23.37
27.19
2.59
Data collection for sexual orientation relies on self-declaration and PF will undertake action to gather more complete data so that further analysis can take place.
Sexual orientation Male
%
Female
%
Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual
Heterosexual
0.22 1.12
9.89 24.32
Not stated
Total
21.35 42.70
31.46 68.54
HLNY CRC is committed to achieving the Purple Future vision of ensuring every individual has the opportunity to achieve their potential, where people treat each other with dignity and respect. We will continue to push forward our equality and diversity agenda building on our strengths and capitalising on the opportunities being part of a larger organisational group of CRC’s will bring.
Specific work which will be taken forward over the next twelve months include:

Harmonising our approach to Equality and Diversity across the Purple Futures CRCs

Review and revise our Equality and Diversity policies and practices to ensure they remain consistent with legislation, best practice and Purple Futures CRCs operational priorities.

Increasing the quality of our equality and diversity monitoring information through encouraging compliance with recording processes and promoting a safe environment that gives confidence to individuals making voluntary disclosures.

Improving equality monitoring processes within the CRC and implementing effective
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feedback loops to support employment processes and service delivery developments.

Assessing availability of and developing staff support networks within our own CRC and also across the wider Purple Futures CRCs.

Further developing our female service provision across the CRC area

Working in partnership with other agencies to increase our safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults

Develop and implement our Prevent strategy to support protection from extremism

Develop and implement the CRC Service User Strategy to help capture all service user equality and diversity issues and shape future service deliver provision

Contribute to the development of the Purple Futures Directory of Services to incorporate local service provisions that meet the needs of service user groups specific to our CRC
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