Marianne Overton

Like some other new authority areas, Lincolnshire is asking for devolution of the criminal justice system to the new proposed combined authority.

I had the shocking experience of visiting the Victorian Lincoln Prison last week; the last week of an excellent governor who feels the system is seriously broken. I have also looked at the national position, so my comments can be more widely applied.

Violence in prisons is on the increase; both in regards to prisoners attacking other more vulnerable prisoners and attacks on prison officers (Justice, Select Committee). There is also an increase in suicides amongst the prison population (INQUEST).

In this kind of environment, recruitment and retention of prison officers gets increasingly difficult and therefore staffing levels have fallen, whilst numbers of prisoners have increased (Howard League for Penal Reform). Prisons are overcrowded, with some single person cells now housing two people per cell. With inadequate staffing, prisoners are locked up for longer, up to 23.5 hours out of every 24, eating and toileting in the same room.

This is an environment where it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to remain “sane”, but since the vast majority of inmates have already been damaged by drugs or abuse, it makes a “toxic cocktail” that is hard to bear. Reoffending rates are still high and the sense of rehabilitation is low.

So what can councils do that’s different?

Councils are responsible for children and young people and especially children in care. Still too many find themselves on the wrong side of the law and a disproportionate number end up in prison (Prison Reform Trust). Councils are responsible for public health, reducing addiction and for supporting vulnerable adults in the community.

Can we do better?

Just building big national prisons isn’t tackling the causes of offending and subsequent reoffending. Prisoners need family support on release, so breaking those bonds with expensive, long distance travel for visits is counter-productive. Local prisons are still important.

Just reducing prisoner numbers on its own would be more dangerous still if those criminals who need help are left without adequate support in the community. There has to be a realistic alternative and that inevitably costs money.

We need workers with far smaller caseloads and real access to a range of other support services for people both in prison and on release back into the community.

Much more is needed by way of assertive outreach to prevent reoffending. It is often the “softer” preventative services that get reduced first in times of austerity, but as we enter the longer term, we may be now reaping what we sowed.

The vast majority of inmates are damaged by abuse or drugs. Abusing them further by locking them up with the risk of violence and drugs, does not feel much like rehabilitation. Yet providing work and training requires higher staffing levels, which prisons have not got.

Just spending money on more prisons is throwing good money after bad, if we don’t also tackle the underlying causes of offending behaviour, including mental health issues and addiction. Without adequate support in people’s lives, they sadly disconnect from a sense of a positive future outside the penal system. With or without devolution, we have to do better.

A week is a very long time in politics and since the Annual Conference for Local Government we have a new Prime Minister and a new cabinet, without a general election. Teresa May’s acceptance speech gave recognition of the problems of ordinary people and called for unity, so we’ll see.

Echoes of the now somewhat discredited speech of “We’re all in this together” from David Cameron are apparent, but the appointment of the Right Honourable David Davis to head up a big team to negotiate exit from Europe is new.

The brightest and best are being harvested from other departments for the new team, which may put back some of the other work.

The question of what job to give ex rival Boris Johnson MP must have somewhat exercised Theresa May, and settling on Foreign Secretary will need some careful ministerial support, I would guess.

I and my colleagues leading the Local Government Association wrote to congratulate the new Prime Minister, even as she was being appointed by the Queen.

We set out clearly where we in local government can give support; in community cohesion and bringing communities back together, in public service reform and negotiating the best deal for our country in future.

We reiterated the need for local powers, for a fair and sustainable finance system and for ensuring that councils still receive the money currently allocated under the EU structural funding for projects already agreed.

Councillors from across the country contributed what they see as important now and these are I included in our submission.

I have organised an information and development session on Monday to hone our thoughts on how local government can assist post referendum, followed by a visit to Parliament after 3.30pm.

Looking at the cabinet changes gives us an idea of the new direction. We have worked well with the Rt. Hon. Greg Clarke MP who, as a former local councillor, understands local government.

He is now replaced at DCLG by the Rt, Hon. Sajid Javid, so far an unknown quantity from our point of view. We shall continue to work with Greg Clarke on economic issues in his new department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which includes research and innovation, previously part of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The closure of DECC, and the apparent downgrading of climate change, is of concern to many of our members. DEFRA – the department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is now led by Andrea Leadsom, a climate change sceptic and former banker.

She will need to demonstrate that she is able to be a strong advocate when it comes to environmental issues, which are likely to include flooding, farm payments, waste management and habitat directives.

Replacing George Osborne with Philip Hammond could signal a change. Devolution was in the party manifesto, although we have argued against new combined authorities covering very large areas with an elected mayor. I anticipate that we will be working primarily with Sajid Javid and Philip Hammond on the devolution agenda, although the detail of the new ministerial responsibilities and the changes in departments has yet to be made completely clear.

Theresa May previously indicated that the 2020 surplus budget target is likely to be dropped and austerity extended, perhaps partly based on less optimistic economic forecasts over the recent months.

It would be good to see support for our businesses to survive and thrive and help reduce inequalities. Focussing just on “increasing the economy” by an amount similar to the increase in population is not enough.

In the headlong drive for “growth”, let’s not forget what we actually need is communities in a healthy environment with matching services and infrastructure.