Written Answers. - Probation and Welfare Service.
Seán Crowe
Question:
167
Mr. Crowe
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the progress which has been made in implementing the NESF report on reintegration of prisoners, and specifically, recommendations 6.23 and 6.24 regarding criminal records; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[24151/02]
A central focus of the NESF report in question is on the barriers to reintegration and the need for targeted and coherent mechanisms to ensure that prisoners can be more effectively integrated back into the community. The report's overall conclusion is that what is required are key institutional mechanisms or models to spearhead and ensure effective follow-through on the report's recommendations.
Priority is being given to developing these mechanisms. A high level co-ordination group on prisoner reintegration has been established, and is chaired by an assistant secretary from my Department. This group is composed of senior officials from the various Departments and statutory agencies who are identified in the report as having a role to play in progressing its implementation; and, I think this reflects the fact that, as the report makes clear, it is not only my Department but its associated agencies that will have a significant role in this regard. The group will also be drawing on the expertise of the many community and voluntary groups that have experience of dealing with the issues raised by the report. The group is currently examining the areas for action highlighted in the report and will oversee the implementation of the appropriate recommendations.
The elaboration of positive sentence management, as a mechanism for effective integration and co-ordination of all services and programmes designed to meet the complex and diverse needs of offenders, is a key task for the Prisons Service. Important aspects of this task are the building of alliances and partnerships with the wider community and the development of a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of drug treatment, education, vocational training and multi-disciplinary programmes, including offender behaviour programmes. The appointment of a Director of Regimes in the Prisons Service has been an important step in this process and will provide an administrative driver for this task. It is intended to establish, in the very near future, a working group on positive sentence management within the Prisons Service comprising all the relevant agencies and bodies. This working group will be mindful of and take heed of best practice in other jurisdictions.
Inter-agency working, the multi-disciplinary team approach and the elaboration of positive sentence management are each concepts with which my Department, the Irish Prisons Service and the probation and welfare service are already fully familiar. The Prisons Service's strategy statement 2001 to 2003, which was launched in October 2001, sets forth in some detail the strategic work programme on which the service has already embarked to dovetail these concepts into the daily workings of the service and each individual institution. Indeed many of the actions highlighted by the NESF report had previously been identified by both the Irish Prisons Service and the probation and welfare service, and work on implementing them has been progressing.
The most noteworthy of these is the homeless offenders strategy team, HOST, a multi-agency accommodation directorate, which has recently been established, with the probation and welfare service as the lead agency and an assistant principal probation and welfare officer as director of the unit. The team has a national remit in relation to both offenders under probation and welfare service supervision in the community as well as those in custody and provides a focus for identifying and redressing pathways into homelessness associated with offending and imprisonment. Dublin City Council has already seconded one staff member to work on a full-time basis with the team. Since its establishment, the strategy team has set about enhancing existing contact and liaison with the voluntary and community sector, in particular with organisations concerned with the provision of accommodation and related supports and services to prisoners and ex-prisoners.
In regard to the specific sections in the NESF report referred to by the Deputy and the subsequent recommendations, I wish to advise the House that section 6(4) of the Employment Equality Act, 1998, which came into operation on 18 October 1999, provides as follows: "The Minister shall review the operation of this Act, within 2 years of the coming into operation of this section, with a view to assessing whether there is a need to add to the discriminatory grounds set out in this section." A similar provision was subsequently included in the Equal Status Act, 2000.
As part of the review of the 1998 Act, a discussion paper was produced by my Department, and a round table conference involving the social partners, relevant Departments, the Equality Authority, the Office of the Director of Equality Investigations and the Labour Court was held in September 2001.
At the round table conference, some participants argued that the Employment Equality Act, 1998, should be amended to include the new ground of criminal conviction/ex-prisoner/ex-offender as well as three other new grounds: socio-economic status, including social origin or social origin as a separate ground, trade union membership and political opinion. It was acknowledged that these new grounds are complex in terms of definition and that the practical implications of the proposed new grounds would require detailed examination.
It has been decided to carry out a survey of international experience of legislation in the above mentioned areas. A contract has been awarded to carry out this research. The research will be completed by the end of the year and published shortly after. The findings of this research and the information obtained through the Department's consultations in relation to the review will inform any future policy decisions.
It is an overall aim of my Department to provide and maintain a secure, efficient, and progressive system of containment and rehabilitation for offenders. The National Economic and Social Forum report provides a timely and well-researched contribution to the development of this policy aim.
Question No. 168 answered with Question No. 67.
