BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY

Contents

Introduction
Towards Race Equality
Options for using the examples of good practice in your area 3

Section 1
Understanding Cultures
Working with minority ethnic communities 7

Section 2
Evidence Based Recruitment
Using assessment centres to improve the validity and reliability of recruitment 19

Section 3
Spreading the Net
How on-line information supports good practices and promotes race equality 31

Section 4
Building the Jigsaw
Towards race equality through monitoring and improving service delivery 43

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2
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY
Towards Race Equality
Options for using the examples of good practice in your area

The Probation Service is committed to the development of ‘What Works’ in all aspects of its work.
The pursuit of excellence and best practice and the sharing of knowledge are particularly critical in
the area of race equality.
The Thematic Inspection ‘Towards Race Equality’ highlighted the variety of shortcomings in our
employment and service delivery practices. The Report however identified a number, albeit few, of
examples of good practice. The Diversity Strategy Board is committed to an action plan which
requires the Service to identify, write up and disseminate periodically examples of good practice in
race equality. These are to include employment and service delivery examples.
This report is the first in a series of publications of such case studies. Whilst our starting point is
race equality examples, the long-term commitment is to the wider diversity agenda.
I congratulate all those whose examples are included here. I encourage a wide use of these
examples and look forward to more creativity as we aim for achievement of excellence in our
diversity objective.
I commend this report to you all.

Eithne Wallis

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4
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY
Towards Race Equality
Options for using the examples of good practice in your area

T
he enclosed case studies have been
written with the help of five probation
areas to provide examples of the work
that is being done Towards Race Equality.
Each example also includes a number of
questions based on the European Excellence
Model (EEM) framework to enable you to
‘benchmark’ the progress you have made in
your own area.
The four examples can be used in a number of
ways. They can be used
(i) individually when you are exploring
specific issues
(ii) collectively as a resource and
(iii) as a basis for developing your own local
examples of good practice.
The following options are not mutually
exclusive and if you can think of wider uses
please let us know.

Individual examples
1 Evidence based recruitment
Human Resources Managers responsible for recruitment and selection could use this example
with appropriate colleagues to support a review and the development of the area’s own policies
and processes for recruitment and selection. Areas could also use the case to help explore the
possibility of developing an assessment centre approach to selection on a regional basis if they
have not got the resources to do it within an individual area.
2 Understanding cultures
This example could be used with partner organisations to encourage the exploration of local
issues and potential strategies for working with minority ethnic communities, or within the area
to encourage an assessment of local communities and possible strategies for working with
them. (This could be related to the area’s commitment to action under the Race Relations
(Amendment) Act 2000 and/or in response to the National priorities and be included in the Area
Business Plan)
3 Spreading the net
This example could be used to trigger discussion about the development of your own area (or
regional) database and valuable sources of data which can be accessed.
4 Building the jigsaw
This example could be used to explore your area’s mechanisms for monitoring and developing
services to minority ethnic offenders and their families and developing effective relationships
with voluntary and other agencies.

5
 All examples your area as part of preparation for EEM
assessment. The questions can be used as
✓ Put the examples on the intranet in your they are or adapted to more specifically
area for all staff to access whenever they reflect your own initiatives.
feel it may be useful reference material. You ✓ Use the examples to support developing
could add nationally available information joint approaches with partner agencies to
and local examples of good practice and inform/promote understanding and the
develop your own database. (You may wish development of joint strategies. This could
to highlight the availability of the material include agencies within the Criminal Justice
by newsletter or notice and use the System, voluntary organisations and/or
attached introduction or write your own.) those representing minority ethnic
✓ Copy the examples and hold them with other communities with whom you work or wish
research/learning material in your area’s to develop a working relationship.
resource centre/Staff Development ✓ Use the examples in publicity or at
Unit/Library to be freely available for staff use. conferences to raise awareness of the work
✓ Use the examples as case studies during being done in the service. (Please speak
staff, new manager and board member with the contact from the relevant areas
induction to enable them to involved in producing the examples before
using the examples in a public forum).
(i) explore the issues and discuss good
practice in Race Equality MOST IMPORTANT – make colleagues aware
that the examples exist, where they can be
(ii) identify their role in promoting good found and how they might be used to
practice in Race Equality and support and develop good practice.
(iii) develop their understanding of the
EEM model and how it can be used.
✓ Use the examples as case studies in Race
Awareness training (for example without
the questions, asking the group to generate
the questions they would ask in order to
benchmark good practice).
✓ Use any or all of the examples in
management teams to review current
practice in Race Equality and develop
strategies for developing/promoting diversity
in your area and/or developing and
monitoring services to minority ethnic
offenders and their families.
✓ Use any or all of the examples amongst
senior managers/those leading on EEM as
an example of how the EEM framework can
be used, or to evaluate current practice in

6
 Section 1
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY

Understanding Cultures
Working with minority ethnic communities
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY
Understanding Cultures
Working with minority ethnic communities
Summary
O
ne of the findings of Towards Race
Equality – Thematic Inspection,
published in 2000 states:
“It was apparent that all services had considerable
work to do to improve their standing and gain the
confidence of local minority ethnic communities,
both in terms of work with offenders and as a
potential employer. Partner organisations proved a
valuable resource in providing culturally sensitive
services for minority ethnic offenders. Services
needed to ensure that there was appropriate
consultation and communication with local
minority ethnic communities in devising and
implementing strategies.”
Lancashire Probation Service – Asian
Offender Project Progress Report in
November 2000 states:
“East Lancashire contains a significant proportion
of its population from minority ethnic groups,
and whilst striving towards a more representative
staff group, Lancashire Probation Service does
not currently have a staff group which reflects
the communities it serves.”
This example explores the work that has been
ongoing for a number of years with minority
ethnic communities in East Lancashire, in
particular the community of Pakistani Muslim
heritage in Pendle. Starting before the current
emphasis on effective practice and partnerships,
it illustrates an innovative and proactive
approach to building better understanding and
relationships between the probation service and
the communities it serves. It includes the current
joint project with ITHAAD, a community
organisation based in Pendle. (ITHAAD is an
Urdu word for unity), the key elements of the
approach, its outcomes and the lessons learnt
by Lancashire Probation Service and ITHAAD. It
also covers the subsequent actions taken by
senior managers in the service to adopt this
learning, promote race equality and implement
the recommendations in the report of the
thematic inspection.
There are two key learning points from this
work. In order to work effectively with
communities, it is necessary to:
1 recognise and understand the multiple
cultures that exist within them. For example,
different cultures based on country of
origin, ethnic group, faith, age, family and
personal values. Similarly, there are different
cultures within various Criminal Justice
Agencies and different attitudes, experience
and levels of understanding within staff
groups in Probation Service and other
organisations; and
2 gather detailed specific information about
the issues, identify options for action and be
willing to address them in an innovative way.
Other examples in this series will explore the
issues of effective service delivery and
monitoring in more detail.
For further information please contact
Mary Whyham at Lancashire Probation
Service on 01772 201209
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BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY
Understanding Cultures
Working with minority ethnic communities
Background
T
here is a well established and substantial
minority ethnic population in East Lancashire.
It is primarily Muslim and of South Asian
heritage. The Asian communities are
concentrated in Blackburn and Pendle, a
significant community in Hyndburn and smaller
communities in Burnley and Rossendale. The
largest community is of Pakistani heritage which,
in some areas of the town of Nelson, represents
the majority of the population. There is a large
Indian community in Blackburn and small
Bangladeshi communities in other towns.
(Lancashire Probation Service – Asian
Offenders Project – Progress Report
30/11/00)
At this point, it is important to note that the
Asian population in Pendle is almost uniquely
Muslim and from one particular area of Pakistan.
It is, therefore, closer to being one community
than the several communities that may be found
in other areas. The initial work referred to in this
example was carried out within this specific
community in the particular locality.
This work started before the 1991 Criminal
Justice Act, at a time when the population and
the number of prosecutions of Asian offenders
were increasing, but there appeared to be little
experience of working within the particular
requirements of a minority ethnic culture. (For
example the implications of a male probation
officer contacting female members of a strictly
Muslim, Asian offender’s family.) Although most
Probation Services were developing Equal
Opportunity policies at that time, they did not
always place great emphasis on race issues, there
was no co-ordinated forum in which to share
experience and little or no monitoring to identify
actual practice.
However, in East Lancashire a number of
developments were taking place. A strong, local,
multi-agency partnership (the Pendle Partnership)
was being established with the purpose, initially,
of bidding for Single Regeneration Budget
money. Led by the private sector the Partnership
involved managers from a wide range of public,
private and voluntary sector organisations.
A number of community based organisations
were also emerging including ITHAAD, which
was established as the result of a meeting in the
mosque to discuss the Muslim community’s
concerns following two murders in the area. The
organisation has elected officers, an executive
committee and five area committees. Starting
from a small office in town (donated free by one
member) ITHAAD slowly developed a range of
services for the community as well as a number
of initiatives to increase understanding between
the Asian and white populations. These included
introducing the local community to Pakistani
Muslim culture and cuisine and organising
functions and sports tournaments designed to
engage young people in positive activities. It has
been able to develop and support its work by
attracting funding from a variety of sources. This
has included an urban aid grant to transform a
derelict building into a Community Centre and
Manpower Services Commission funding to
support community work. Current services
9
 include community development, advice on
welfare rights, Council Tax, housing and
homelessness issues, nationality and immigration
issues, diabetes awareness and drugs awareness.
There is also a project to support Asian offenders
and their families, which will be described later.
The experience 1992-1998
At this time within Lancashire Probation Service,
senior managers had identified the need to raise
awareness in relation to working with minority
ethnic communities. Following a report by
Meenakshi Sharma in 1992 covering
consultation with staff on anti-discriminatory
practices, a number of initiatives took place. This
included awareness training throughout the
organisation. A subsequent inspection by
Lancaster University focused on race and gender
issues in Lancashire Probation Service, including
the way in which services were provided to
female offenders and those from minority ethnic
groups. The resultant action plan encouraged
networking with local communities.
Ian Galbraith had been appointed in 1991, as
Senior Probation Officer to lead the team in
Pendle. Previously as a Probation Officer in
Burnley, and then as a Senior Probation Officer
in Greater Manchester, he had developed a
strong commitment to a community based
approach. At the same time, the experienced
staff group in Pendle were becoming acutely
aware of their own lack of knowledge of the
cultural and religious backgrounds of minority
ethnic offenders, and the ensuing difficulty in
working effectively with them. (In Pendle 50%
of school leavers, and 30% of those sent to
young offenders institutions, were of Pakistani
Muslim heritage.)
Prior to the implementation of the 1991 Criminal
Justice Act, the introduction of Pre-Sentence
Reports and the related National Standards;
10
research conducted by Lancaster University into
the Pendle team’s work, identified that their
practice did not take enough account of the
cultural differences of the minority ethnic
community. For example, the contents of the
then Social Enquiry Reports varied significantly
dependent on the officers writing them, rather
than being based on the offence or the factors
surrounding it. An analysis of sentencing
outcomes showed the same discrepancies.
Despite the apparent equality of a blanket
approach of treating everyone the same, it was
obvious that offenders from different ethnic
backgrounds were experiencing differential
treatment. For example, Asian offenders were
more likely to get Community Service than
Probation Orders. (These findings are mirrored in
the findings in the later Thematic Inspection –
see section 4.26 in the report.) The reasons for
this ‘bias’ were not clear although there are a
number of probable causes. For example –
stereotyping the Asian work ethic, the belief that
potential language difficulties would inhibit
supervision but not Community Service
supervision, or Probation Officers’ lack of
confidence in working with offenders from
different cultural and religious backgrounds
The team, which did not include any minority
ethnic staff, readily accepted the evidence of
the statistics and quickly took steps to improve
their practice through gatekeeping (another
officer reading draft reports and providing
constructive criticism).
The Asian Project
By 1993 a project was started to address the
issue of quality in work with Asian offenders. Its
aims were to examine to what extent Service
Delivery (i) satisfied the needs and requirements
of those who use it within the Asian community
in Pendle and (ii) met the purposes for which it
was designed. Three surveys were conducted.
1 In 1994 a survey of a number of Asian
 organisations and community leaders
identified a clear need for the Probation
Service to improve its profile and
‘introduce itself’ to a community which
had little understanding of, and felt distant
from, its work.
2 Also in 1994 a questionnaire was sent to
South Asian offenders to examine their
experience of the Probation Service (i) at
court (ii) at the probation office during the
pre sentencing stage and (iii) whilst under
supervision. When written contact yielded
virtually no response, a researcher from the
South Asian community was employed to
make personal contact (which was much
more successful). They discovered that the
initial low response was due to the belief
among respondents that, if their experience
was positive, they need not reply. The
findings from this survey raised some
concerns about (i) the percentage of Asian
offenders not seen after court appearance
(ii) respondents not always understanding
the nuances of what was explained to
them. (They were reluctant to continually
press for more explanation after probation
staff had willingly explained procedures,
issues and the terms used in criminal justice
system.) (iii) some experience of racism and
oppressive behaviour from an individual
member of staff (who has since left the
area) and (iv) some experience of family
difficulty with those on Community Service.
This resulted in eight recommendations to
improve service delivery. It also identified the
difficulty at that time of establishing
effective monitoring of minority ethnic
offenders, largely because monitoring forms
only offered black or white categories, and
Asians could not accurately identify
themselves under either of these headings.
(The monitoring forms now being used
have addressed this issue.)
It was by now apparent that increased drug
use amongst young people in Asian
communities was a problem. Whilst there
was awareness of the problem among
groups working with young people, there
was widespread denial within Pendle’s Asian
community. This created a barrier to
developing appropriate services and in turn
led to the project described below.
3 A public opinion survey was carried out as
part of the Brierfield Arts and Drugs Project,
conducted in 1995-96 in conjunction with
Pendle Multi-Agency Group Network. The
Arts and Drugs project had two aims (i) to
increase knowledge and awareness of the
issues and (ii) to generate useful information
and inform the development of services able
to respond specifically to the needs of
members of the Pakistani Muslim community.
The project employed Asian researchers to
conduct a survey of almost 100 Asian men and
women. More than half were long term
residents in the area, 90% with children of
which a further 90% were over 17 years old. It
covered their communications skills in both Urdu
and English, their perceptions of the problems of
young people and the effect of those problems
on families. Within the wide range of problems
mentioned, drugs and unemployment featured
significantly. As well as demonstrating the level
of awareness of the drugs problem it also
highlighted that this issue was a source of
stigma/shame in this community.
Another feature of the project was a drama
based piece of work, developed and performed
by young people in order to communicate
messages to the older generations. Despite
reservations from almost every quarter that it
would not work, young Asians from a local
school took part in a project to write and
perform a play about their culture and
concerns. It was well supported when
performed in a school and they also took it to
11
 the Barbican theatre in London. There was a
great deal of publicity and support from local
TV, radio and press. It not only raised awareness
of the issues but also provided a vehicle for
enabling discussion to take place on a very
sensitive subject.
There was also a visual arts project undertaken
directly with women in the Asian community.
The art work produced by the women was used
as a backdrop for the drama presentation.
A specialist drama worker and a visual arts
worker were employed.
A further linked project called Ghar Ghar involved
women volunteers from the local Asian
community. The women were trained in basic
drug awareness and encouraged to communicate
their understanding to friends, neighbours and
family. The approach of ‘education by word of
mouth’ proved very effective.
In fact the whole project emphasised the value
of using a wide variety of ways to make contact
with the Asian communities, because of the
significance of things like word of mouth,
drama, poetry and art in their culture. For
example, poetry is highly regarded in Pakistan
and therefore potentially more influential than
other means of communication. Similarly the
opportunity to use Asian radio to reach a wider
audience proved useful.
The Asian Project was accomplished by working
with different agencies as small scale funding
and/or resources became available.
The recommendations resulting from the
research project were to:
• develop formal links with Asian organisations
in Pendle
• work with them to develop awareness of the
aims and ethos of the Probation Service
• work closely with and train Asian
12
organisations who express an interest in
providing placements of offenders to clarify
roles, expectations and the aims of
Community Service and Probation (ensuring all
placements would be monitored)
• engage with the Asian community as an
integral part of the Probation Service teams’
anti-discriminatory practice
• publicise the work of the Probation Service in
the Asian community through the press,
radio etc
• develop anti-discriminatory training to raise
awareness of ideas, beliefs, customs, cultures
and religions which differ from the white,
mainly secular, majority.
One of the responses to these recommendations
was to draw up a specification inviting the
associations within the Asian community in
Pendle to engage in a partnership. Two
organisations tendered for the contract and
ITHAAD was successful.
1998 – 2001 A partnership contract
with ITHAAD
This project is designed to build better
understanding of their respective cultures
between Asian communities and the Criminal
Justice system, through the employment of a link
worker. She or he must be able to speak Punjabi
and Urdu, write in Urdu, work with and deliver
services to all parts of the Pakistani heritage
population within Pendle and demonstrate
familiarity with the issues and policies of the
Probation Service. The contract provides for 60
hours a month direct work to
• provide support to prisoners’ families
• provide support and advice to probation staff
including Community Service (CS) and Family
Court Welfare (FCW) staff (by a female worker
where appropriate)
• advice (to include potentially discriminatory
practice) on (predominantly Pakistani Muslim)
cultural and faith issues
• a limited amount of translating and interpreting
• surgeries at probation offices
• home visits (individual or jointly with
probation staff)
• participation in team meetings and other events
• establish monitoring systems to track referrals,
work completed and outcomes.
The agreement was initially for seven months,
and has subsequently been subject to annual
renewal. The direct work has always been good
but at first the project was hampered by mobility
of the staff involved, poor record keeping and
monitoring. (This is not uncommon in small
voluntary organisations who have limited
resources and frequently have a different ‘ethos’
to large public sector organisations). At the same
time a survey of staff showed a “worryingly
low” knowledge of the Asian community they
served, with very low levels of referral except
from Community Service staff. (LPS Evaluation of
the Partnership Report 1999)
The current link worker is an Asian woman.
Appointed a year ago, she shares her time
between five probation offices as well as being
available to families in the ITHAAD office in
Nelson. She also conducts family visits, jointly
with probation staff if the case manager feels it
is appropriate, or alone if it is more acceptable to
the family.
Continuing the practice of regular community
surveys, she conducted one of her own, which
showed that the most common crimes were
drugs related, burglary and vehicle crimes. The
most common causes for these crimes were
identified as drugs, unemployment and alcohol.
She found that, although more than half the
people surveyed had been involved with the
probation service in some way, they still had
limited understanding of its role. She continues
to promote awareness of the Pakistani Muslim
culture and emphasises that it is often the small
things that make a difference. For example,
explaining to a probation officer the specific
implications of Muslim religious teaching, rituals
and festivals, or explaining to families, clearly and
in detail, the role of the probation service, court
and prison procedures. She adds that it is
particularly important to be able to do this in the
family’s first language both verbally and in writing
at a time when they may be very distressed.
Outcomes
The partnership still has some difficulty with
monitoring the level of activity in the project,
because advice given to probation staff is
significantly under recorded. Ad hoc advice and
information tend to be excluded from the figures
although they are invaluable. Similarly, although
it is known that currently 20-30 offenders are
seen over a year, it is difficult to be precise about
the number of families seen, and family visits
made, as few visits are ‘one-off’.
Probation perspective
Although the percentage of commencements
still show higher numbers of Community Service
than Probation Orders, the availability of a link
worker is valued by probation staff. The quality
of advice and guidance she provides on Muslim
cultural and religious issues enables probation
staff to work more effectively and with more
confidence. This means that a better service is
delivered to offenders and their families, who
get more information and are treated in a more
understanding way.
A member of staff from a minority ethnic group
has now joined the team and there is a steady
improvement in the use of the service provided
by the community link worker and the agency.
13
 However, referrals are still low and only one
probation officer uses the project as the
primary contact with offenders. To address this
the link worker is conducting a further survey
of staff understanding and needs in order to
encourage closer working and Lancashire
Probation Service now sets and monitors
specific targets to develop a steady growth in
the use of this service. These include targets for
surgeries, numbers of referrals, offender
contacts, family contacts and advice contacts as
well as prison visits, interpreting sessions and
referrals to other agencies.
ITHAAD’s perspective is that the project
definitely benefits the community.
A bilingual link worker available at the probation
service’s offices, ITHAAD offices or to undertake
home visits, means that parents of offenders can
more readily get information and help.
(“Although probation staff are friendly and
understanding they do not speak other
languages. She can explain in an understandable
and digestible way what is happening to their
son, the potential consequences in court
proceedings, the availability of appropriate food
in prison, arrangements for prayer, visiting and
so on” – Secretary of ITHAAD).
ITHAAD is involved in a range of projects,
provides various services and prides itself in
working with confidentiality. This has
encouraged offenders’ families to use their
services and office, when they have been
reluctant or too embarrassed, to go to the
probation offices, to get the help which is
available to them. The level of involvement
varies, some families routinely use the project,
others do not want to engage at all.
There is also a Community Service placement
within ITHAAD office. This is not without
difficulty. Given the strong sense of shame
associated with crime within the Muslim
community, it was initially found to be more
difficult to serve a sentence within this
14
‘disapproving’ culture. The placement works
better now.
Next steps
As Assistant Chief Officer Human Resources,
with responsibility for Race Equality in
Lancashire, Mary Whyham, leads management
commitment to encouraging contact with
minority ethnic communities and putting systems
in place to enable that to happen. She is also
committed to continuing to use a wide variety of
actions to promote race equality. A Diversity
Manager was appointed in September 2000,
and recruitment is currently underway for a Black
or Asian Development Officer (in conjunction
with the Race Equality Council). There is
increasing representation of minority ethnic
groups in staff appointment processes and the
Black and Asian staff group is now meeting
regularly. A management Conference on Race
Equality was held at the Gujarat Centre in
Preston in February 2001 and a community
survey will be carried out during 2001.
Both Lancashire Probation Service and ITHAAD
recognise that more can be done to overcome
the difficulties inherent in building partnerships
between a large, predominantly white, public
sector organisation and a small minority ethnic
one and building the capacity of minority ethnic
groups to work within the Criminal Justice
System. In the context of an annual review of all
partnerships, to ensure they provide value for
money and contribute to service delivery, targets
have been set for ITHAAD for the first part of
2001. These provide for continued steady
growth in the use of the project at both formal
and informal levels. Progress will be supported
and monitored by the senior probation officer
responsible for partnerships.
At the same time Lancashire Probation Service
has started work to “increase the number of
partnerships with ethnic minority groups” and
“set up a partnership forum with minority
groups to prepare them for applications for
partnership and increase their knowledge of the
service”. (Towards Race Equality – Action Plan
Lancashire Probation Service 2000) This is agreed
by senior management and the Probation
Committee and will be reviewed in March 2001,
with new targets being agreed as necessary.
Money for each operational cluster (group) has
been set aside in the current partnership budget,
to support work with minority ethnic groups
which is linked to crime and disorder activity.
This is to ‘pump prime’ initiatives and encourage
greater visibility of the service working alongside
partners to enhance services to Black offenders
and their families.
The Service is also actively involved in
supporting existing Race Equality Councils, and
bringing new ones on stream. LPS staff sit on
the sub groups of these councils which deal
with racial harassment.
Lessons learnt
1 Do not make assumptions about
community cultures. In order to work
sensitively and effectively with minority
ethnic communities, it is vital to really
understand them and the key agencies
within them. Within any minority ethnic
community there will be a variety of norms
and expectations. For some families with a
South Asian heritage there are specific
expectations of men and women,
daughters and sons. For some there are
different values, beliefs and attitudes to
crime and punishment as well as the
broader cultural and religious practices.
There are also likely to be significant
differences within the first, second or third
generation minority ethnic groups. Young
people can be influenced by the youth
culture (for example drink, drugs and joy
riding) as well as that of their family
members and community heritage.
2 Develop a learning culture among
staff. Much of the early progress in
Lancashire stemmed from staff readiness to
examine and develop their working
practices. They used feedback from surveys
and analysis of their work to develop
innovative projects to build understanding
with the minority ethnic communities.
However, roles and responsibilities change
and each individual has her or his own
personal beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.
Continuous development takes sustained
effort including routinely challenging
‘casual’ racist remarks made by offenders
or staff, updating learning about minority
ethnic communities and consistent
involvement of link workers.
3 Provide training which models
working with different cultures. Staff
need raised awareness, basic and specific
information about race, culture and
religions as well as training in anti-
discriminatory practice. Link workers need
to understand the Criminal Justice System
and Probation Service processes. Joint
training with partner organisations will
help to build both the relationship and
mutual understanding. Managers at all
levels need to develop the relevant
competencies to understand their role in
supporting and promoting good practice.
4 Develop a culture of investment as well
as performance. The Probation Service is
developing a performance management
culture based on the need to demonstrate
effectiveness. There are policies, procedures
and occupational standards to support
equality in working with offenders and
building partnerships. However, the drive for
performance, with increasing workloads and
15
 pressure on resources, runs the risk of
minimising the time and energy it takes to
build effective relationships with
communities. Consequently it is necessary
for senior managers and Probation Boards
to provide appropriate levels of support for
this work. For example, a link worker and
probation officer jointly attending meetings
can either be seen as a waste of resources,
or a way to significantly enhance mutual
understanding leading to better
communication and more effective practice.
The recently published Probation Circular
4/2001 Joint Agreement on Priorities and
Employee Care provides services with an
opportunity to revisit priorities and therefore
confirm their commitment to working with
minority ethnic communities as
‘mainstream’ activity.
5 Learning needs leadership. In most
organisations there are ‘nuggets’ or
‘pockets’ of good practice. There is a clear
role for senior manager to provide
leadership in demonstrating that such work
is valued, expecting others to learn from it
and adopt such practice themselves.
6 Be willing to try innovative things. It is
hard to predict success and so it is important
to take time to find out what will work. For
example, the cultural view of different art
forms will influence what constitutes better
ways of communicating with different
communities. Word of mouth, poetry, art
and drama may be a great deal more
effective than more conventional notices,
leaflets and other written communication.
Much of the success of the work done in
East Lancashire has been based on the
willingness to try more experimental
approaches to working with the particular
Asian community, as well as delivering the
mainstream probation agenda.
Furthermore, as this case shows,
16
development does not need to cost a great
deal, and the ability to respond quickly, as
small amounts of money for local
investigations and initiatives become
available, can be very useful.
7 Understand and bridge the gap between
organisational cultures. Whilst it is vital for
public sector organisations to demonstrate
accountability and adopt proper procedures
in their relationships with partner
organisations, voluntary organisations may
find it hard to match them in tendering and
performance monitoring procedures. They
may not share the same imperatives of
keeping time logs and records so that basic
performance data may be hard to get. It is
important to examine the appropriateness of
probation processes for voluntary
organisations and build the capacity of the
local communities, and their associations, to
access resources and activities.
8 Build a partnership culture. Inter agency
working and funding is essential for success
AND are increasingly available. In this
instance a university, a health authority,
youth service and school as well as ITHAAD
have all contributed to enabling the
probation service to work with minority
ethnic communities. Private sector
initiatives, public private financing, and
more recent Community Strategies and
Community Safety Strategies, all provide
opportunities for partnership working. This
needs different skills and practices to single
agency work. For example, a greater need
to clarify objectives, roles and expectations
in order to avoid potential
misunderstanding and misguided efforts.
9 Independent agencies can be invaluable.
A major benefit of a bi-lingual, or multi-
lingual, link worker lies in providing a bridge
between minority ethnic communities and
the service, whilst being seen to be
 independent. Although accurate translation
is important when communicating in a
second language, what is more important is
that he or she can take account of nuances
in language, ask informed questions and
provide insight and explanation. When the
potential for conflict, misunderstanding or
stereotyping is high, sensitivity to, and
detailed knowledge of, cultural issues are
vital to equitable service delivery.
10 Understanding – the first step. Whilst
better understanding between cultures is
important, it represents only one step
towards greater representation of minority
ethnic groups within the probation service,
more effective supervision of minority ethnic
offenders and better services to their
families by probation staff.
Furthermore, where minority ethnic groups
are very small it may be necessary to look
beyond the local area for support and
opportunities for joint working.
Benchmark questions
In reviewing and developing your work with
minority ethnic communities you may wish to
ask the following questions.
1 What do your board members and senior
managers do, or need to do, to
demonstrate their active support and
promotion of working with minority ethnic
communities?
2 Are minority ethnic groups represented on
the board and in senior management? Is
there a ‘champion’ for working with
minority ethnic communities?
3 What do leaders, at all levels in your service,
do to create and sustain an environment
where better understanding between
minority ethnic communities and probation
staff can flourish?
4 What training, or other activity, have you
undertaken to enable staff to understand
the various cultures within minority ethnic
communities and how to work with them in
a way that values diversity?
5 What do you do, or need to do, to ensure
that learning from local initiatives is applied
across the service?
6 What have you done to ensure that all staff
routinely use the support available to
demonstrate their commitment to working
with offenders and their families from
minority ethnic communities?
7 How is work with minority ethnic
communities recognised in your service?
8 Is working with minority ethnic communities
identified as a strategic aim in your service?
Does it require more resources, and if so,
what steps have you taken to secure them,
or justify the appropriate level of funding?
9 Does your service have a clear policy and
strategy for working with minority ethnic
communities, which is communicated
effectively and implemented sensitively?
10 What steps have you taken to develop
effective partnerships with agencies which
are representative of the minority ethnic
communities in your area? How is this
monitored? How can you build continuity
into the processes?
11 Does your service, and any partner
agencies, have offices which are accessible
and welcoming to families of offenders
from minority ethnic communities?
12 Do you make appropriate information
available in relevant languages for minority
ethnic communities in your area?
17
 13 What processes are in place to enable you
to develop, deliver and review activity to
build and sustain better working with
minority ethnic communities?
14 What steps have you taken to
encourage/ensure that the service’s
workforce more accurately reflects the
percentage of minority ethnic people in the
local community?
15 What processes have you got to gain
feedback from staff about their own and
the service’s approach to working with
minority ethnic communities?
16 Do you regularly seek, analyse and take
action on feedback about your service
from the minority ethnic communities in
your area?
17 How do you monitor the extent to which
working effectively with minority ethnic
communities can and does contribute
directly to your organisational outcomes?
18 How can you develop a culture of continuous
learning, innovation and improvement in
working with minority ethnic communities,
so that the links are integral and knowledge
is spread automatically?
18
References
HMIP, (2000) – Thematic Inspection Report,
Towards Race Equality, Home Office
Galbraith, I (2000) – Asian Offender Project
Report, Lancashire Probation Service
Bellfield, E & Galbraith, I (1995) – Asian Project
Lancashire Probation Service
Frank B & Galbraith, I (1996) – Brierfield Arts and
Drugs Project Lancashire Probation Service
Lancashire Probation Service (1998) –
Specification for services to enhance Probation
Service provision for service users and their
families from the Pakistani community in Pendle.
Shazia Bibi (2000) – ITHAAD Asian Offenders
Project 1998-2000, ITHAAD Community
Development Project
Galbraith I (1999) – An evaluation of the
partnership between Lancashire Probation
Service and ITHAAD, Lancashire Probation
Service,
Lancaster University and Lancashire Probation
Service (1995) Race and Gender Inspection
Whyham M, (2000) Race Equality Action Plan,
Lancashire Probation Service
Probation circular 4/2001 Joint Agreement on
priorities and employee care, Home Office
 Section 2
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY

Evidence Based Recruitment

Using assessment centres to improve the validity
and reliability of recruitment
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY
Evidence Based Recruitment
Using assessment centres to improve the validity and reliability of recruitment

Summary committed to addressing this. The change in

approach took place after a careful review of
existing procedures, feedback from previous

R
ecruiting the best person for each job is
candidates and an examination of alternative
vital for the success of any organisation. It is
methods. The service wanted to build an
particularly important in public sector
integrated process focused not only on
organisations where the norm is for long term
recruitment but also identifying development
employment relationships, and especially true for
needs in order to help people to perform to their
management roles because of the impact
full potential.
managers have on the performance and
motivation of their staff, colleagues and It describes how they developed the approach,
ultimately the organisation as a whole. It is too the key features, benefits and costs of it and the
late to find out that a poor appointment has lessons learnt from their experiences.
been made when someone is already in post.
For further information please contact the
In a modern, effective probation service, Chief Officer – Human Resources at London
recruitment and selection needs to be (and be Probation Area on 020 7436 7121
seen to be) fair, equitable and effective, yet the
thematic inspection Towards Race Equality found
that 5 out of 10 services visited had no
managers from minority ethnic groups.
At the same time, although it is widely accepted
that the interview is an unreliable way of
recruiting people, it continues to be used as the
main tool for recruitment and selection in most
organisations. Assessment centres provide a
more effective mechanism for assessing and
matching a person’s capability and potential to
the competencies required in a specific post.
This example shows how Middlesex Probation
Service, has developed and used assessment
centres in the recruitment and selection of
managers for the past two years. It was clear
that, under previous arrangements, minority
ethnic staff were not being successful in
promotion and progression and the service was

19
20
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY
Evidence Based Recruitment
Using assessment centres to improve the validity and reliability of recruitment
Background
E
very organisation has made a poor
appointment at some time or other.
However skilled the interviewers, interviews
remain notoriously unreliable as a predictor of
performance, yet they continue to be the main
method for recruitment in most organisations. In
the public service, the cost of making a poor
appointment is particularly significant because of
the probability of a long term employment
relationship. For example, a manager employed
on £25,000 per year for 10 years represents an
investment (or cost) to the organisation of £1/4
million and, as important for the individual,
equates to 10 years of their working life. This is
a significant ‘mutual investment’. There are also
the consequential effects of the ‘wrong’ person
in the post. These include the time and cost
incurred in their supervision, training and
development, their impact on the performance
and motivation of the staff they manage and the
emotional cost to themselves of being in the
‘wrong job’.
Assessment centres are increasingly used as a
more effective way to recruit people and can be
defined as follows
“An assessment centre is a fair, systematic
process for assessing or selecting staff. Better
understood as a process or event than a
location, it involves a series of exercises or tests
designed to assess how competent a person is
at present .....compared to the demands of a
future job” (It should be) “an integrated
process of key components (which) includes
simulations, feedback from peers and
psychometric tests”
(Moule and Canton Vista, Autumn 2000)
During the 1990s management recruitment in
Middlesex (and probably most other probation
services) was not very sophisticated. It was
predominantly based on shortlisting by senior
managers, and a panel interview by, and a
presentation to, committee members. Although
committee members had received rigorous
training in recruitment and selection, and despite
every effort to make the process fair and
equitable, minority ethnic staff remained
substantially under-represented in management
roles.
By 1998 a number of factors came together
highlighting the need to review the recruitment
and selection procedures.
• Since her appointment the Chief Officer
Human Resources (Chief Officer HR) had
become increasingly concerned about the
service’s recruitment and selection procedures
and in particular the split responsibilities of
senior managers and committee members
• The chair of the Probation Committee was
also unhappy that the recruitment and
selection process did not sufficiently give all
staff the opportunity to ‘put themselves
forward and be successful’. She also felt that a
process based on an application form,
presentation and one interview, was not the
best way to make informed decisions and
good appointments. A more structured
21
 approach would not only help candidates, it
would also help the panel
• Human Resources Advisors in the service were
also concerned, having experienced more
effective recruitment using occupational and
psychological testing elsewhere.
With the full support of the Chief Probation
Officer, a review group was established and
comprised of two Divisional Managers, the
Human Resources (HR) manager, Chief Officer HR.
It was chaired by a Human Resources (HR) advisor.
They agreed that any new process should
• include committee members continuing to
conduct interviews
• incorporate tools to really assess a person’s
appropriateness for, and competence in,
managing the service and people
• enable the recruiting panels to make a more
effective assessment of applicant’s abilities
• integrate recruitment and selection with a
wider developmental process for all staff.
Coincidentally, assessment centres for the
appointment of new trainee probation officers
had just been introduced and, given her
involvement in the London Probation Training
Consortium, the Chief Officer HR had an
opportunity to become a trained assessor and
feedback her experiences to the group. The HR
advisor was also a trained assessor.
It seemed a logical step that the process used to
appoint managers should be as rigorous as that
used to appoint trainee probation officers.
The experience
Piloting the process
Two middle manager vacancies occurred in an
area where there were a number of Black
22
probation officers but no Black manager. The
review group decided to use these vacancies to
run a pilot assessment centre. The Divisional
Manager for the area was a member of the
review group.
With the support of a consultant, trained in
running assessment centres, they ran a pilot
which provided a great deal of learning for
everyone. The key points were (i) the need to
prepare candidates for the experience (ii) the
importance of well constructed activities which
were tailored to the job vacancy (iii) the
importance of effective administration (iv) and
most important, the approach was much more
rigorous and effective than interviewing alone.
The leadership provided by the Chief Officer HR
and her ongoing liaison with the committee,
senior management colleagues and trades
unions, was crucial.
The Probation Committee had already accepted
the evidence of under-representation of minority
ethnic staff in managerial roles. They quickly saw
the benefits of, and approved the proposed
change to, using assessment centres as an
integral part of new recruitment procedures. They
also acknowledged their own need to understand
how a centre would work, so that they would
have confidence in the reliability of the
information it generated. Although this would
mean a change to their own role, members were,
and remain, totally supportive to the new
process, as are the Chief Probation Officer and
senior management team. The cost of running
the new procedure was carefully calculated and
discussed at Senior Management Team and
Committee level and the budget required to set
up the new procedure was agreed.
The then Chair of NAPO – Middlesex Branch
who was herself a successful candidate said, that
“NAPO locally and nationally does not yet
currently have a policy on assessment centres.
However, NAPO would support appropriate
methods to enable Black staff to achieve
promotion within the Probation Service,
particularly into management grades.”
The development of the assessment
centre approach
A number of potential providers of psychological
tests were interviewed and Saville and
Holdsworth were chosen. (Their tests are also
used by the London Training Consortium for
Trainee Probation Officers.)
In September 1999 the first assessment centre
for managers was run with 18 candidates for
nine posts. This was unusual, they are usually
run on a smaller scale (2-9 candidates). Since
then seven events have been run, with 30
candidates and 10 posts have been filled using
this approach resulting in 49% of managers
appointed being from minority ethnic groups.
The new recruitment and selection
process
The new recruitment and selection procedures
were adopted and guidelines for managers were
published in September 2000. These contain
comprehensive notes about the context for
recruitment, the process to be followed and
designated responsibilities. The key stages are:
1 Check the job requirements. Having
checked that the vacancy exists and that
there is authority to fill it, the line
manager, with support from human
resource staff, reviews the job, the job
description, the person specification
(updating them if necessary) and confirm
the competencies required.
2 Advertise. Human resources staff, with
support from the line manager, research
and decide where to advertise. The vacancy,
will either be advertised internally only, or
internally and externally at the same time,
and the advertising media used are chosen
to ensure the widest possible impact. (For
example the Afro Caribbean newspaper the
Voice and Sunrise radio have been used.)
There is also the provision for existing
managers to be considered, if they have
made a special appeal for redeployment as
the result of compelling personal reasons.
3 Agree the material for applicants and
timetable for the next stages of the
process. Brief information about the
recruitment process, may be included with
the advert. More information, including the
dates and that exercises may be used, is
normally included in the information pack
sent to all applicants. Shortlisted candidates
then receive detailed information about the
assessment centre and interview process,
including what will happen, examples of the
psychometric tests which will be used and
possibly the topic for the presentation.
4 Shortlist applicants against the criteria,
invite successful applicants to attend the
assessment centre and make arrangements
for any candidates with special needs.
Shortlisting is arranged by the selection
panel. A selection panel is identified in
advance and comprises the line manager, a
representative from the HR department and
any other colleagues who may be useful in
making effective selection decisions. This
could be two or three people, with more
brought in for an assessment centre.
Shortlisting can be done either by the
selection panel collectively, or by individual
members, and then agreed by all panel
members. Care is taken to ensure that
there is both a race and gender balance in
the process. This was difficult in the past,
but using the assessment centre and the
panel interview as a whole process, this is
now achieved.
5 Design the assessment centre and
conduct the tests. Each event is designed
based on a careful review of the role, job
specification and the specific competencies
23
 required. Tools are chosen and activities are
developed based on the competencies to be
assessed. A combination of generic
occupational tests (verbal reasoning,
numerical reasoning and data interpretation)
and tailor made exercises are used to
provide ‘a fair and rigorous test of the
relevant attributes’ (Moule and Canton).
Every effort is made to ensure that all the
tests are as inclusive as possible and generic
tests are only used if they are essential to
the assessment of key skills. Tailored
exercises are amended each time they are
used. This is to ensure that they (i) most
accurately reflect the needs of the post to be
filled and (ii) are valid and reliable tests of
the relevant competencies. Test design also
takes account of the level of managerial
responsibility for each post. (Tests for middle
managers would not be the same as those
for senior manager posts).
Typically an assessment centre would last one
day and contain five or six tests. For example
• Verbal reasoning
• Data interpretation (usually for probation
practice managers) or numerical
reasoning. The test is chosen depending
on whether the job requires more
interpretation of information or ability to
understand and analyse numerical data
• An intray or written exercise (designed to
see how candidates would deal with day
to day work demands and with
conflicting priorities)
• A group discussion /exercise (where there
are sufficient candidates) to assess oral
communication, teamwork, collaborative
or competitive skills. The exercise would
be designed to include leadership issues if
the ability to lead and motivate was also
to be tested
24
• An observation/question based exercise
(for example watching a video of a team
‘scenario’ and answering questions to
assess the candidates’ sensitivity to the
issues and what they would do in a
given situation).
Some tests provide direct information
others secondary. (Moule and Canton refer
to the difference between ‘signs’ which are
characteristics inferred from behaviour and
‘samples’ which are directly observed
behaviours.)
Good preparation is essential and designing
valid and reliable tests is time consuming
but necessary if they are to accurately
reflect the nature of the activity in the job
itself. Wherever possible all tailored tests are
tested with colleagues before being used
for assessment purposes.
Colleagues who are not candidates are not
currently involved in tests. Role plays have
not been used because, even with
professional actors, it would be almost
impossible to ensure consistency, therefore
equity of the experience, for each
candidate. If a vacancy arose for a post
involving training, it would be appropriate
to use a training activity/test to assess
competence and the service would then
consider involving people as an
audience/group of trainees.
The service does use occupational tests for
other roles but recognise that there is more
work to do to ensure tests are genuinely
appropriate for the job. For example it is now
less appropriate to ask for a speed typing test
for secretarial and administrative staff
because they are now more likely to need
quality checking skills and any test used
should reflect accuracy rather than speed.
For managers the Occupational Personality
Questionnaire (OPQ32) is also used. It is not a
time limited test. It is a questionnaire which
uses similar questions framed in different
ways to indicate preferred behaviours (or
styles) with regard to relationships with
people, thinking styles, feelings and emotions
as well as team types, leadership styles and
reporting styles. However, because it identifies
preferences not actual competencies, it is
used as a developmental, not assessment
tool. (It would only be used to inform the
appointment decision making if two
candidates were absolutely evenly scored on
other tests.) The OPQ is usually completed as
part of the assessment centre day but if all
the candidates are internal to the service, and
there are a number of them, the test may be
completed beforehand to save time. The
results of the questionnaire are discussed with
both successful and unsuccessful candidates
as the basis for identifying strengths and
development needs.
Assessors
Eight human resources staff (three of whom
are Black) are now trained in occupational
testing (level A). Four people, including the
Chief Officer HR and HR managers, are also
trained to score and interpret the OPQ32
personality questionnaire (level B). They
operate under licence from Saville and
Holdsworth, and licences need to be
renewed annually. During the event each
test is rated against five criteria with both
positive and negative evidence noted by the
assessors. It can be tiring as assessors need
to concentrate all day, using listening,
observation and evaluation skills in order to
accurately and consistently record each
candidate’s behaviours in each category.
Scores are then collated against the
competencies and a summary of the results
of all candidates is produced. Assessors
operate a gatekeeping process (written work
is double marked and observations are cross
checked) to ensure consistency and fairness.
Line managers
Line managers are involved at all stages
starting with the design of the activities to
ensure that they are valid tests of the
competencies to be assessed. They also help
with confirming the validity of the activities
(for example the realism of the intray
exercise). The immediate line manager of the
vacancy is always involved in the assessment
centre and other line managers may get
involved in marking the activities. The more
line managers are involved in design and
assessment, the more real, and therefore
beneficial, are the tests. Line managers do
not mark proprietary tests (although they
could be trained to do so given that some of
them are already assessors for the trainee
probation officers). Human Resources staff
provide advice and design the activities.
As more minority ethnic managers are
appointed they automatically become
involved in the assessment centres and the
whole process benefits. Lessons are
continuously being learnt about the need for
vigilance against unintended discrimination,
and how to improve and refine activities to
ensure their validity and reliability as tests of
the required competencies.
6 The selection panel interview. This
continues to be seen as an essential part of
the process, consistently run in line with the
principles of the assessment centre. It
consists of three trained committee
members, the relevant operational line
manager and the Chief Officer HR. The
interview needs to be well structured, timed
and conducted skillfully, based on good and
relevant questions. It is now normal practice
for panel members to have examples of the
key information they are looking for in
response to their questions. However, care
needs to be taken to allow candidates
enough time to formulate their answers.
25
 The panel sees the collated results of the
assessment centre tests after they have
completed the interviews, in order to inform
their decision making.
7 Provide feedback to (all) candidates.
Extensive feedback (1.5-2 hours) is given by
the assessors to all candidates whether they
have been successful or not. Different
people will attach different value to this
feedback. However, it is used to help new
managers focus on their strengths and the
areas they need to work on in their new
role, and help unsuccessful candidates to
identify and address their development
needs. A review of the OPQ results is also
passed to the candidate’s line manager and
used on an ongoing basis in supervision and
appraisal as the basis for feedback and the
identification of development needs.
8 Select the best person for the job and,
subject to medical clearance and satisfactory
references, appoint them.
9 Arrange start date and send letter of
confirmation.
10 Induct the person in their new role. A ‘Role
Transition Group’ is there to support all new
managers and minority ethnic managers are
invited to state if they would like additional
support and if so in what form (for example
group support, an individual mentor or
consultant or other options they may wish
to suggest).
Administrative support is provided by the
Chief Officer HR’s Personal Assistant and the
Administrator in Personnel. They are crucial to
the success of the process. There is a great deal
of information and it is no mean feat to co-
ordinate it. They book dates and appropriate
venues for the assessment centre and interviews
based on the number of candidates. The Chief
Officer HR’s Personal Assistant organises secure
storage and ensures that there are sufficient up
26
to date copies of all the relevant materials for
candidates, assessors and the interviewing panel.
She oversees the stock control of occupational
tests, score sheets, calculators, stationery and
collation of all other materials including the
summary sheets of how candidates score against
the activities and how they in turn relate to the
job competencies.
Training is also provided for staff to learn about,
get experience of and feedback from the kind of
tests that are used in actual assessment. (A
different provider is used so that the
occupational tests are useful but do not
compromise the real assessment process.)
Outcomes/benefits/costs
• The service has a more representative group of
managers and diverse management teams.
Since using assessment centres, as well as
interviews, the percentage of minority ethnic
appointments to senior probation officers
posts is 49%. Five of the nine SPO
appointments from the first assessment
centre, were minority ethnic staff which was
significantly different from the previous
process when they had either not been
shortlisted, or had been interviewed but not
appointed. An additional benefit is that with
more minority ethnic managers becoming
more involved in running assessment centres,
the process will be better informed, ensuring
that it continues to develop sensitivity to, and
uphold the principles of, race equality
The Chief Officer HR points out that
“generally the managers appointed during the
past three years have developed well and
demonstrated an overall competence in the
management role. It is certainly a fairer way to
make appointments and better addresses the
issue of minority ethnic under-representation
perpetuated by the interview only approach”
• There are more opportunities for more people
and consequently a bigger pool of people for
the service to recruit from. Having assessment
centres as well as interviews has encouraged
staff to ‘have a go’ for promotion, knowing
that whatever the outcome they will get
experience and valuable feedback on their
strengths and areas for development. One
manager said “I had only been in the service
four years, and in a specialist post. I was
concerned that I did not have ‘long enough’
service to apply, but the active support of my
line manager and colleagues encouraged me
and gave me confidence to try”. The chair of
the committee says “I believe that people are
entitled to find their level and develop their
potential, some people need more help than
others. This process is not only fairer and more
open, it gives people an opportunity to
demonstrate their abilities, or if they are not
suitable for the post in question, they can be
helped to develop the relevant competencies”.
Using assessment centres does not obviate the
need for highly skilled interviewers and a good
procedure, in fact it reinforces it. The whole
process must be coherent
• The service has more enthusiastic and
confident managers as a result of an
enhanced selection process. New managers
feel they have more credibility with colleagues,
and more confidence in themselves and each
other, because they have been appointed after
demonstrating their competence to undertake
managerial tasks in a competitive way rather
than just talking about them. There is a
developing network among those who have
shared the experience and the feedback they
receive helps them with their own
development and supervision of their teams.
One manager said “we can all say we have
earned this, and the number of black
managers appointed is proof of a fair
process”. The experience of the assessment
process may make candidates more confident
in the interview, but if they are nervous and
under perform at this stage, the results of the
assessment process will be taken into account.
By providing them with factual evidence to
support their thinking, it also builds the
confidence of the recruitment panel members
• Broader issues get highlighted. For example,
consistent use of the numerical reasoning test
will help to identify the general level of
numeracy in the service. If it is lower than
desired it will have identified a general
training need, and can trigger the
development of appropriate training to ‘raise
collective competence’
• The approach ‘feeds’ the development
process. Because the OPQ information is used
in supervision to look at strengths and
identify development needs, it focuses on
subsequent development
• Having trained assessors in-house gives the
service a valuable link to the British Institute of
Psychology enabling it to keep up to date with
key developments in this field. Other services
could buy in the skills or form a local
partnership if they prefer or are too small to
warrant trained assessors in-house
• The positive feedback from candidates
undoubtedly contributed to the service’s
achievement of Investors in People status
• The main costs involved in running assessment
centres are time, materials and licenses. In
order to use occupational tests, there are the
initial costs to buy the test question and
answer sheets, the scoring templates and get
assessors trained. Running costs include
replacing stocks of answer sheets and other
materials, and re-licensing assessors. The
principle cost of job specific, tailored tests is
the time it takes to develop them and test
their validity. Intray exercises in particular
require numerous copies of various
documents, other tests may require videos,
calculators, clocks etc., as well as basic
27
 paperwork. There is the cost of assessor time
to establish marking schemes, mark the tests,
correlate the information for each candidate
and provide feedback and the time to
administer the process overall. Although if a
number of appointments are to be made,
there are economies of scale from running
one assessment centre for several vacancies
However, the service is convinced that these
costs are more than offset by the savings
made from the appointment of more effective
and enthusiastic managers.
Next steps
Although all those involved with the approach in
Middlesex are confident that it is much more
effective than traditional methods, they are
anxious not to be complacent. It is too early to
accurately assess the predictive validity of the
process but early indications are that it is
effective. There is already informal monitoring of
the process overall and the next stage is to set
up a system to review the process and its
effectiveness in accurately predicting
performance of the new managers.
As from April 2001 London will have a single
probation service. The five services that are
amalgamating will undoubtedly have different
recruitment and selection procedures, which will
need to be aligned. Similarly with a new Board
structure, new members will need training in the
resultant recruitment and selection procedures.
Lessons learnt
1 Evidence based recruitment and
selection is demonstrably fairer and
more effective than relying on
interviews only. No process is perfect and
care must be taken in selecting and using
28
tests. However, using occupational tests and
activities designed specifically to test job
related competencies does lead to the
appointment of a more confident,
enthusiastic and ethnically diverse group of
managers. It can also create a positive
network of new managers who have shared
a common experience.
2 Transparency is essential. An open,
consistent approach is needed for people at
all levels in the organisation to have faith in
and trust the process (board members,
senior managers, existing and potential
managers, candidates, staff and HR
specialists). Gatekeeping at the assessment
stage, an appeals procedure for candidates,
and monitoring of the process overall will
identify any areas for concern that need to
be addressed.
3 Committed and involved leadership is
important. For those who have traditionally
held sole responsibility for appointing
managers the introduction of assessment
centres could seem undermining. Senior
managers and committee members need to
be personally convinced of, and then
convince others of, the validity and reliability
of the process and how it contributes to
effective and fair selection.
4 Invest time in designing exercises to
ensure validity and reliability. Whilst
simulations can never totally replicate all
the circumstances of a real job, exercises
can, and should, be designed to realistically
test various managerial tasks and be
tailored to the level and nature of the
particular role. The job description and
person specification contribute to well
designed tests. Ideally every activity should
be tested with colleagues before it is used
for assessment. Designers should be
prepared to adjust and develop material in
order to give candidates the best possible
 chance to demonstrate their competence.
Shoddy exercises will ruin the event and
people’s confidence in the process.
Eventually there will be a saving of time,
but care must be taken not to re-use tests
inappropriately.
5 Equity does not come easy. No test or
process is ideal and it is crucial to remain
vigilant for unintended discrimination or
inconsistency. Any exercise may
unintentionally disadvantage minority
ethnic candidates. For example, if it (i)
refers to an inappropriate issue (ii) uses a
situation which may not apply to all
candidates (iii) is experienced differently by
candidates (such as role play) or (iv) uses
words which may have a ‘cultural
background’ or nuance. Similarly, the
process overall needs to include positive
role models and images for women,
disabled people and those from minority
ethnic groups, and ensure that these
groups are represented in the recruitment
and selection proceedings.
6 Good and well trained assessors are
essential. Whether they are internal or
external to the service, assessors need to be
trained and qualified / licensed. They need
to be highly skilled at listening, observing,
analysing and evaluating data. In addition,
they need to be able to question subjective
information in order to produce a realistic
assessment of competence. They also need
to be willing and able to provide support
and helpful feedback to both successful and
unsuccessful candidates after the event so
that everyone receives positive recognition
and useful learning. This means that
successful candidates are clear why they
have been successful and unsuccessful ones
can use the information as the basis for
further development enabling them to
succeed in future.
7 Success takes time, good organisation
and administration. Setting up an
assessment centre takes a lot of
organisation, co-ordination and accurate up
to date paperwork, in order for the process
to work well. Do not underestimate the
preparation time needed for all candidates
and assessors to have the materials they
need, when they need them. Effective stock
control and security of tests, response
sheets, marking sheets, as well as the tailor
made exercises, is essential. At the same
time candidates need good information
prior to the event. In turn this needs to be
well structured and organised to get the
timing of various tests co-ordinated so that
candidates do not get frustrated or nervous
by being kept waiting for other candidates
to complete things.
8 Don’t underestimate the sensitivity/
concern of other managers. Managers
who have been appointed using other
methods may need information and support
to avoid them feeling excluded from, or
demoralised by, a more confident group of
new managers. Existing managers who
apply for a post now subject to the
assessment centre process may be resentful
at having to ‘prove’ themselves in this way.
9 Integrated processes and working in
partnership are necessary. Various
management processes need to be
integrated for this approach to work. Job
descriptions and person specifications need
to be current and accurate in order to
identify relevant competencies. Supervision
and appraisal processes need to work well
for the feedback about strengths and
development needs to be used effectively.
Line managers need to be involved at all
stages and committee members, senior and
line managers and HR staff all need to work
closely together for the process to work well.
29
 Benchmarking questions
In reviewing and developing your recruitment
and selection processes you may wish to ask the
following questions.
1 What do your board members and senior
managers do, or need to do, to
demonstrate their active commitment to
fair, equitable and effective recruitment and
selection processes?
2 What do leaders, at all levels in your service,
do to create and sustain an environment
where all staff are encouraged to develop
their full potential, and have access to
opportunities to do so?
3 What training and support do you offer to
staff seeking promotion?
4 How current, effective and inclusive are
your recruitment, selection and promotion
procedures? How could they be enhanced?
5 What steps have you taken, or need to
take, to ensure a race and gender balance
in recruitment and selection panels and
processes?
6 How much time do you invest in tailoring
the recruitment process to enable you to
assess the candidates against the job
requirements?
7 How are line managers encouraged to
contribute to your current recruitment and
selection processes? What more could they
do?
8 What is the role of HR specialists and how
can they contribute to developing better
processes?
9 How well does recruitment and selection
link to other management processes such as
supervision, appraisal and training? How
could the connections be improved?
30
10 What steps have you taken to get feedback
from candidates about their experience of
your recruitment and selection processes?
11 What evidence have you got to
demonstrate that your processes are
inclusive and do not (even inadvertently)
discriminate against minority ethnic
candidates?
12 Could/should you develop and use an
assessment centre in recruiting managers?
13 Or which other services or agencies could
you work with to develop a joint approach?
14 How can you develop a culture of
continuous learning, innovation and
improvement in your recruitment,
development and promotion processes?
References
HMIP, (2000) – Thematic Inspection Report,
Towards Race Equality, Home Office
Moule, N. and Canton, R.(2000) – Towards a
Probation Service Assessment Centre, Vista
Volume 6, Number 1, Autumn 2000
Human Resources Department – (2000)
Recruitment and Selection Procedures, Middlesex
Probation Service
 Section 3
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY

Spreading the Net

How on-line information supports good practices
and promotes race equality
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY
Spreading the Net
How on-line information supports good practices and promotes race equality
Summary
T
he Macpherson Report (1999) acted as a
catalyst for many Probation Services to re-
assess their policies and procedures regarding
equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory
practices and the subsequent Thematic
Inspection – Towards Race Equality (2000)
emphasised the need to support the re-
assessment with actions. The recommendations
include improving service delivery to minority
ethnic offenders, supported by effective
recording and monitoring systems, the sharing of
good practice and relevant training for all staff.
At the same time, the past few years have seen
a revolution in information technology and its
effect on the way organisations can work, with
information available 24 hours a day. With the
appropriate hardware, infrastructure and ‘off
the shelf’ software, it is now relatively easy to
not only access the Internet, but also to create
a tailor made intranet site. Intranets are ‘closed’
systems which means that they can only be
accessed by designated people, usually within
one organisation, whereas the Internet is ‘open’
to anyone inside or outside the organisation. A
significant feature of both systems is the ability
to make a great deal of data available and
easily accessible to people at any level and
location in the organisation provided they have
a personal computer.
As a small service, with staff spread over twelve
different locations, Suffolk Probation Service has,
at times, had to find innovative solutions to
sustaining its commitment to equality and
openness. It had already established a group to
promote its commitment to Race Equality when
the Thematic Inspection Report was published.
This example shows how this Service has
developed an effective and modern solution using
information technology, and an intranet site, with
access to the Internet, as a means of addressing
the issues identified above. The intranet provides
them with the opportunity to access a substantial
database with information about the service, its
policies, procedures, performance and activities as
well as the national framework within which it
operates. In particular it can inform and support
the commitment to working towards race equality
by providing the following:
(i) relevant information/feedback about their
own and the service’s performance against
national standards – particularly in relation
to minority ethnic offenders
(ii) information about minority ethnic cultures
and faiths – to inform their practice
(iii) training material and training opportunities
– to develop their practice
(iv) a range of other relevant sites on the
Internet – to inform and develop their work.
Since launching the intranet in September 2000,
it has grown exponentially and staff are being
supported and encouraged, not only to use it,
but also to contribute to future developments.
The intranet is now complemented by a website.
This enables the service to share its approach
and work more closely with other organisations
in the Criminal Justice System and to provide
31
 information to the general public about its
services, its approach to race equality and
forthcoming job opportunities. Although it is
currently too soon to evaluate these initiatives,
early indications are that they will be successful.
For further information please contact
Martin Garside at Suffolk Probation Service
on 01473 408130 or Email him at
Martin.Garside@probserv.suffolkcc.gov.uk

32
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY
Spreading the Net
How on-line information supports good practices and promotes race equality
Background
S
uffolk is a geographically dispersed rural
county reflected in a probation service
which employs 240 staff in 12 different
locations (four major sites and eight satellite
offices). The overall minority ethnic population
of 2%, could, if taken on face value, lead to an
attitude that race equality is not a significant
issue. However, the Black and South Asian
population in the town of Ipswich is 6% and
there can be up to 30% minority ethnic
offenders in the three prisons within the
county. Furthermore, Suffolk Probation Service
has long held the view that its commitment to
equal opportunities is fundamental to its
dedication to being fair and just to all service
users and staff, and working towards race
equality is a central part of that commitment.
The Race Equality Strategy
Advisory Group
The publication of the HMIP Thematic Inspection
– Towards Race Equality emphasised the need to
raise the profile of that commitment just as,
almost simultaneously, in June 2000, Suffolk
Probation Service set up its Race Equality
Strategy Advisory Group (RESAG). RESAG has
the following objectives:
1 To operate as a consulting group which
enables the Board to review a range of
race equality issues in the context of a two
way relationship.
2 To establish and maintain links with regard
to policy and statutory responsibilities with
the Home Office, unions and the Central
Probation Council.
3 To facilitate the rapid implementation of
improvements.
Strong commitment and leadership from the
Probation Board and its chair is evident. Firstly,
the Chair of the Probation Board identified staff
training in race awareness as a clear priority.
Secondly a board member, Subhash Modasia,
took responsibility as chair of RESAG with the
other seven members of the group being drawn
from a range of roles and ethnicity. RESAG has a
sub group to examine effective practice with
minority ethnic offenders and racially motivated
offending, which is chaired by the Assistant
Chief Probation Officer with responsibility for
effective practice. The main focus of this group is
on service delivery opportunities for minority
ethnic staff and staff training in race awareness.
(See recommendation 12 in the Thematic
Inspection Report.)
However, whilst recognising that all staff would
benefit from training in race awareness, there
were insufficient resources at that time to do it
(no provision in the budget for the level of
training that was anticipated). An innovative
solution was required and was found in the
information technology developing in the service.
Information technology
For a number of years Suffolk Probation Service
has had a non NIPSISS network with intranet
access for staff in all locations (although this was
33
 not used as fully as it might have been). The
service had been purchasing personal computers
(PCs) slowly over a period of years and took the
opportunity to update its stock and complete the
roll out during the process of ensuring Y2K
compliance. With 150 PCs in 12 locations, most
staff now have their own PC, generally less than
18 months old.
The service has been using the Integrated Case
Management System (ICMS) for some time
which enabled staff to access a comprehensive
range of practical reports including those on
National Standards and Enforcements.
Both Steve Porter as Senior Probation Officer
Information Technology, and Mike Vaughan as
Database Administrator, were appointed at the
end of 1999. The service’s clear intent of
building its intranet capability and products was
reflected in their Job Specifications.
Once appointed, encouraged by the chair of
RESAG and the Board to be creative and look to
develop a capability, they explored various
options and, from their research, concluded that
Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks were
the most appropriate packages for Suffolk
Probation Service’s needs.
Again after careful exploration, Steve, Mike and
their colleagues in the Information Technology
Team all undertook an external eight week
course of evening classes during the summer of
2000. The service paid for the course but staff
did it in their own time.
With this and further training provided by
Macromedia, Mike Vaughan rapidly developed
the skills to take on the role of webmaster,
designing the intranet site, links, pages and
associated logos and icons. Most pages have a
standard format which was tested and reviewed
in house to ensure that staff were comfortable
with the design and that the screens were
perceived to be both useful and user friendly.
34
The experience
By the summer of 2000 a number of things had
come together. ICMS proved to be an ideal
database on which to build the service intranet,
which was launched in September 2000, using
the existing hardware, and Microsoft Internet
Explorer 5 browser to provide access.
Given the sensitive and confidential nature of
probation work and the individual and
collective reports it generates, the intranet
needs to be a ‘closed’ and secure system for
this work. However, the facility also provides
references and links to ‘open’ Internet sites
which contain a wide variety of relevant
information, which is invaluable to staff, not
least to inform their practice in working with
minority ethnic offenders.
The service was immediately able to identify and
capture the key content in four areas:
1 service delivery (from ICMS)
2 the Shap calendar of religious events (a
number of copies had been purchased but
were not available to every member of staff)
3 the Association of Black Probation Officers
website
4 a Practice Model or ‘Route Map’ to assist
with Anti-Racist Practice
Raising awareness of cultural and
religious issues
The availability of information on the intranet
also provided the innovative training solution
mentioned earlier, a tool to meet training needs
in a different way. It is obvious that information
is a key element in raising staff awareness and
understanding about the issues specific to
minority ethnic cultures and religions. It was also
apparent that not much of this information is
readily available in books, even if the service
could afford to buy sufficient quantities of them
for a geographically dispersed workforce. On the
other hand, the information part of race
awareness training could be delivered using the
intranet by creating a Race Equality page, behind
which is a wealth of information. This has been
described as “like having a reference library, with
shortcuts to using it, available on your desk”.
(The service is now in a position to
complement this approach with training
sessions in Race Awareness – see the next
steps section of this paper.)
Initial training for staff to use the intranet did
not need to be extensive as the Microsoft system
it uses is well known and easy to follow.
However the Data Administrator initially visited
each site, met staff and attended team
meetings. There are also Team Information
Assistants at each centre to provide support to
field staff if they need help in using the system.
Because the intranet provides staff with access to
information that would otherwise not be
possible, the main issue is to encourage them to
become accustomed to using the intranet as part
of their normal, everyday routine. They need to
see the intranet as their main reference point,
for accessing specific information when they
need it and general news when they want it. All
new staff now receive basic IT training as part of
their induction to the service, including how to
use the intranet.
Click on the Home Page for Suffolk
Probation Service
The Suffolk Probation Service home page has
12 icons at the top of the page to choose
from in order to access further information.
They are currently
They remain at the top of every subsequent
screen for easy navigation around the site.
The home page also has an icon to invite
comments, questions and suggestions to be fed
back to the web master.
There are only two more steps to using the
intranet to explore information about
Race Equality.
Click on the Practice Initiatives page
This offers a further eight choices (the graphic
Icons have not been reproduced here)
Click on the Race Equality page
This has a further nine icons to access useful
sites and more information

Using the intranet

All PCs are set up with a home page, which is
the entry point to one of three systems, the
Home Office Internet site, the County Council’s
intranet site and the Probation Service’s own site.
Samples from screens are shown below.
" Given that these pages provide the names,
dates and information about the main
religious festivals and observances of
different faiths, they could be an
appropriate source of research for a staff

35
 member before working with an offender
whose faith is unfamiliar to them.
"" These pages contain material generated by
the Service which a member of staff may
wish to check before or during work with a
minority ethnic offender, or a racially
motivated offence. It could just as easily be
used in a conventional training setting but is
accessible as and when an individual needs
it via the intranet.
""" These pages provide up to date information
about events and actions in the service
The remaining three icons provide the link to
websites of other organisations, most of which
needed very little tailoring and no more than an
hour’s work to link them to Suffolk’s intranet.
Click for other information
To use the intranet for other information it is
simply a matter of clicking on one of the other
icons at the top of the screen.
Examples
# The news icon links to any useful article or
report from recent newspapers and the staff
journal has an index of the latest issue and
back issues for staff to click on to access
specific articles. Although they are still
available on paper the intranet provides
news in a more readily available format to
all staff.
$ The staff manual pages have all the
information referring to terms and
conditions and employment practice
previously available in text form in a limited
number of offices.
☺ The meetings icon leads to dates, agendas,
membership and minutes of all the main
meetings held in the service. The training
36
icon leads to a training notice board and
training information. The notice board
enables staff to see at a glance what
training is forthcoming, when and where,
which not only reduces the number of
queries and reminders made to the training
team, but more importantly, enables staff to
book directly on to a course.
% National standards and ICMS icons lead to
pages which enable individual members of
staff to monitor their own performance
against the service as a whole and national
standards criteria mentioned previously.
Whilst the vast majority of the information
in these domains is accessible to all staff,
some of the reports contained here are
restricted and accessible only to those with
appropriate passwords.
Maintaining the intranet
The Data Administrator updates the sites
regularly, two or three times a week. He has no
fixed routine but emphasises the importance of
keeping the content current, creating and
sustaining staff interest. The front screen has all
the new information as it emerges and as
information here is replaced, it is moved to other
pages. Currently nothing is discarded so staff can
refer back to old information, which is regularly
archived. He keeps his own calendar of events to
provide a prompt to removing items that are
past their date. He also keeps his own
knowledge base up to date by regularly
attending the (free) seminars run by
Macromedia. At the same time the Chair of
RESAG and the IT manager meet regularly to
explore how to move things forward.
Although they invite staff to identify or provide
content for the site, currently material is mostly
generated and collated by the IT Team in
general, and the data administrator in particular.
However, they emphasise how important it is for
this to be reversed so that staff are the prime
source of information, ideas and other relevant
websites. They provide continued
encouragement for this, and when it happens it
will represent the real, desired shift in the culture
of the service.
Moving onto the Internet
The intranet in turn provided an ideal platform
from which to launch the service’s Internet
website in December 2000. Currently a small
site, it is developing rapidly with major steps
being taken as this case study is being written.
The home page provides access to three areas:
1 information about the service and includes
non sensitive and non confidential
information from the intranet site;
2 information relating to staff vacancies and
recruitment and selection processes. There
have already been enquiries about vacancies
posted on the Internet and interest in a
forthcoming open day where limited access
to the intranet will be set up for visitors to
see and use; and
3 information about race equality from
Suffolk’s intranet and links to other
relevant sites.
Clearly it is vital that the closed system and data
it includes is not accessible from the Internet and
great care has been taken to ensure security
behind what is called a ‘firewall’.
Outcomes
• The intranet represents a remarkable tool for
building a new culture in the organisation. It
requires a fundamental attitude to sharing
information, and a commitment to openness
that has not always been apparent in either
public or private sector organisations in the
past, where the attitude that ‘information is
power’ could all too often be seen. In Suffolk
Probation Service the intranet has been
described as “a catalyst, providing staff with a
central, constant and consistent source of up
to date and accurate information (including
what is required to improve practice) in the
right format and correct level of detail, with
improved speed of dissemination”.* The
system enables case recording to be updated
overnight, providing current information
rather than statistics at the end of the month.
This means that “this kind of database also
provides information and a forum for
professional practice which is both effective
and egalitarian”*
• Ready access to the case recording database
has made a significant difference to staff
practice and performance. It has forced better
practice by highlighting the need to log all
work. (If it is not on the system, it does not
exist for service reporting purposes, which in
future would almost certainly impact on the
level of service funding). Initially with ICMS
information was available, but on a monthly
basis. Now information that is captured daily
and updated by the central server overnight is
available to staff the next day. This has turned
attitudes to good practice on its head. Because
staff can access information about their own
performance, their team’s performance and
that of the service as a whole, as well as
examples of good practice, they can take steps
to improve their own outcomes. It has also
encouraged staff, who take a pride in getting
high levels in reports, to build on their success.
At the same time with a growing user base it is
apparent in the service that sharing good
practice is also easier. “...collaborative working
is a lot easier now”
• It has also re-awakened interest in, and
commitment to, Race Equality in the service.
1 The service is keen to publicise RESAG and
provide and sustain a high profile for its
work. With so many groups meeting it
* both quotes from Suffolk Probation Intranet – S Modasia and S Porter
37
 could have been seen as ‘just another
group’. The intranet (and the paper version
of the Staff Journal) enables the service to
raise awareness and the profile of the group
by publishing something every month.
2 Ready access to ‘a library on line’ is useful
for any service, but invaluable to a small
one with very limited resources. Much of
the information about the cultural and
religious backgrounds of minority ethnic
offenders is not in books. However, it is
readily accessible from the intranet or
wider sources on the world wide web and
is essential for better understanding
minority ethnic issues. Given that the site is
growing so fast and getting more
interesting, it has facilitated interest in
diversity in the widest sense. “We can
interact much better if we understand
ourselves and other people.”
3 This in turn has enabled staff, especially
those in more remote offices, who may
otherwise feel isolated, to work with more
confidence and assurance on these issues.
Suffolk has 5% minority ethnic offenders in
each type of probation order, which means
that some staff may not routinely write
reports on, or regularly work with, minority
ethnic offenders or those committing racially
motivated offences. With information about
good practice as well as cultural issues
mentioned in the last point, they can remind
themselves about cultural issues, make
better informed decisions and therefore
work more effectively with offenders.
4 Access to Internet sites for groups such as
the Association of Black Probation Officers
provides important support to Black staff in
the service.
• In order to sustain these outcomes the service
is committed to continuous improvement.
The IT team are continuously developing their
experience and expertise and, despite the rate
38
of change in the IT industry, they endeavour to
keep up to date with technological changes.
An external review of the systems has led to a
number of enhancements and the service is
currently considering a major design upgrade
• The intranet has already proved to be a
significant resource for training in the service,
providing invaluable data for both existing
staff and new recruits. This will be even more
important in the coming years when it is
anticipated that more Probation Service
Officers will be recruited and instead of the six
Trainee Probation Officers in the past, there
will be 21 over the next two year period.
Although there will be an increase in Practice
Development Assessors, from two part time to
four full time staff, accessing material on the
intranet will be an essential part of the
development for all these staff and provide
important backup to the training team.
However, given that the vast majority of
school leavers and young people have higher
expectations and expertise in using computers,
building the intranet and Internet facilities in
Suffolk is important
• Other benefits include saving resources.
Although the information is growing
exponentially it is cheap to access.
“Information is at your fingertips, you are not
waiting for it nor wasting paper.”
Next steps
Keeping up to date. Sustaining the progress
made is vital and simply keeping the content
relevant and up to date takes resources;
currently it is done by the Data Administrator
every 2-3 days but the task is expanding. The IT
team have already identified the need to
understand more about copyright and other
issues and have some concern that there is a real
risk of the network architecture becoming out of
date. Keeping in the forefront of innovations in
intranet design and use is essential.
Sustaining and expanding the user base.
Encouraging all staff to use the intranet more
regularly and effectively continues to be a
challenge. The service plans to make the Best
Practice guidelines easier to use and interactive
with examples of good practice in specialist
areas readily available to users.
Complementing the information for staff
with training. The service has just started a
programme of race awareness training. A pilot
course received very positive evaluation and
the resultant two day training course for
everyone in the service is being rolled out over
the next two years.
Share the knowledge and experience. Suffolk
is committed to continue sharing its experience
with other services, agencies and the Home
Office, seeking to impress on them the benefits
of this approach.
Expanding inter agency communication.
There are emerging opportunities to share
information and work in partnership with other
agencies in the Criminal Justice System. For
example the Government Secure Internet (GSI)
offers a way forward for organisations in the
Criminal Justice System to exchange information
within a secure environment. It is understood
that this approach is currently being explored.
Lessons learnt
With only six months experience, the service
believes it is too early to draw definitive lessons
from what they have done, however the
following themes have emerged.
1 Any service of any size could benefit
from this approach. Don’t assume you
cannot do this. Suffolk is a small service
with limited resources and yet it has made
substantial inroads in this field in a very
short period of time. Provided that there is
senior management commitment and a
basic computer infrastructure in place,
suitable software is available. Webmaster
skills can readily be learnt making it possible
to develop an information and learning
resource for staff.
2 Leadership is key. It is essential that there
is encouragement and support from Board
level to try new things. The IT team had the
capability to realise their potential and
develop the intranet site, but they needed a
positive environment in which to do it. (This
is true of many initiatives).
3 Continuous learning is the norm. The IT
team wanted to know more about the
principles and practice of the intranet and
Internet. They undertook training together to
form the foundation to move forward, but
technology continues to develop
exponentially and keeping up to date is
essential. You need to ‘learn as you go’,
attending seminars and ongoing training.
4 An egalitarian and open attitude to
information is essential. A well constructed
intranet site, let alone access to the world
wide web, means that anyone (in the
organisation) can access information, at any
time. Some reports can have restricted access
via passwords but the principle is that such
information is only valuable if it is a dynamic
product of the organisation which owns it.
(This issue may be even more relevant in the
future when it will be important to balance
the need for security of confidential
information with the need for openness
about the work of the service, enabling
areas to learn from each other.)
Furthermore, in order for the information to
be kept up to date and therefore interesting
39
 and relevant IT staff need to be able to take
decisions about what and how to edit
pages on a regular basis. Whilst it is clear
that senior managers need to agree in
principle what to publicise and the process
protocols, they also need to be comfortable
to delegate the daily decisions, not want to
control them.
5 AND a secure system is important.
With a (public) presence on the Internet
you do need to be vigilant that
information, which should be kept
confidential or within the confines of the
service, can be kept protected. In fact you
need different layers of security for
different information. The government is
able to overcome some of these problems
by having its own secure Internet, but at
present access to this does not extend to
Probation Services so they cannot use it to
communicate more widely within the
Criminal Justice System.
6 Culture change takes time. The active
participation by field staff in using the facility
has not been instant. The user base has
developed slowly with broad use amongst
most staff within six months. There is a
question of whether they will take the next
step and become active creators and
contributors to the facility or whether they
will expect it to remain IT led, particularly
when they are (and need to be) focused on
practice development and National Standards.
7 You can tailor a reference library to
your needs. In a number of fields, like
Race Equality, the information you may
need is disparate. Even if it were possible, it
would be too expensive to collect all the
relevant reference material. Using an
intranet site you can tailor the most
important information directly onto your
40
own site or provide reference on your site
to appropriate sites on the world wide web.
8 Innovation in recruitment and training.
Without the equipment to log the number
of hits on the Internet site, it is too early to
say how widely it is being accessed, but first
feedback suggest that people will use it to
access information about job vacancies and
then as another route to recruitment.
The intranet already provides that flexibility
to internal candidates as well as quicker,
easier access to information in the staff
manual (about to be available on line).
The intranet also provides a flexible
alternative to the information element in
traditional training, complementing other
aspects of development. Good quality,
specific and relevant material can be
available to all staff and given that people
have different learning styles, on screen
material (particularly if it is interactive) can
be a cheaper, more flexible and much more
effective way for some people to learn.
9 Beware the runaway train. The speed
with which an intranet site can grow and
the openness of the Internet raises issues,
particularly for a public service, about
quality control. There is a difficult balance
between promoting equality and openness
in the accessibility of information and
vulnerability to misuse of the medium.
Within Suffolk Probation Service a cross
grade “Information Group” has existed for
some time as a review body for issues
relating to both technology and information
policy. This group has now assumed further
editorial responsibility for both the intranet
and Internet, acting as a focus for creative
development, issues of ‘relevance’ and
necessary controls.
Benchmarking questions
In reviewing and developing your use of
Information technology you may wish to ask the
following questions.
1 What can your board members and senior
managers do to demonstrate their active
support and promotion of developing
information technology (IT) to support race
equality in service delivery and human
resource management and development?
2 What do leaders, at all levels in your service,
do to create and sustain an environment
where IT can be used to facilitate the sharing
of information, in particular good practice? Is
there a ‘champion’ for this work?
3 Does your service have a clear policy and
strategy for developing IT? Could it be
enhanced?
4 What protocols and skills have you got in
your service to support this development?
5 How is the intranet in your service used by
staff? Is it seen as integral to developing
good practice or separate to it? What is on
it? Could its use be enhanced?
6 What steps have you taken, or could you
take, to enable all staff in all locations to
have access to your intranet?
7 What training, or other activity, have you
undertaken to enable staff to develop their
confidence and competence in using IT?
Does this include online support?
8 What plans or processes have you got to
develop online support, and keep it
interesting and up to date?
9 What have you done, can you do to
encourage staff to use IT as a medium for
learning?
10 How does /could IT support the
development of effective partnerships with
other Criminal Justice Agencies in your area?
11 What do you do, or can you do, to share
information about the Criminal Justice
System in general, and your service in
particular, with neighbouring services?
12 What processes have you got to gain
feedback from staff about the effectiveness
of your current IT and how it can be
enhanced?
13 Do you regularly seek, analyse and take
action on feedback about your service from
service users and stakeholders? What is the
role of IT in securing this feedback? What
impact could IT have on improving the
feedback?
14 How does IT contribute to supporting and
monitoring your organisational outcomes?
How could it be enhanced?
15 How can you develop a culture of
continuous learning, innovation and
improvement in working with information
technology?
References
Modasia S and Porter S (2000) Suffolk Probation
Intranet – Suffolk Probation Service
Modasia S (2001) RESAG Report February 2001
– Suffolk Probation Service
41
42
 Section 4
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY

Building the Jigsaw

Towards race equality through monitoring and
improving service delivery
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY
Building the Jigsaw
Towards race equality through monitoring and improving service delivery

Summary ethnic offenders represents a small percentage of

the overall work of the probation service there.
However, its commitment to evaluating and

R
ecommendation 7 in the Thematic
improving services to minority ethnic offenders
Inspection – Towards Race Equality,
has been ongoing since the mid 1990s and their
identifies that Probation Committees and
approach is proving very effective.
Chief Probation Officers should “take action to
improve the overall quality of pre-sentencing In contrast, Greater Manchester is one of the
reports on minority ethnic offenders”. It goes on largest probation services in the country with
to identify how this should be achieved over 1000 staff covering the city and the
including, “collecting and using comprehensive surrounding towns. There are a number of
monitoring data” and “ensuring that quality substantial minority ethnic communities within
assurance measures address the particular the area. Greater Manchester also uses
circumstances of minority ethnic offenders”. monitoring as a key element in developing good
practice, together with encouraging staff to take
Recommendation 15 covers setting targets and
advice from, and work with, South Asian
implementing measures for the completion of
colleagues within a partnership contract. The
race and ethnic monitoring forms, and 16
evidence shows that the quality of pre-sentence
emphasises the need to ensure that monitoring
reports, sentencing outcomes and probation
systems are in place and the information
practice are all significantly enhanced by the
generated is used to inform and improve practice.
resultant better understanding of the issues of
Recommendation 9 states that services should culture, faith and ethnicity.
“demonstrate that as part of service strategies to
For further information please contact
meet the different needs of minority ethnic
Brian Clark in East Sussex Probation Service
offenders, the development of formal and
on 01273 669966 and/or Penny Jones in
informal partnerships has been informed by the
Greater Manchester Probation Service on
advice and expertise of local community groups”.
0161 872 4802
This example refers to how services in two very
different areas have addressed these
recommendations. It covers the background to
the approaches in each probation service, their
relative experience, outcomes and the common
and specific learning they have accrued.
East Sussex is one of the rural shire counties with
less than 200 staff and a minority ethnic
population of below 2%. Working with minority

43
44
BEST PRACTICE ON DIVERSITY
Building the Jigsaw
Towards race equality through monitoring and improving service delivery
East Sussex Probation
Service
Background
W
ith 189 staff, East Sussex is a small
probation service in a rural area with a
minority ethnic population of 1-2%
(depending on the source used). As the Assistant
Chief Officer Brian Clark said “Given our
geographical location and identity as a shire
county it would be easy to become complacent”.
However the service has a long term
commitment to equality.
In1995 the service conducted an internal
inspection on Equal Opportunities, which
identified the importance of the Pre Sentence
Reports (PSRs) in setting the tone for how the
service was experienced by minority ethnic
offenders. The inspection showed that at that
time Black offenders were more likely to receive
custodial sentences than their white counterparts
and of those offenders given community
sentences, Black offenders received more
Community Service Orders than Probation
Orders. Two years later a further study showed
that although the difference had diminished it
still existed. (These findings are very similar to
the later findings in the thematic inspection.)
Between 1997 and 2000, with strong support
from senior management and the endorsement
of middle manager colleagues, a programme of
continuous review was established to improve
the quality of PSRs and so promote greater
equality for all offenders. This was achieved
through training of staff, gatekeeping of PSRs
and managers meeting once or twice a year to
review significant samples of PSRs against
National Standards. As a result of the review
process all PSR writers received detailed feedback
on their own performance and that of their
team, the division and service, together with
help through supervision to make the changes
necessary to improve their reports and therefore
the quality of all PSRs.
Experience
In October 1999, East Sussex Probation Service
set up the Macpherson Task Group as a positive
response to the Macpherson report and as part
of the area objective to identify institutionally
racist practice within the area and take action to
address any poor practice or concerns. The
group predominantly focused on service delivery
but it took account of human resource issues as
they arose. Its aim was to “compare indicators of
levels of service and quality in relation to white
and black (and other) offenders” (other includes
Asian and other European) (Report on
Macpherson Task Group March 2000).
The review covered five areas of service delivery
(i) PSRs (ii) Family Court Welfare reports (iii)
National Standards compliance for offenders on
Probation Orders, Licences and Community
Service orders (iv) Bail hostel acceptance and
completion rates (v) a survey of minority ethnic
offenders’ experience of the service. It also
examined the completion rates for PREM1 (race
and minority ethnic monitoring form).
45
 A comprehensive review of PSRs was conducted
using the Integrated Case Management System
(ICMS) to examine the numbers of PSRs and their
outcomes. PSR quality was checked by reading
and assessment against the National Standards
criteria. Based on an analysis of over 3000 reports
over 15 months, the review showed that there
was greater equity in proposals. Of those PSRs
proposing a community sentence, the figures
were 67% for minority ethnic offenders and
70% for white. Proposals for Community Service
were 31% for each group, and for all probation
type orders 35% minority ethnic and 39% white.
In terms of quality, the Service had scored
consistently higher than the national figures,
between 77.8% and 94.6% on individual criteria
and 81% overall (this is a satisfactory or excellent
rating). 3.9% of reports referred to minority
ethnic defendants.
A sample of 20 Family Court Welfare reports,
where one or both parties were of minority ethnic
origin, were analysed against National Standards
and a questionnaire designed to (i) identify
discriminatory language and (ii) assess how
cultural issues had been dealt with in the reports.
The review found that generally cultural issues
had been addressed in a fair and objective way.
Some improvements to practice were identified
which were shared with the team and dealt with
in a team meeting. This involved exploring
complex issues of identity and how minority
ethnic parties are represented in welfare reports.
Bail hostels had higher acceptance rates and
significantly higher completion rates for minority
ethnic defendants compared with their white
counterparts. Although the service was pleased
with the results it was difficult to draw
conclusions from the small numbers involved.
The survey of Black offenders to assess their
perceptions of the service was conducted
independently and concluded that it was not
perceived as racist. However it acknowledged
that mistakes did happen occasionally and
ongoing monitoring was instigated. Completion
46
of PREM1 varied between 71% and 93%. (Since
then the Assistant Chief Probation Officer
(ACPO) with responsibility for race equality has
asked all managers to raise the issue at team
meetings, to remind officers of the importance
of completing these forms and to report back to
him on their progress.)
Outcomes
The Macpherson Task Group published its report
in March 2000 covering the evidence examined
on the service delivered, and the survey of
offenders. Both the evidence and the feedback
were very positive and, at the same time, the
service recognised that there was no room for
complacency. The report identified a number of
actions and recommendations, including training
for staff to raise their awareness and to enable
them to challenge racially motivated and racist
offenders. It also identified actions to improve
PREM completion, monitoring and recording and
to continue regular reviews to identify and take
action to address institutionalised racism.
The service has also recognised the need to
develop closer links with other agencies. For
example, minority ethnic staff were encouraged
to join multi agency support groups because
there were not enough people to develop a
group within the service. (The ACPO talked to
line managers, who in turn have made it clear to
staff that this can be done in work time.) Staff
working more closely with the police to log racist
offences, and working with the Commission for
Racial Equality to review policies and strategies.
Next steps
East Sussex Probation Service feels that this
review has established a baseline. West Sussex is
aware of the issues and is also committed to
good practice in race equality and the two
services are working together in readiness for
merging in April 2001.
Further quality monitoring of PSRs is already
being done jointly through examples from each
service being examined by middle managers
from the other service against the National
Standards. This is in order to share good
practice. Once the new service is established in
April, a review of all aspects of service delivery
will be carried out and will continue on a regular
basis. This will include a survey to identify the
ethnicity of the beneficiaries of Community
Service projects as part of monitoring the impact
of the service on society (following up
recommendation 18 of the Thematic inspection).
It will also include taking the opportunity to
review existing protocols with other agencies
and partners, especially the courts and
interpreter services.
It is anticipated that the recommendations of
future reviews will be incorporated into the
Service Area plan (linked to the ‘customer
results’ element of the European Excellence
Model – EEM).
A revision of the Equal Opportunities Policy is in
hand and these actions will be integrated to
provide reporting on the effective operation of
the policy within the new service. (Work has also
been done on recruitment and retention, which
is not covered in this paper, beyond noting that
regular monitoring of staff recruitment and
retention includes monitoring the ethnicity of
Community Service supervisors.)
Greater Manchester
Probation Service
Background
Greater Manchester is a large probation area,
covering Bolton, Wigan, Oldham, Bury and
Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and
Trafford, as well as the city of Manchester itself.
It has a substantial and varied minority ethnic
population and a dedicated Equal Opportunities
Manager who has responsibilities for every
aspect of race equality and diversity. This
includes work concerning the Black offenders
group work programme, managing a mentoring
project and two formal partnerships – the Black
Prisoners Support Group and the South Asian
Offenders Project, as well as liaison with Bury
Metro Interpreting Service. The projects are
substantial, well researched pieces of work. The
Black Prisoners’ Support Project, for example, is a
big partnership arrangement, focusing on work
in prison. Unfortunately, it is not possible to
cover all these projects in this one paper, but
should be noted that there is good liaison
between the workers who know each other and
work closely together.
This example focuses on the work of the South
Asian Offenders Project, which is run by the
Pakistani Resource Centre. The centre was first
established in 1966 to provide support to Asian
men. Since then it has grown, become a
registered charity and now provides a range of
services to the South Asian communities in
collaboration with a number of public and private
sector organisations. (In this context the definition
of South Asian relates to people originating from
Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.)
The services include providing advice and
support on housing, unemployment, racial
abuse, cultural alienation and immigration,
mental and physical health problems and work
with women and children on domestic violence
and child abuse. There are a number of paid and
voluntary workers, one full time and one part
time on this project.
The South Asian Offenders and Families Project
is a formal contract renewable every three years.
Its aim is to “manage risk and public protection
through a cultural, linguistic and religious
approach”. The project was started in 1996, but
initially, despite funding and senior management
47
 support, monitoring showed that the service
delivered to minority ethnic offenders was
variable and probation staff understanding of
cultural and religious issues was limited. Referrals
were made only if the officer knew about the
project and thought it was relevant.
The Chief Probation Officer has made it clear
that as well as risk assessment and reduction of
offending, improved working with minority
ethnic offenders is a service priority. This
commitment, and the feedback from
monitoring, led in 1999 to a staff notice
requiring staff to at least consult the project
when working with South Asian offenders. This
lent ‘authority’ to the project, and was a
breakthrough which was enhanced by the Equal
Opportunities Manager and the project workers
visiting teams to develop mutual understanding
through case studies, and discussions about the
implications of the staff notice.
The two workers from the project, a man and a
woman, undertake direct work with service users
and share understanding of cultural and religious
issues with staff. As Muslims of South Asian
heritage they are able to offer an informed
approach based on personal understanding and
experience of the Muslim culture and religion.
When working with offenders from other
cultures or faiths, they consult with colleagues at
the Resource Centre who are of the appropriate
culture or faith, or they undertake careful
research into the relevant issues. Other workers
from the Centre also provide support and cover
for the project when necessary.
The project workers are also able to reflect
and respect the sensitivities to gender in
communicating within many South Asian
communities. As a law graduate and a social
worker they also bring particular professional
insights, and relevant skills and experience to
this work.
Kamran Abassi has been undertaking offence
focused work with offenders for three years and
48
during that time his caseload has increased from
four to 75. He advises and co-works with
Probation Officers on all types of offending and
at all stages from PSR to supervision and
resettlement. Given an understanding of the law
and a South Asian background, he is uniquely
able to challenge offenders’ attitudes and
behaviour and contribute to victim enquiry work
(exploring the impact of their behaviour on
victims). He does this by examining their
perception of religious teachings, family and
cultural expectations, exploring the principles of
Islam and how they can be interpreted
differently, and in the context of British laws. For
example, it would be much harder to challenge
attitudes to women, family honour or the belief
in spirit possession, without a detailed
understanding of the religious teaching, and
wider concepts of family honour, dignity and
shame on which the community pivots.
Shabana Jamal uses her social work expertise and
experience when working with offenders’ families,
aware that many may be shocked, ashamed,
colluding with, or denying the severity of, an
offence based on cultural values and community
norms. Families, especially children, may need
information about what is happening to their
relative. Parents may need to better understand
the social context for their children living as young
adults within two cultures, the western youth
culture and the traditional South Asian culture,
and the stress that that can create. She is able to
challenge their perceptions of white eurocentric
values as well as the relationship between the
South Asian faiths and culture and the laws in
Britain. She also advises and co-works with
probation staff to develop their understanding of
many different cultural and faith issues and
implications for offenders’ families.
Both Kamran and Shabana believe that their
ethnicity and sensitivity to, and understanding
of, other cultures are essential to them being
able to use culturally appropriate scenarios in
their work. By being from the same ethnic
background they can “get in close, break down
barriers and share experiences, even provide
positive role models for offenders and their
families, putting their faith and culture in the
context of laws and host society” (Kamran
Abassi). By working with probation staff to
develop their understanding of offenders
cultural and religious backgrounds, they also
contribute to better informed, more confident
practice and consequently greater parity in
service delivery. They are enable to work
effectively in ‘building the jigsaw of good
practice’ through shared understanding.
Outcomes
Evidence showed that in the past minority ethnic
offenders did not experience parity of service.
White offenders were more likely to have their
situations understood, their religious beliefs and
cultural norms recognised and taken into
account, or researched, as a matter of course.
Monitoring throughout 2000 and the outcomes
against specific targets for the project show that
this is changing. For example:
• Taking account of the type of offence, and the
type of proposal, figures in three districts in
Manchester show a higher take up rate on
proposals for Black offenders than for their
white counterparts
• There has been increased consultation or co-
working concerning all South Asian service
users to ensure “informed cultural perspective
consistently and fairly applied”. The Pakistani
Resource Centre staff provide consultation in
person, by fax or telephone, prioritising
referrals according to risk and need and will
co-work interviews at PSR, supervision plan or
release stages. The quarterly monitoring for
July-September 2000 showed that there were
77 PSRs on South Asian offenders, which
converted in to 58 new cases. There were 67
co-worked interviews (nine at the PSR stage,
48 with offenders on Community Supervision
and eight with resettlement offenders).
Although it could be better, this represents a
significant improvement especially at the
supervision plan stage
• There is evidence of similar outcomes for
white and South Asian offenders at the PSR
stage. Recent monitoring shows that an
enhanced understanding of risk and needs has
had a significant impact, leading to much
more accurate risk assessments, more
culturally informed PSRs and sentencing. For
example, South Asian offenders have been
required to work with the South Asian
Offenders Project to address the issues in the
PSR as part of their sentence
• A recent questionnaire demonstrated that
Probation staff have an increased
understanding of the multiplicity of South
Asian cultures and faiths and how that
affects the individual offender in their family
and the community. Feedback referred to the
project as very helpful and effective leading
to better outcomes
• A questionnaire to service users has started.
Analysis of this to date shows that offenders
have a raised understanding of the impact of
their offence, are positive about the support
given to them and their families, and shows
that the community is becoming better
informed about the Probation Service.
In addition
• There is a significant impact on re-offending
rates. Where the project workers have been
directly involved, over three years and out of
more than 300 cases (more than 50% of
which were high risk), only three high risk
offenders have re-offended
• Current programme work with Black and
Asian offenders to explore their cultural roots
49
 and history has been well researched and is
proving to be effective
• It has been possible to share experience and
raise the profile of the work of the project
with other local agencies and partnerships
through a network of liaison and meetings.
This has been achieved nationally by
presentations at conferences, publication of
articles and a (pending) book chapter.
Next steps
Despite the complexities inherent in effective
monitoring when the minority ethnic population
varies so significantly across the area, detailed
statistics are kept and will continue to be
assessed. Information from ACE assessment will
also be included in monitoring.
A portfolio of good practice case examples, risk
assessments, supervision plans and PSRs is near
completion. This will be used for workshops,
training and reference.
A local conference will be held in May 2001 with
the aim of helping minority ethnic communities
get a better understanding of all criminal justice
agencies, with a view to improving recruitment
from those communities.
The Community Service policy is currently being
reviewed to ensure that minority ethnic
communities benefit from Community Service
(recommendation 18 from the thematic
inspection).
Lessons learnt – Both services
1 Good practice is about continuous
improvement. Monitoring PSR quality may
lead to being able to demonstrate that your
service is ‘fair’ but using it as evidence for
50
what needs to improve, and how it can
improve, is more important. Specific
feedback together with examples of good
practice is what has enabled individuals and
teams to develop the services to minority
ethnic offenders and their families.
2 Leadership is a cornerstone to success.
Both areas agreed that it is vital for senior
managers to demonstrate to staff and re-
inforce to communities and other agencies,
their serious commitment to race equality. It
is equally important that there is one
designated manager to lead and co-
ordinate the work done in this field.
3 It takes time and planning to build the
picture. It has taken both services 5-7 years
of continuous monitoring, surveys and
development to track the level of the
services delivered to minority ethnic
offenders and their families. They have
needed careful planning and preparation to
identify what constitutes useful information,
how to collect it and use it. It also takes
time for staff to understand the implications
of religious teaching and cultural norms and
to integrate their raised awareness into
everyday practice, then sustain good
practice in the light of that awareness.
4 Good information management is
essential. The effectiveness of the
information collection and management
system makes a real difference. Even with a
small number of cases to monitor East
Sussex found using ICMS invaluable in
capturing and analysing data. Their analysis
includes checking why PREM might not be
completed and ensuring that organisational
processes support completion. Greater
Manchester has significantly more cases
over a larger geographical area. It uses the
CM2001 system and has built an effective
monitoring process. Over the past year
detailed work to ensure meeting and
 sustaining of targets in monitoring has
been very effective. There have been big
improvements and the service is now on
target. Both services intend that new
information systems will enable them to
generate and use the information
effectively as the basis for improving
services to these groups.
5 Involvement makes the difference. In
East Sussex managers and staff at all levels
have been closely involved in reviews
notably the work of the Macpherson Task
Group. In Greater Manchester the Equal
Opportunities Manager and project workers
have been closely involved with offenders
and their families, as well as probation
staff. This involvement has made a
significant difference to the level of
understanding of the issues and
commitment to good practice in race
equality in both services.
6 Positive feedback and learning together
leads to better services. Managers in
both services (and project workers in
Greater Manchester) are learning to assess
the quality of PSRs and to give helpful
feedback to staff. This information
combined with feedback from service users
has been important in informing good
practice. Where monitoring shows high
standards are being achieved staff benefit
from positive recognition. Where it shows
room for improvement, feedback can be
used to identify specifically what needs to
be changed. In Manchester staff learning
from, and working with, the South Asian
Offenders Project workers has heightened
their understanding of the religious and
cultural context of offending, which has in
turn led to better PSRs, more equitable
sentencing and experience of probation
orders. At the same time South Asian
offenders and communities have learnt
more about the British legal system in
general and the probation service in
particular. In East Sussex the proposed race
awareness training and beneficiary survey
will be used to develop services further.
7 A holistic approach builds a culture. No
matter what the size or location of the
organisation, it is showing commitment in
many different ways that delivers improved
services to minority ethnic offenders.
Examples at the corporate level include a
Chief Probation Officer highlighting this
work as a priority, the revision of Equal
Opportunity policies and procedures, clearly
stated expectations of staff (in the staff
notice) and integrating findings arising from
reviews into future Area plans. Examples at
the team and individual level include using
specific case studies to raise awareness and
confidence, the availability of advice,
support and co-working and feedback to
staff to develop their practice. Like building
a jigsaw every person has a part to play in
monitoring current practice and developing
the behaviours which contribute towards
race equality in service delivery.
8 Avoid stereotyping organisations. It
may involve different approaches but both
large and small organisations can develop
processes to effectively monitor and
develop the services they deliver to minority
ethnic offenders.
9 Be open to interagency working. In
Greater Manchester this has meant working
in partnership with projects like the South
Asian Offenders Project, and in East Sussex
it is working more closely with the police to
log racial incidents and with other local
organisations to find ways to provide
support for minority ethnic staff.
51
 Benchmarking questions
In monitoring, reviewing and developing your
service delivery to minority ethnic offenders
and their families you may wish to ask the
following questions.
1 What do your board members and senior
managers do, or need to do, to
demonstrate their active commitment to
monitoring and, if necessary, developing
services to minority ethnic offenders and
their families?
2 What do leaders, at all levels in your service,
do to create and sustain an environment
which encourages staff confidence in, and
commitment to, working towards race
equality in service delivery?
3 What policies have you got to underpin
equitable service delivery? Are they current
and effective? Do they need to be reviewed
or updated?
4 What processes have you got to ensure that
the policies are communicated effectively to
staff and are implemented with sensitivity?
5 What training and support do you offer to
staff to raise their awareness of minority
ethnic cultural and religious issues?
6 How do you encourage staff to use that
raised awareness in everyday practice?
7 What processes have you got to gain and
use feedback from staff that the policies,
training and support they have received
promotes good practice?
8 Which other services or agencies could you
work with to develop a joint approach to
monitoring, supporting or improving
services to minority ethnic offenders?
9 What systems have you got to collect and
analyse data about service delivery? How
52
accurate and effective are they? How could
they be improved?
10 What systems have you got to review and
develop services to minority ethnic
offenders? How effective are they? Can
they be improved?
11 What resources have you got/do you need
to review and develop these services?
12 What steps have you taken to get feedback
from service users and beneficiaries about
their experience of your service? What do
you do with the feedback you receive?
13 Have you got, or do you need to develop,
protocols with partnership projects and/or
partner organisations (especially courts) in
the Criminal Justice System?
14 What have you done, or need to do, to
ensure that Community Service projects,
and those who supervise them, reflect the
ethnicity of communities they serve?
15 How can you develop a culture of continuous
learning, innovation and improvement in
service monitoring and delivery?
References
HMIP, (2000) – Thematic Inspection Report,
Towards Race Equality, Home Office
Clark B, (2000) – Delivering Race Equality in
Probation Services, 1st Annual Report to the
Home Secretary, East Sussex Probation Service
Clark B, (2000) – Report of the Macpherson Task
Group, East Sussex Probation Service
Jones P, (2001) – Report on the South Asian
Offenders Project, Greater Manchester
Probation Service
Pakistani Resource Centre Information Pack (2000)