Chief Executive Conference Blog

October 2009
Conservative Conference, Manchester

Another busy few days with the Conservatives in Manchester this time joined by my colleague Catherine Hennessy.

Given their position in the polls delegates in the Manchester Central conference centre were in justifiably confident mood. Crime and disorder, re-offending, prisons and anti-social behavior were all very much on the agenda but with less coverage of mental health issues.

Crime is certainly one of the areas that the Conservatives believe they can create some "clear blue water" in the next election campaign

I'll post a fuller account soon, but in the meantime between us we took part in or attended the following fringes:

Also fitted in the Law and Order session in the main conference hall and dinner with Clive and Nathan from Clinks.

We met with several members of the shadow justice team and many others who were keen to help us connect to the policymakers in the party and in the think tanks that are influencing development of thinking in the party.

Alongside the MEAM manifesto, we launched "Multiple Needs" Service Users' Perspectives, in which people with direct experience of this situation explain in their own words what did and didn't work for them.

September 2009
Labour conference, Brighton

I've just from come from watching Gordon Brown's speech on TV in the lounge of one of the conference hostels. It went down well with the delegates, surely putting an end to any speculation of a leadership challenge this side of an election.

After the shocking case of the Pilkington family it was inevitable that he would address the issue of antisocial behaviour. The interesting thing is that, while there was talk about "action squads" cracking down, he also promised the further roll out of the family intervention projects (FIPS) initially piloted in Dundee but recently established across the country as part of the Government's Respect action plan.

FIPS operate on similar principles to those underpinning the Revolving Doors approach: an understanding of the downward spiral that families and individuals experience in the face of combinations of mental health problems, substance misuse, poverty and poor housing that can lead to crime and antisocial behaviour; leadership and partnership working from local authorities, police, probation, health and others; sustained, assertive support a highly skilled key worker that engages and values the involvement of the person receiving the service; advocacy and links across a wide range of services in the community that are needed to tackle the interconnected problems.

An evaluation of the 53 FIPS concluded that they achieved significant reductions in ASB and improvements across a range of outcomes.

Earlier, at a breakfast launch of the Making Every Adult Matter coalition manifesto, we heard a moving account of how the right services make a huge difference from Danny from Revolving Doors' Service Users Forum. Phil Hope MP, the Minister for Care Services, listened as Danny explained how long it took to get the right help that he needed to escape a life of homelessness and crime. Saying how important it was to him to be listened to and valued as a person, Danny also said at times he'd felt that the only way he was going to get any help was to get arrested and get back into prison.

Danny's account graphically demonstrated the urgent need for the change that the MEAM coalition is proposing. Revolving Doors will continue to support this campaign, bringing our expertise of developing effective services, working with commissioners and through the voice and experience of the Forum.

Responding to Danny and Jenny Edwards, CEO of Homeless Link, who outlined the four-point manifesto, Phil Hope said that we should start with how much the Government is doing on this agenda, not least PSA 16 on reducing social exclusion among adults. The inter-Ministerial PSA 16 group, he said, is driving progress focused on improving access to homes and jobs for care leavers, ex-offenders, mental health service users and people with learning disability.

At question time I asked the Minister to consider that PSA16, while a welcome step forward, still misses adults with multiple needs and exclusions by focusing on those already in touch with services. His answer was that the aim had been to focus attention on those with the most severe needs to avoid the tendency for services to work with the easier to reach. This demonstrates that we have some work to do to explain the impact that multiple needs can have. He did concede that help should be available to "both rather than either".

Danny asked the minister about the money being wasted by repeatedly imprisoning people who could be helped for far less money. Mr Hope responded by saying how difficult it is to take money out of the prison system to put it upstream because you still need the prison until the interventions work.

Unfortunately the Minister had to leave before we had a chance to hear from Eilis Lawlor from NEF about their approach to identifying value of services. Social Return on Investment has attracted attention from the Cabinet Office. Demonstrating the value of investing upstream will be vital to moving this agenda forward.

The previous day I attended the SCMH fringe meeting looking at mental health in the criminal justice system. This session was introduced by Revolving Doors Patron Lord David Ramsbotham, former Chief Inspector of Prisons, and with input from a range of local and national experts.

I also attended a fringe arranged by The Smith Institute and the Centre for Social Justice. This was billed as "How can we fix broken families" and included a talk by Andrea Leadsom, former chair of the Oxford Parent Infant Project. The principle underlying that organisation is that attachment between a baby and its parent in the first year has profound consequences for the rest of life. Many of our social problems can be understood as emerging when this attachment is not developed.

Also speaking was Graham Allen MP who has worked with Iain Duncan Smith on a publication on early interventions published by the Smith Institute.

September 2009
Liberal Democrat conference, Bournemouth

A beautiful bright morning with sunshine glistening on the sea made my stroll up to the conference centre a real treat. I headed to the main auditorium to listen to a panel discussion on crime policy chaired by Brian Paddick with shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne MP, Jan Berry (Independent reducing bureaucracy advocate) Juliet Lyon (Prison Reform Trust) and Professor Lawrence Sherman (Professor of criminology, University of Cambridge).

The Q&A started on the issue of the trustworthiness of crime figures and the need to make crime reduction policy on the basis of evidence rather than, as Chis Huhne put it "what the Sun and the Daily Mail say". Professor Sherman called for a "NICE-like" body for criminal justice to provide authoritative and independent advice on what works. The debate ranged over the effectiveness of prisons and on to how the party can sell the message to the public - a necessity underlined by my earlier conversation with my taxi driver from the station who, when I asked what he thought of the Lib Dems, said "they're the ones who would let them all out of prison". Some way to go then.

Vince Cable followed, introduced to a packed and eager hall as The People's Chancellor. He is regarded here in the party a the trump card. Another speaker later said: Vote Lib Dem and get Vince for Chancellor. A speech themed around "progressive cuts" and the new tariff on millionaire homes went down well but he will have lost some when he said: "Don't get me wrong. I can, personally, think of lots of things that it would be desirable to spend lots of money on: mental health... hospices - and bee research - things I have campaigned for. But economic reality means that more is spent on some items there is less elsewhere" [Read Vince Cable's speech here]

Very unfortunate that, when he chose to name sacrificial lambs for the altar of cuts, he put mental health first. Clearly he hasn't absorbed the absolutely compelling economic case for investment in this area.

Talking of which, my next appointment was at the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health and Royal College of Psychiatrists roundtable on mental health services for those in the criminal justice system. A good session with MPs Alan Beith, chair of the Justice select committee, David Heath and David Howarth and a range of experts from health, probation, NOMS and campaign groups. One of the themes discussed was the need for commissioning architecture to make sure the forthcoming offender health plan delivers the Bradley Report recommendations. I asked the MPs to support our call to ensure the government's New Horizon consultation directs help to people with common mental health services and multiple needs whose lives can be as adversely affected as those with more severe and enduring problems.

Over sandwiches it was a nice to catch up with the Sainsbury Centre crew, Paul Farmer from Mind and to meet Juliet Lyon from the Prison Reform Trust. I chatted to the regional offender health manager who was very keen on our North Devon project.

September 2009
Liberal Democrat conference, Bournemouth

This autumn the party faithful gather at their annual conferences with a sense that we are in a period of real political flux. The backdrop is recession with the resulting debate about public spending cuts, public anger following the MPs' expenses scandal and, if the polls are right, the prospect of a change of government. Here in sunny Bournemouth Nick Clegg's party hope they can capitalize on this situation. Certainly the odds of a hung parliament have shortened over the past few months making the discussion here more relevant than ever.

My first task on Sunday evening was to chair a fringe meeting of the T2A (Transition to Adulthood) alliance hosted by Barrow Cadbury. Guest speakers were David Howarth MP, shadow secretary of state for justice and Rob Allan, T2A chair. They were joined by James and Charmaine, two young people who brought along their film of interviews with young people with experience of the criminal justice system. The T2A alliance is seeking a new approach to young adults in the criminal justice system.

Invitees included David Heath MP, who serves on the Justice select committee, representatives from party HQ and a range of T2A partners.

Rob Allen kicked off with an outline of T2A's consultation paper A New Start - Young Adults in the Criminal Justice System. David Howarth responded positively and emphasised that Lib Dem policy on criminal justice aims to take a "what works" approach, focusing on the evidence of effectiveness in tackling crime and reducing re offending rather than popularist and punitive approaches. This implies, he said, increasing detection rates rather than increasing the prison population, expanding restorative justice and promoting diversionary approaches that engage the judiciary in approaches such as the problem-solving drugs courts. He underlined the report's recommendations to strengthen support for young adults leaving prison saying that there is a "golden hour" when a person leaving prison will either be met by a positive role model or mentor such as provided by St Giles Trust or by a drug dealer. We have to increase the odds of it being the former. After David, Charmaine and James introduced their film. Themes around belonging, having something positive to do and the need to earn money came through strongly. A good reminder of the vital need to actively involve young people in finding solutions that will work.


This event is part of the consultation on A New Start and will inform the development of a final document to be launched by T2A later in November.


After the meeting I listened to Nick Clegg talk to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown about identity in Britain before heading to the busy Marriott Hotel bar for the first evening of conference networking.