1. THE PLOWDEN LECTURE
11TH MAY 2017

2. Localism and devolution - Exploring the role and prospects for cooperative governance of prisons and prison services
DAVE NICHOLSON

3. THE CONTEXT

4. • DEVOLUTION AND LOCALISM
• COOPERATIVE AND MUTUAL GOVERNANCE OF
PUBLIC SERVICES
• CO-PRODUCTION OF REHABILITATION
• STATUTORY DUTY OF REHABILITATION

5. DEVOLUTION ‘Devolution’ - the transfer of public service governance from central government to new institutions of local government such as Combined Authorities with directly elected Mayors.

6. LOCALISM ‘Localism’ - the transfer of public service delivery and governance from central or local government to local communities. Local control of government as opposed to ‘Local Government’. ‘Localism’ – the democratic goal of engaging citizens in decisions that affect them

7. Devolution of Criminal Justice Greater Manchester - a joined-up justice system - Linking adult education and skills training provision in the community with education provision in prisons.  - Exploring the potential for new opportunities to aid in the resettlement and rehabilitation of offenders. - Options to devolve custody budgets for female offenders, young offenders, and those sentenced to less than two years in prison. - The creation of new models of secure schools for under 18s in the region. Devolution is all about joining-up and integrating existing services - But is newly elected Mayor Andy Burnham (Labour and Cooperative Party) simply “replacing Whitehall with the Town Hall?”

8. LOCALISM IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE West Midlands - co-design and implement approaches to improving the life chances of troubled individuals (those with multiple problems of homelessness, substance misuse, offending and mental health) Andy Street, newly elected Mayor (Conservative Party) - Mutuals, cooperatives and social enterprises to improve the life chances of troubled individuals - “As managing director of John Lewis, I saw how cooperatives and mutuals can drive higher commitment from employees, deliver greater service and share rewards with employees”. - "We all know the case of 'the council will sort it' isn't going to be enough”. - Is devolution adopting a localist agenda in the West Midlands for Criminal Justice and public services generally? - Are Cooperatives and Mutuals the way to implement that agenda?

9. COOPERATIVE AND MUTUALS - Co-operatives and mutuals are independent businesses that exist to meet and fulfil the needs of their members. - They provide flexible models based on member ownership, control and self determination that are used to deliver a wide range of products and services. - They are the most distinct and long-established form of social enterprise, owned by their members and operating on a democratic basis of one member, one vote rather than an investor model of one pound, one vote.

10. COOPERATIVES AND MUTUALS IN PUBLIC SERVICES - Difference between mutual public services and cooperatives running public services. - Mutual public services are all about the ownership and delivery of public services being shared between the service provider, the recipient and the wider public, - Role of the professional service provider becomes more that of enabler than direct service provider – people owning and delivering their own public services through membership of the organisation that delivers them. - Public services run by cooperatives on the other hand merely involve staff in the ownership and delivery of the services. There is no role seen as necessary for service users or the wider public. - ARE WEST MIDLANDS PROPOSALS COOPERATIVES OR MUTUALS ? -IMPORTANT DISTINCTION WHEN WE CONSIDER ROLE OF COOPERATIVES AND MUTUALS IN PRISONS AND PRISON SERVICES

11. COOPERATIVES AND MUTUALS IN PUBLIC SERVICES – SOME EXAMPLES - NHS MUTUAL FOUNDATION TRUSTS. Each Foundation Trust has a Council of Governors. This is made up of elected Governors and appointed Governors. Elected Governors are chosen by a secret, postal ballot, of the membership. The elections are usually held in separate constituencies. Typically there is a staff constituency, a patient constituency, and a "public member" constituency consisting of members who are neither patients nor staff but live in a defined geographical area. - COOPERATIVE ACADEMIES are schools that want to access the additional freedoms and funding that are available in the academy model but also build in important aspects such as a voice for key stakeholder groups - ROCHDALE BOROUGHWIDE HOUSING the UK’s first tenant and employee co-owned mutual housing society, with over 13,500 homes throughout the local area.

12. COOPERATIVE AND MUTUAL PRISONS AND PRISON SERVICES
COOPERATIVE AND MUTUAL PRISONS AND PRISON SERVICES? ‘If Hospitals can be transformed by Foundation status, then why cannot a prison? If educational charities like Absolute Return for Kids (ARK) or the Harries Foundation can run state comprehensive schools open to all, then why could they not run a prison?’ GUY OPPERMAN MP

13. CO-PRODUCTION Co-production is a practice in the delivery of public services in which citizens are involved in the creation of public policies and services. It is contrasted with a transaction based method of service delivery in which citizens consume public services which are conceived of and provided by governments and other providers. Co-production is possible in the private and non-profit sectors in addition to the public sector. In contrast with traditional citizen involvement, citizens are not only consulted, but are part of the conception, design, steering, management and ownership of services. PUBLIC SERVICE COOPERATIVES AND MUTUALS ARE THE GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS FOR CO-PRODUCTION

14. CO-PRODUCING REHABILITATION Rehabilitation is not simply about individual offenders stopping offending. It’s much more about relationships, building and re-building the positive pro-social relationships that will nurture and sustain a law-abiding lifestyle – relationships with prison staff, prisoners’ family and friends, employers, and the communities to which they will return when they are released. In co- producing rehabilitation we really are ‘all in it together’ .

15. STATUTORY DUTY OF REHABILITATION - a new statutory duty of prisons to provide rehabilitation for their prisoners as well as guaranteeing their safe-keeping SO… - Prisons and Prison Services will co-produce rehabilitation through cooperative and mutual governance structures?

16. The role and prospects for cooperative governance of prisons and prison services

17. Coproducing Rehabilitation Services in Prison Individual services Group services Collective services

18. INDIVIDUAL SERVICES (1) Ensuring the quality of relationships between all prison staff and prisoners. The motivation for prisoners to change emerges in, and from, collaborative relationships with staff; people they can get on with and respect; who treat them as individuals; are genuinely caring; who place them at the centre of the change process, identifying jointly what’s needed to change and how, rather than just seeking responses to staff-defined problems.

19. INDIVIDUAL SERVICES (2) Particular importance in the initial assessments of prisoners and sentence planning. Involves recognition that there is no single method or means of intervention that suits the rehabilitative needs of everyone. Also requires a recognition that family circumstances – whether providing the informal support, stability and security that facilitate rehabilitation, or contributing to the chaos, stress and trauma often underpinning offending in the first place – need to be addressed.

20. GROUP SERVICES (1) Bringing prisoners together to shape and deliver their own prison rehabilitation services. Current approaches to group work in prison focus on cognitive behaviour therapy addressing individual ‘criminogenic needs’. Rehabilitation requires the development of new supportive social networks as well.

21. GROUP SERVICES (2) Mutual aid groups are of particular importance The addictions recovery movement (Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are notable examples) and recovery in a mental health context. Given the prevalence of mental ill-health and addiction in the prison population, prisons should actively support the co-design and co-delivery of such mutual aid-based services in order to deliver effective rehabilitation services.

22. COLLECTIVE SERVICES (1) Practices, strategies and services that involve and produce outcomes that benefit whole communities, rather than just individuals or groups of prisoners who come from those communities. Prisons playing their part in ensuring that prisoners and the communities to which they will return have access to sustainable and good quality employment and accommodation – two of the key drivers of sustained rehabilitation.

23. COLLECTIVE SERVICES (2) TOGETHER SOCIAL BUSINESS GROUP – CONSTRUCTION AND ACCOMODATION JOBS, FRIENDS AND HOUSES – SUPPORT, EMPLOYMENT AND ACCOMODATION CIRCLES OF SUPPORT AND ACCOUNTABILITY – SUPPORT AND SUPERVISION IN A ‘BESPOKE SOCIETY’

24. ROLE AND PROSPECTS FOR COOPERATIVES AND MUTUALS The Cooperative and Mutual sector argument is that it is cooperative and mutual forms of governance and service delivery that best facilitate these individual, group and collective co- productive approaches to rehabilitation and that this is demonstrated particularly by the experience of cooperatives and other forms of mutual governance and service delivery in other public services in the UK and abroad.

25. BUT DOES IT WORK?

26. LIMITATIONS OF THE FOUNDATION TRUST MODEL (1) Active membership is central to how far Foundation Trusts and other Public Service Mutuals can successfully enshrine coproduction in their structure and operation This is of particular concern to rehabilitation services in prison, where the very act of participation itself helps build the relationships that support successful rehabilitation through individual, group and collective services.    

27. LIMITATIONS OF THE FOUNDATION TRUST MODEL (2) “The weakest part of the Foundation Trust model is membership and governance. The idea was that the Trust would belong to its Members (the moral owners) and would have Governors who would represent the local community. For most Trusts the effect has been more freedom for the Chief Executive…many see the Governors as an ornamental part of the constitution. They see Members as an extension of the League of Friends.” policy/nhs-policies/statement-on-foundation-hospitals-2010/

28. SOCIAL COOPERATIVES (1) This alternative is not so much a model appropriate for the independent governance of prisons like Foundation Trust status would be, but it is more of a ‘Special Purpose Vehicle’ (SPV) for the delivery as well as governance of prison rehabilitation (and other) services.

29. SOCIAL COOPERATIVES (2) In this alternative model the prison retains its traditional custodial role, but it’s new rehabilitative role, and other services as appropriate, are delivered by the SPV, which would usually also include the prison in its stakeholder membership as well.

30. SOCIAL COOPERATIVES (3) Moreover, adopting and adapting this model would require no legislative change which would be needed if prisons were to adopt Foundation Trust status. It is an explicitly cooperative and mutual model that embeds and reinforces the coproduction of rehabilitation in prison, through the prison gate and on final release in the community. It provides an employment-based comprehensive and co-produced rehabilitation service - a membership-based ‘Special Purpose Vehicle’, a ‘rehabilitation society’, or a ‘Social Cooperative’.  

31. SOCIAL COOPERATIVES (4) Originating in Italy, Prison Social Cooperatives are multi-stakeholder in that prison staff, prisoners, local community etc can be members, but they are not divided into separate constituencies of membership like they are in Foundation Trusts and other Public Service Mutuals.

32. SOCIAL COOPERATIVES (5) It is this lack of distinction between different stakeholders that helps facilitate coproduction by the different stakeholders – members are ‘all in it together’ rather than members of different constituencies of the cooperative. Crucially, this also helps promote active member engagement in the delivery of services.

33. SOCIAL COOPERATIVES (6) Unlike Foundation Trusts and other Public Service Mutuals, the prisoner service users of Social Cooperatives are also employees of the cooperative. It is this that significantly enhances member engagement. Service users cannot help but be more engaged in the cooperative because they are actually paid to work in it – paid to engage and paid to co-produce their own rehabilitation through paid work in the cooperative.

34. SOCIAL COOPERATIVES (7) Cooperative styles of working and mutual support, reinforced by formal membership of the cooperative are part of the process of developing a new pro-social identity amongst prisoners - cooperative working, mutual support and membership as a therapeutic intervention in its own right. This therapeutic intervention is part and parcel of a real job in a real working environment rather than just another Offender Behaviour Programme and it is coproduced with prison staff and others involved in the business.

35. EXAMPLE (1) Co-operativa Alice, Milan (San Vittore Prison): For more than twenty years, this social co-operative has provided women prisoners on day release the opportunity to make costumes for theatre and television productions. Co-operativa Alice produces its own clothing line called “Jailcats” and has produced costumes for the local opera house, as well as accessories for the inter Milan football team. About 100 women have been members of the co-operative and some have gone on to careers in the fashion industry; only one member returned to prison.

36. EXAMPLE (2) San Patrignano Drugs Project, Rimini: This social co-operative focuses on supporting individuals who are recovering from addictions. It trains and employs workers in carpentry, plumbing, artisan wine and cheese production, ornamental iron work, and the craft of hand-painted wallpaper. Approximately 800 of the workers at San Patrignano are provided with free accommodation and 2,000 individuals in recovery are employed. The co-operative relies exclusively on private funding and capital from the sale of its products.

37. EXAMPLE (3) Spazio Aperto Labour Insertion Project was founded in 1994 and employs marginalized groups excluded from the labour market, including individuals recovering from addictions, former prisoners and current prisoners on day release. This social co-operative provides training and labour related to cleaning, assembly, and landscape gardening, waste disposal, and recycling. It also provides an alternative placement to imprisonment for those serving Community sentences.  

38. EXAMPLE (4) Social Cooperative, Giotto has operated in Padua’s maximum security prison since IT characterizes the Social Cooperative sector as delivering a mix of social protection and social investment programmes which are not funded by the central state, but provided instead by a wide range of economic and social actors, linked to local municipal authorities and local communities. In our terms therefore, Social Cooperatives are examples of cooperative governance of both devolution (local municipal authorities) and localism (local communities) in the delivery of prison rehabilitation and resettlement services.  

39. HMP COLDINGLEY – SOCIAL COOPERATIVES IN THE UK
HMP COLDINGLEY – SOCIAL COOPERATIVES IN THE UK? “Our vision is of safe prisons in which responsible prisoners and exemplary staff work together to change lives”

40. COLDINGLEY PROJECT(1) Prisoners and prison staff working together to set up and run co-operative businesses which provide - real paid employment for their prisoner members in custody, on ROTL and on final release - rehabilitation and resettlement support for their prisoner members in prison and on final release.

41. COLDINGLEY PROJECT (2) The businesses and the project as a whole will act as a prisoner co-run rehabilitation and resettlement agency which also runs commercial businesses providing real paid employment for their prisoner and ex-prisoner members.

42. COLDINGLEY PROJECT (3) The project responds to the ideas of serving prisoners for businesses within Coldingley that could employ D-Cat prisoners in the community. They could provide opportunities to gain experience and qualifications in the businesses, business management and administration, ROTL employment, and structured progression into employment on release - mutual and supportive enterprises providing employment, rehabilitation and resettlement support co-owned by prisoners and prison staff working in them.

43. CONCUSION The role and prospects for cooperative governance of prisons and prison services… - ‘localised devolution’ in the West Midlands, going beyond the ‘John Lewis Model’ to a Social Cooperative form of governance of prison services and in time prisons themselves - developing the ‘Coldingley Model’ as a template for the governance of prison services and for the future governance of prisons themselves