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What is commissioning?

Commissioning is the means by which we allocate resources so as to best support the delivery of Offender Management.

The commissioning system will ensure the targeting of more effective and cost efficient offender services in order to better deliver the sentences of the courts. Offender Managers will ensure that offenders are able to access the most appropriate services to address their individual needs.

Commissioners will take decisions concerning ‘who is best placed to deliver’ so as to maximise outcomes and increase efficiencies. They will do so by investing in more effective services, while disinvesting from those that are less effective, inappropriately targeted or representing poor value, guided by best value principles.  Commissioning will occur wherever best value is achieved, whether locally, regionally or nationally, but with a presumption that this will be devolved as locally as possible.

Joint commissioning and partnership working

With over 50% of resources to support reducing re-offending lying outside the Criminal Justice System, strong partnership working at a national, regional and local level is essential if we are to re-integrate offenders into communities and reduce re-offending.  The new cross government Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets (new window) encourage joined up working across departments. Strengthened arrangements for Local Area Agreements provide the opportunity to reinforce and improve partnership relationships.  At a national level this work is co-ordinated through the cross-government National Reducing Re-offending Inter-Ministerial Group and Programme Board. They are supported by Regional Reducing Re-offending Partnership Boards in the nine English regions and a National Board in Wales, which consist of key representatives from statutory agencies and the private and third sectors. 

Much of the work of NOMS revolves around tackling the seven pathways to re-offending (new window). In November 2005, three reducing re-offending alliances  (new window)were established to enhance our ability to consult and involve specialist organisations and particular communities in the work to reduce re-offending.

We are currently consulting widely on a new cross-Government Reducing Re-offending Strategic Plan (new window), and we are also consulting on a NOMS Third Sector Action Plan  (new window)and a NOMS/Youth Justice Board paper (new window) on promoting the role of faith based organisations in reducing re-offending.

Joint commissioning and partnership working is already delivering a more diverse mixture of provision to ensure that offenders can access the mainstream resources and services they need to address their offending behaviour. To support the new Strategic Plan we are exploring further opportunities for joint commissioning and how we can better promote the full range of effective schemes delivered by the third sector to commissioners.

The Offender Management Act

The Offender Management Act 2007 has substantially changed the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the delivery of probation services.  The Secretary of State will contract with providers of probation services through regional commissioners.  The newly created probation trusts will act not only as providers of court services and offender management, but also as local commissioners. They will be responsible for commissioning interventions and other services from the best providers in the public, private or third sector, at the best price, within the forthcoming best value regime. They will also represent NOMS in joint commissioning and partnership arrangements with other statutory bodies such as Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs), non-statutory bodies such as third sector organisations and Local Criminal Justice Boards, and in work with local communities to reduce re-offending.