Member Article

Durham Tees Valley probation tops national survey

The Durham Tees Valley Community Rehabilitation Company (DTV CRC) has topped a national survey for the work it delivers to offenders.

The bi-annual Offender Management Survey assesses the satisfaction of service that probation staff deliver to offenders serving a community sentence or licence. The results are inputted into a national database and compared in a table of all 21 CRC’s across the UK against a national average.

The latest survey, which was conducted in May 2016 and included 10,661 completed returns, showed 78.8% of offenders surveyed nationally were satisfied with their experience of probation while DTV CRC’s overall satisfaction topped the table at 92.2% - up 0.9% from November 2015.

The survey focusses on skills areas that relate to reducing re-arrest and reconviction. All offenders were asked the same 15 questions, which they answer on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree. Questions include, ‘my probation officer and I get on well’, ‘my probation officer has made me realise that change is possible’ and ‘my probation officer and I agree goals together’.

Bronwen Elphick, Chief Executive of DTV CRC, said: “This is a great result for DTV CRC and demonstrates that our performance is strong and service delivery remains high.

“We have received consistently high praise by our local prisons and Ministry of Justice, which is credit to the quality of the work that our staff deliver to offenders and the effective partnerships we have established.

“Our aim is to reduce reoffending through a variety of evidence-led interventions as we work with key partners to protect communities. We believe in the ability of individuals to change their lives. Our job is to support people in doing so and these results demonstrate our ability to do this.”

Some of the key performance statistics delivered by DTV CRC were one of the highest in the country. In DTV CRC, 93.7% of offenders agreed that their probation officer makes them realise that change is possible and 90.5% said that their probation officer makes them realise that the way they behave is not the best way.

87.3% of offenders said they will think before they act and 80.7% said they now know what makes them likely to reoffend. 80.4% of offenders agreed that working with their probation officer has given them more skills to solve problems while 91.8% said they agreed goals together with their probation officer.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Up North Communications .