Kirklees District
Integrated Offender Management success
The launch of the Kirklees Integrated Offender Management (IOM) Hub took place on Friday 2 July after 12 months of intensive activity by local partners and the Government Office to establish a site where agencies could be co-located in one building. Staff from a number of agencies were present, including Probation, Police, DIP, Lifeline, Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing, Progress to Work, Drugs and Offender Management Unit (DOMU), Job Centre Plus, Government Office and Court Services. We were given an insight into the IOM concept, it’s usefulness in reducing crime and making communities safer by John Robins (local Police Commander), Kathy Loney (Head of Kirklees Probation), Andrew Marchington (local Councillor) and Tony Cooke (Health - PCT).
The event highlighted the excellent multi-agency work being done and the achievements in Kirklees; improving local community safety and leading offenders towards more constructive and useful lifestyles. The event received detailed coverage in the Dewsbury Reporter where Caterina Fagg (Kirklees Probation 'Lead' on IOM), Kathy Loney and John Robins outlined the great work being done.
Kirklees is currently one of the most successful West Yorkshire districts in reducing the reoffending rates of ‘Prolific and Priority’ offenders in the IOM cohort. We hope that with the Hub opening we can make even more progress in reducing the reoffending rate across a wider group of offenders.
High Sheriff visits Kirklees
We were very pleased to entertain the High Sheriff of Yorkshire, Richard Clough, and his wife, when they visited West Yorkshire to learn about the work of the Probation Service. During the afternoon they met Sue Hall, Chief Executive, Stan Hardy, Chair and Kathy Loney, Head of Kirklees. Staff from the district explained with passion and knowledge the work of the Probation Service with offenders in court, on community orders and in prison.
The Sheriff and Mrs Clough then visited the newly opened Integrated Offender Management (IOM) Hub where they learned about the work of the multi-agency IOM team in reducing the offending of the most prolific offenders in the district. The pair finished their day at the Offender Services Hub, hearing about the accredited group work programmes offered to offenders, including domestic violence, thinking skills, alcohol and drug related offending, drink driving, sex offending and anger management. They were also introduced to the new Skills for Work base that offers a wide range of activities designed to improve offenders’ employability.
It was a very successful visit; the Sheriff said he had a wonderful afternoon, and Mrs Clough said the service users were lucky to have staff like us!
