In April 2014, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) were provided with grant funding from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ.)
This grant was to cover capacity, capability building and commissioning of Restorative Justice (RJ) Services.
Part of the funding was used to second a member of Police Staff to the role of RJ Co-ordinator for a period of two years (April 2014 to March 2016).
The Restorative Justice Co-ordinator’s job description can be seen attached to this decision form.
A key part of the RJ Co-ordinator role in the first instance was to understand the various RJ schemes/projects currently being delivered across Cleveland.
This resulted in a detailed mapping exercise. On completion, it was identified that there was currently a ‘post-code’ lottery in terms of RJ delivery across Cleveland. Victims in some areas had access to high quality RJ whilst in others there was no provision at all.
Therefore, to ensure victims have access to high quality RJ, the PCC has agreed with partners to developi Restorative Cleveland. Restorative Cleveland’s aims are:
- Develop a consistent set of standards, principles and practice across the Cleveland area enabling victims to have access to RJ at any stage in their journey
- Build capacity and add value to the current RJ provision across Cleveland
- Be a central hub for RJ by providing advice, guidance and promoting/ supporting the use of RJ across Cleveland
In order not to de-stabilise those RJ Schemes already developed in the area, the PCC welcomed a joint business case from the Community Safety Partnerships (CSP) (in Appendix 2)
It details how CSP would like to develop an RJ scheme locally to complement and input into Restorative Cleveland.
The recommendation is to implement those proposals.
Decision 25 – 2015. Plans to establish Restorative Cleveland (application, 2MB)