Office for Criminal Justice Reform – Beacon Approach
Collinson Grant has a successful record of improving efficiency and streamlining
processes in central Government departments. The Office for Criminal Justice
Reform (OCJR) was set up in 2004 as a trilateral organisation to spur and join up
improvement in the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Now hosted by the
Ministry of Justice, it is responsible for a major programme of reform in the administration
of justice.
Our aim has been to help the OCJR to transform the way it works with front-line
CJS agencies. The programme was called the Beacon Approach. We have
advised on how to help Local Criminal Justice Boards acquire the skills to drive
reform. We have worked directly with practitioners in the Police, the Courts,
the Crown Prosecution Service, Youth Offender Teams and the Probation Service.
This revealed practical ways to resolve long-standing problems and to focus reform
efforts in areas where sustainable gains in efficiency and effectiveness can be
made.
The task was to draw up and run a comprehensive programme for change in 10 of the
42 criminal justice areas in England and Wales, covering around 45% of the CJS.
This work was based on earlier pilots we had managed. We helped to develop
the 'waterfall' tool to find out how to boost performance by identifying inefficiencies
in the system and improving local processes to resolve these, and how to manage
the overall reform portfolio more effectively. The result is that the LCJBs are
increasingly developing a better understanding of their local priorities and will
use this to target their reform to provide better value for money for the taxpayer.
The results from the pilots at the ten Beacon sites have provided the OCJR with
clear, tangible evidence for the way forward. Benefits include intangible advances
such as closer working and better cooperation in and between agencies and OCJR.
These, combined with the potential for real financial benefits as the local reform
plans are developed and implemented, have given the OCJR a compelling rationale
for transforming the way in which CJS reform is driven in 2008 and beyond.