News
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman gives thumbs up to eAsset
Stephen Shaw, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, was impressed by a demonstration of eAsset while on a recent visit to Castington Young Offender Institution (YOI) in Northumberland.
25 April 2008
From the moment that they are sentenced to custody, a young person’s individual needs are captured by eAsset. This is the system that helps custody officers prepare for a young person’s arrival and ensure that the right work is done throughout their stay. Because eAsset is an electronic system it is much easier to update than paper files, it is much quicker, more accessible and involves crucial information from the young person’s family. The YJB's Wiring Up Youth Justice programme [opens in new window] addresses this need for information with eAsset being one of the key tools on offer.
Stephen Shaw, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, said:
“I was delighted to see eAsset in action. These new facilities ensure that information about young people is shared on both sides of the prison wall. This means greater safety, better offender management, the greater involvement of families, and greater certainty that what is done in custody is relevant to the young person’s life after release. Staff at Castington YOI have clearly embraced eAsset with enthusiasm, using it as a springboard for developing their own electronic record-keeping.”
Mike Mackay, Chief Information Officer at the YJB said:
“I invited Stephen to come over to Castington YOI and see eAsset in action because it is a fine example of the work being done to keep young people safe in custody. The YJB are committed to keeping children and young people from harm and eAsset, as part of our wider ‘Wiring up Youth Justice’ programme, is one of the best ways to do that.”
Click to read more about eAsset on the Wiring Up Youth Justice website [opens in new window].
ENDS
Notes to editors
- The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales (YJB) oversees the youth justice system in England and Wales. We work to prevent offending and reoffending by children and young people under the age of 18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe, secure, and addresses the causes of their offending behaviour.
- Specifically, we advise the Secretary of State on the operation of, and standards for, the youth justice system; monitor the performance of the youth justice system; purchase places for, and place, children and young people remanded or sentenced to custody; identify and promote effective practice; make grants to local authorities or other bodies to support the development of effective practice; commission research and publish information.
- The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman was appointed by the Home Secretary and investigates complaints from prisoners and those subject to probation supervision, or those upon whom reports have been written. The Ombudsman is completely independent of both the Prison Service and the National Probation Service (NPS). The current Ombudsman is Stephen Shaw, and a team of deputies, assistants, investigators and other staff supports him. The Ombudsman is also responsible for investigating all deaths of prisoners and residents of probation hostels and immigration detention accommodation.
- eAsset is the sentence management system for the secure estate for children and young people. The system uses the Asset assessment, completed by youth offending teams (YOTs) for initial sentence planning, and allows information to be constantly updated and amended throughout a young person’s stay in custody. eAsset includes the community section of a young person’s Detention and Training Order, giving unparalleled support for joint working between YOTs and the secure estate. Assets received prior to the young person’s arrival in custody can be updated using eAsset by staff in the secure estate. It improves their ability to make sentence-planning decisions on interventions that would help improve the behaviour and address the risk factors affecting the young person. It also encourages a stronger link between interventions in the secure estate and those in the community delivered by YOTs. eAsset allows Asset to become an active document that can be exchanged and updated, following appropriate reviews, by staff in the community and secure estate.
The benefits of eAsset include:
- seamless sharing of information between YOTs and the secure estate, promoting joint working and cooperation.
- eAsset remaining ‘live’, in that it can be constantly updated throughout the young person’s stay in custody. This allows important information to be accessed easily and improves accuracy of information collated.
- the smooth transfer of the ‘mid-point’ Asset to YOTs and the adult Prison Service when the young person goes back into the community or moves to adult custody. This means practitioners can get to work providing the right support for the young person before they are released or move custody, while ensuring that practitioners have a full understanding of the young person’s sentence to date.