Dyslexia tutoring revolution

The leaders of a dyslexia programme piloted at Chelmsford Prison are hoping to establish a charity to continue their work, claiming they have found an effective way to cut re-offending rates and save the taxpayer millions of pounds as a result.

Of the 17 prisoners who were part of the two-year trial at the Essex prison, only one has re-offended with eight now in full time employment, three working for charities helping others get back into employment and one is currently doing an engineering degree at a top UK University.

The report claims this is a re-offending rate of just 5.9% within a four year period, compared to the national average of 55% within two years or 68% within five years.

The authors claim there was also a drastic reduction in the amount of assaults on both staff and other prisoners due to the social interaction fostered by the project.

Jackie Hewitt-Main, founder of the project, “Dyslexia Behind Bars”, said: “We had changed their mind set, they were now respecting staff, they wanted to work with the staff because they were helping other prisoners.”

In 2006, 65 assaults were recorded against staff. By 2007, this had gone down to 21. By 2008, it dropped down to 14. But after the team left the prison after 2 years of working there, annual assaults figures shot back up to 45.

Prisoner on prisoner assaults also fell during the trial: In 2006 there were 159 reported incidents. In 2007, this dropped to 54 and in 2008 this figure remained the same.

The scheme challenges the way dyslexic prisoners were educated within prisons by introducing a variety of new methods.

Prisoners were given mentors throughout the project and multi-sensory learning techniques to account for different learning styles, including physical learning were used.

In May 2012, the findings of this final report were revealed at a Parliamentary launch and the work was praised by several MPs including Rebecca Harris MP (Conservative MP for Castle Point), Simon Burns MP (Conservative MP for Chelmsford West) and Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat).

Rebecca Harris MP (Conservative) said:  “I have been trying to promote her [Jackie Hewitt-Main] unique approach to helping prisoners, for example to the Justice Secretary. Now Parliament is back in normal session, I am looking into how her method could be adopted under the Government’s desired approach to introduce a payment by results system to reduce reoffending.”

In the same month, The Ministry of Justice also stated in its Business plan that over £4billion would be spent over the next three years on what they describe as a “rehabilitation revolution.”

This forms part of the Government’s commitment to reduce re-offending rates by reforming the rehabilitation system, a policy which is pivotal in the midst of Government cuts and growing concern over the amount of space left in UK prisons.

Allen Casey, the Directorate of Commissioning and Commercial within the National Offender Management Service, stressed the importance of an individually based approach.

Casey said: “The assessment of the literacy and numeracy skills of an offender takes place at the very start of their prison sentence. This ensures that prisoners can then be offered the appropriate learning and skills development to address their literacy requirements and help them get and keep a job on release.”

Casey added: “It is recognised that this group of learners is likely to need significant levels of additional support and the OLASS [Offenders learning and skills service] providers are expected to deliver personalised programmes, using specialist staff, adaptations and resources where appropriate.”

After the initial funding which was provided by Mentoring 4 U ran out, Hewitt-Main spent six months in the prison on a voluntary basis before the next funding opportunity presented itself in the form of Next Step between September 2006 and July 2007 (the National Careers Service) and then St Giles Trust where she received funding between October 2007 and June 2008.

She said: “I couldn’t let these prisoners down, these prisoners had worked so hard for me and I had seen such huge problems in the prison; I could see how I could help these men.”

“I worked with 3 guys who had all been to prison over 40 times each, I couldn’t understand how anybody had let this go for so long, why hadn’t anyone sat down and tried to work out what was the route of the problem? Two of the men had dyslexia and the other had a head injury, what were the issues they needed help with? Was it a job? Was it the driving?”

Research conducted during the project highlighted that out of 450 men who said that they were manual workers; only 50 had obtained the CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) card, the card that is desired by many employers to allow manual labourers onto building sites.

In the initial stage of the project, all of the in-mates at Chelmsford Prison were interviewed and as well as learning about their past, including their educational and employment history, the ideal learning style for each of the prisoners was identified.

Hewitt-Main identified that 29% learn best from reading or seeing, 17% through hearing information and 54% learn through practical learning methods such as creating letters in blocks of wood.

She said: “The first thing I always do is tell the prisoner my story; it’s the most important thing that they understand that I am not a text book person and I’ve gone through these experiences to share with them.”

Hewitt-Main is herself, severely dyslexic and struggled in education.

After becoming seriously ill, she was forced to leave the prison, but continued conducting research into the issue over a 6-year period. She now hopes, along with her team of mentors to set up a centre and continue to promote the importance of finding an individual teaching approach for dyslexic people.

Professor John Stein, Professor of Neuroscience at Oxford University, identified the importance education in prison:

“Prisoners who receive no education in prison are three times more likely to reoffend than those who do and four times more likely to remain unemployed.   That applies to both dyslexic and non dyslexic poor readers.”

“If prison staff were educated in looking for dyslexic problems a lot of this could be avoided because they could be taught to read and write properly.”

 

Copyright: Michael Knowles

Who gets the credit for London 2012?

Fantastic summary article by the BBC’s Chris Mason on who should be given credit for London 2o12:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19179711

 

The Olympics will do no harm to Boris Johnson

Note: This article is an exploration of ideas, and will continue to be added to and fully published at a later date.

 

That statement may seem fairly obvious. But if you consider the cynical viewpoint we all adopted in the run up to the games, with the controversies surrounding the security with G4s, and then the empty seats problem just days into the games after all those hours of trying to get just one, a day after the Greatest show on earth, we are all celebrating London and hailing the games as a success.

Johnson, who was re-elected as London Mayor earlier this year has shown that he is capable of handling the biggest event in the World without any major blips, for example an industrial strike (as was threatened) and ensured that everything was done, along with the Government it must be said, to ensure that London 2012 was one of the greatest games ever, but perhaps, without admitting it publicly, Boris will believe this can only strengthen his claim to be a future leader of the Conservative Party and possibly Prime Minister one day?

Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential candidate in the US has used his time as the President and CEO of the organising committee for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002 as one of the core examples that he can be a strong leader and deliver positive results. Can Boris do the same?

It would be unfair to consider otherwise. The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, despite being a success, would not represent anywhere near the challenge that running a huge scale operation like what we’ve just witnessed in the East End of London.

But lets not forget, London is the only economy, that despite the tough economic climate across the UK has continued to grow.

Whether that’s down to Boris’ leadership or whether it was mainly LOCOG that ensured the success, in a climate where politicians are attacked for the slightest of mistakes, but ignored the success, to deliver on such a grand scale, Mr Johnson should be proud of what has gone on under his watch with the Olympics, there are signs that London is avoiding the worst of the Euro-crisis and the gloom surrounding the economy.

The popular Mayor, who was asked by an ITV reporter whether he will be the next Prime Minister, flat-lined any rumours by re-iterating that he wanted to see out his 2nd term in City Hall, which concludes a year after the 2015 General Election and then proceeded by asking to a collective Mo-bot.

As always with politics, time will tell, but anyone who is willing to stand up against their Party Leader, on record, and then gets stuck on a zip wire trying to promote Team GB will only increase their own reputation and strengthen their own personal ambitions.

Upcoming posts…

I uncover a series of private meetings that were supposed to be public…

The final edition of my analysis into a London Borough will be published…

And I intend to press more stuff on the site regularly, including links to other sites that bring varying Political opinions and high level analysis.

Is Ed Miliband demonstrating strong leadership?

Is Ed Miliband finally demonstrating the type of leadership that could see him become Prime Minister in two years time?

Initially, Miliband, who was elected ahead of his brother David, in 2010, did little to convince voters that Labour were a viable option to the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

However, in his first speech since the local election results last week, Miliband criticised the lack of emphasis on creating jobs in the Queens Speech and this was delivered with what seemed to me, like a new found confidence.

Were the results a vote of confidence in Ed Miliband? Perhaps. But more poignantly the Labour Party is being backed by voters again.

Miliband has always adopted a “families first” philosophy in debates within Parliament and just several weeks after officially going back into Recession, perhaps the Coalition has lost its economic credibility.    

While people are feeling hard pushed in terms of their finances, unless the Coalition can deliver on the ground results, like in 1997, when the Conservatives Economic credibility was being questioned, policies that encourage public spending to generate growth may be appealing.

If Miliband were to stand in a US style presidential campaign, there would still be questions over his leadership qualities, but while the Labour Party as a whole are talking a different game to the Coalition’s cuts programme, people may be willing to back their ideals and subsequently elect Miliband as Prime Minister.

Baroness Warsi defends Coalition

Conservative Chairman Sayeeda Warsi has defended the Coalition Governments 2012/2013 legislative programme.

Baroness Warsi emphasised the Governments focus on restoring the economy and encouraging growth and getting people back into work.

In an appearance on BBC’s Newsnight, she said: “We are making sure that we keep a grip on the nation’s finances, keeping interest rates low…to put more money in people’s pockets”

There are concerns over the tensions within the Coalition after Nick Clegg sent a letter to Liberal Democrat members saying that they had “punched above their weight” in this year’s Queen Speech.

Conservatives are worried that the Liberal Democrats are having too much influence within the Coalition.

However, Lady Warsi stated that many of the proposals made in the Conservative 2010 General Election manifesto were actually in the this year’s Queen Speech.

The Queen’s speech, that David Cameron said would reward the “strivers” who “work hard and play by the rules” has been criticised for not putting enough emphasis on creating jobs.

While on Newsnight, Lady Warsi criticised Labours record over unemployment, stating that when the Coalition came into Government, they were “presiding over a 40% increase in youth unemployment”

David Davis criticises House of Lords reform

Conservative MP David Davis challenged the Government over the role of the House of Lords in light of the Queens Speech today.

He said in a debate in Parliament that while there had been a lot of discussions over the composition of the House of Lords, little consideration had been given to the role of the Upper House

Davis, contrasting the Deputy Prime Minister’s suggestions, said that a House of Lords that is representative of the Political balance in the House of Commons would undermine the ability of elected officials to hold the Government to account.

The comments came after a bill was introduced to bring forward the reforms to the House of Lords.

Baroness Hayman (Labour), in an interview with the BBC said: “There are a lot things that need to be done to improve the House of Lords.”

Davis also heavily criticised the secret courts proposal saying it would undermine the Justice system and he questioned whether these measures would actually increase security against Terrorism.

The Government stated in the first line of the Queen’s speech that its priority was to restore the economy, tackling the deficit and bringing growth back.

The most important developments from the Queen’s Speech were:

• A bill to promote enterprise and fair markets will be bought forward
• A bill to reform the Banking Sector will be introduced
• A New Child and Families Bill will be introduced to Parliament.

The Queen’s speech, which was being seen as a re-launching of the Coalition Government’s commitment to restoring the economy, as expected focused on the economy along with measures that included action against Drug Driving.

Perhaps the Conservatives wanted to take this opportunity to introduce some more traditional Conservative policies (usually within the area of Law and Justice) while the Liberal Democrats took the opportunity to promote the Reform to the House of Lords.

However, critics raised concerns that there was very little to suggest a creation of Jobs.

Read about the Queens Speech in full here.

So what next for the Coalition Government? (analysis)

After the disappointing results in the local elections held last week, there has been a growing pressure on both David Cameron and Nick Clegg to highlight traditional policies from their respective parties.

An alternative Queen’s Speech has been made up on the ConservativeHome website, created by Tim Montgomerie, a critic of David Cameron, where as many as 20 Conservative MP’s have suggested ideas that they would consider to be more “Conservative” than the Coalition policies.

Yet, despite this, both the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Chancellor George Osborne have refused to change course on the economy and the coalition agreement made two years ago.

The Queen’s speech tomorrow will set out the Governments legislative programme over the next Parliamentary session and it is likely to be vital to both David Cameron and Nick Clegg as voters, commentators and opposition alike will watch to see how the Government has reacted to fears over tensions within the Coalition and whether or not there will be a change in direction.

Many Conservatives want one of the key Liberal Democrat policies:- Reforming the House of Lords, to be scrapped while the economy is currently in Recession and there are fears over unemployment.

The trouble is for the Coalition, is that one of their key arguments for the cuts they introduced two years ago was to keep interest rates low, and the PM and Chancellor claim, that if they were to change direction, Britain would no longer be assured of these interest rates.

However, with the Economy now officially in Recession again after the First Quarter of 2012, and with it expected to stay there in the Second Quarter, critics argue that the Coalition has got it wrong.

In his 2011 Conservative Conference Speech, David Cameron promised leadership. It is surely now that the Prime Minister has to demonstrate this leadership and convince everyone that the Coalition’s policies are working.

The mandate given to the Coalition Government in 2010 was to sort out the budget deficit and get the economy growing again, and until jobs are created and the economy grows to the extent where voters can visibly see and experience the benefits, it will be extremely difficult for the Coalition to convince voters that the cuts were necessary.

Reform to the House of Lords?

With a report due to be published on Monday that is expected to include a potential composition of the House of Lords, are we finally beginning to see a change in the Upper House?

The all-party Joint Committee on Lords Reform made up of members of both Houses is due to publish a report on Monday detailing its recommendations on the reform of the House of Lords.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has once again urged the House of Commons to speed up the reforms, that began under Tony Blair in 1999 when a transitional house was introduced.

In an interview with the BBC he said: “The principle that people who make the laws of the land should be elected by the laws of the land would strike most people in the country as fairly uncontroversial.”

Mr Clegg then added: “It’s something we have been talking about for 100 years. We should just get on with it now, with minimum fuss.”

All 3 of the major political parties said they would Reform the House of Lords if they were elected in their 201o General Election manifesto.

Reforms have also been supported by the Conservative Justice Minister Kenneth Clarke MP despite suggestions that many Tory Peers would be willing to block any upcoming proposals.

In an interview with Sky News he said:  “The existing House of Lords is a curious historical anomaly. We are ready for democracy, I think. All three political parties were in favour of House of Lords reform in their last manifestos.”

However, perhaps, it is important to remember that these reforms were first initiated 13 years ago and it is sure to require many compromises, both on the timing of any potential Bill as the Conservative side of the Coalition do not see this as one of their major principles, but it will also need to go through rigorous scrutiny, both in the House of Commons and in the House of Lords, where it may face stiff opposition.

HS2 fight continues

Councils opposing the HS2 scheme have launched a judicial review against the proposals.

On the 3rd April, the 51m group, a group of Councils opposing the High Speed Rail scheme launched the judicial review on the following grounds:

• “Inadequate consultation”
• “The impact of building and operating the HS2 rail link on the Underground capacity at Euston has not been fully considered.”
• “The decision to proceed with the HS2 rail link was made with inadequate environmental information.”
• ” The Hybrid Bill process is not compatible with the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive which states that the public should be given the opportunity to participate in the environmental decision-making process before a decision on development is made.”

The HS2 scheme was given the green light in January 2012 by the Transport Secretary Justine Greening after a public consultation phase.

Leader of Hillingdon Council, Ray Puddifoot criticised the HS2 proposals and stressed the importance of accountability that the Government must be held to.

He said: “The proposed HS2 scheme is a monumental folly and an example of how to get it wrong in practically every aspect from the enormous cost to the transport needs of the country, the environmental damage and completely ignoring the views expressed by the public in the consultation process.”

Puddifoot added: “Even the Government is not above the law but it is always a matter of regret when as local politicians we have to resort to using the law to protect the people, and the environment from such economically disastrous vanity projects.”

A Judicial review will see a judge review the legality of a decision by a public body, in this case, the Government and it specifically deals with the way in which the decision was reached.

Martin Tett, Chairman of the 51m group also criticised the way the Government reached its decision.

He said: “We are doing this with great reluctance but feel that the Government has left us with no alternative. They effectively excluded over half those affected by the proposal from participating in the consultation and in practice ignored the views of over 50,000 people and businesses who did respond”