Agenda item

In accordance with the Scrutiny Procedure Rules, the Chair of the Corporate, Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Committee (Councillor Dewhirst) has invoked the call-in procedure in relation to the decision of the Cabinet Member for Integrated Adult Social Care in relation to the decision not to renew or extend the Community Safety Funding agreement between Devon County Council and HM Prison and Probation Service when it expires on 31st March 2024.

The grounds for this call-in are below and this has been discussed with the Monitoring Officer, as required by the Scrutiny Procedure Rules.

“The reason is that this facility is used by the charity Circles South West providing outstanding support for discharged prisoners and there is a risk that a decision by Devon County Council, to not extend or renew the Funding Agreement, could contribute to a decision by the Ministry of Justice to close the provision.  This could have negative impacts for the people affected as they face substantial barriers to obtaining settled accommodation. The people affected may be recalled to prison, moved to approved premises outside of the Devon County Council geographical boundary.”

If the Scrutiny Committee decide to not make any recommendations to Cabinet, then the Cabinet Members decision can be implemented immediately. If the Committee ask Cabinet to reconsider the decision or recommend another course of action, then this will be considered at the Cabinet meeting on 9 February 2024.

The Cabinet Member decision is held in abeyance until the call-in procedure has been concluded.

The three accompanying documents (i.e. Record of Decision, Proposal letter and Impact Assessment) are attached for Members and available at

Decision - Approval not to extend or renew the Community Safety Funding Agreement - Democracy in Devon

Councillor Dewhirst removed himself as Chair for this item and the Vice Chair took up the role of Chair.

In accordance with the Scrutiny Procedure Rules, the Chair of the Corporate, Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Committee (Councillor Dewhirst) had invoked the call-in procedure in relation to the decision of the Cabinet Member for Integrated Adult Social Care not to renew or extend the Community Safety Funding agreement between Devon County Council and HM Prison and Probation Service when it expired on 31st March 2024. The grounds for this call-in were below and discussed with the Monitoring Officer, as required by the Scrutiny Procedure Rules. “The reason is that this facility is used by the charity Circles South West providing outstanding support for discharged prisoners and there is a risk that a decision by Devon County Council, to not extend or renew the Funding Agreement, could contribute to a decision by the Ministry of Justice to close the provision. This could have negative impacts for the people affected as they face substantial barriers to obtaining settled accommodation. The people affected may be recalled to prison, moved to approved premises outside of the Devon County Council geographical boundary.”

The Committee was advised of correspondence from Circles SW (Senior Circles Coordinator) 27 December 2023 clarifying their position:-  

“I wish to make you aware that, at no time has Circles South West made any representations to the County Council or any other party with reference to this matter, nor does Circles South West have any formal agreement with the Oakfields Project which is directly impacted by the County Council’s decision not to extend or renew the Funding Agreement to which this refers.

Circles South West (CSW) is an independent Charity which works with men and women convicted of sexual offences and living in the community, providing an additional layer of support and accountability for those individuals and working in close collaboration with the Police and Probation Service in order to help reduce the risk of them reoffending and to prevent further victims of harmful sexual behaviour. CSW is one of a number of organisations and agencies locally, including both the Police and Probation Service in Exeter and the South West Community Chaplaincy organisation, all of whom support or manage the individuals currently housed at the Oakfields Project and all of whom share the same concern, which is for the impact on those individuals and on the wider community should this facility no longer be available to them.

To reiterate, therefore, Circles South West has not made any representations on this matter nor does the organisation have any vested interest in the continuation of the funding, other than for the benefit which this provides to both the individuals who are accommodated at Oakfields and the wider community which is made safer by virtue of the fact that these individuals can be more closely monitored and supported.

I would be grateful if this could be highlighted for the benefit of the Scrutiny Committee and for the avoidance of any doubt.”

The three accompanying documents (i.e. Record of Decision, Proposal letter and Impact Assessment) were available at Decision - Approval not to extend or renew the Community Safety Funding Agreement - Democracy in Devon

Councillor Dewhirst was invited to make a statement to the committee and explained that the funding had been used to pay for the property where the ex-prisoners were housed and that if Ministry of Justice or another organisation would fund the accommodation or provide similar suitable accommodation from the beginning of April he would withdraw the call-in.

Councillor McInnes, Cabinet Member for Integrated Adult Social Care, attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(1) and spoke to this item.

He informed the meeting he was content with his decision not to extend or renew the 10 year agreement. He explained that this was not a statutory duty for the Council and officers had been in discussions with the Ministry of Justice since January 2022 about the likely non-renewal of the Funding Agreement when it ended. Exeter City Council had been engaged with and members representing the Exeter area had also been informed.

Members’ and officers discussion included:-

-       Lack of evidence about the outcome of funding the programme

-       Concern about the possible effect of not continuing to fund

-       No information about any benefits as a result of the funding

-       Acknowledged that it was not the statutory responsibility of the Council and budgets were stretched

-       This had been a contribution from the Council and there was no contract between the Council and the Charity and therefore no monitoring had been in place.

-       It was not known if there was funding from other sources for this.

-       The Ministry of Justice were the service deliverer, and it was responsible for asking for funding from organisations.

-       The Ministry had not said it would have to close the service if the funding did not continue, it would consider in line with their policies.

-       Confidence that Government would find a suitable solution.  

The Committee voted on whether to refer the call-in back to Cabinet with two in favour and seven against and so it was

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member Decision to not extend or renew the Community Safety Funding Agreement between Devon County Council and HM Prison and Probation Service (formally Devon and Cornwall Probation Trust) when it expires on 31st March 2024 be endorsed.