News

CEP in progress: Board Meeting results

The beautiful town of Exeter, in the South of England, was the location for the 64th CEP Board Meeting. The magnificent cathedral, the many other wonderful sights and the warm welcome inspired the Board Members to take important steps in the development of the CEP’s professionalisation. Possibly the most important one was the agreement on the objectives and measurable outcomes which the Board should realise before October 2010. The full list of objectives can be found here.

Directors General Meeting in Roubaix
One of the prime objectives of the Board for 2007-2010 is to ensure that four to five high quality conferences are being held each year. In 2008, after What Works (Neuchatel), Resettlement (Glasgow), Prevention (Leipzig) and Foreign National Prisoners (Nieuwersluis), a fifth conference will take place in Roubaix in France. On the 27th and the 28th of November the Council of Europe has planned a meeting for the Directors General of Probation on the recommendations on probation which the Council is preparing [link to article CoE recommendations]. “In May, Ms. Ilina Taneva, Head of the Prisons and Probation Unit in the Department of Crime Problems of the Council of Europe, will visit the CEP”, says CEP President Patrick Madigou. “We will start the preparations for the meeting and discuss the agenda. An invitation to the Directors General should have to be sent as soon as possible.”

Conference calendar 2009 - 2010 :
The Board also drew up a tentative conference calendar for 2009:

January - a small conference on capacity building (links with Eastern European countries) in Bulgaria
March - a small conference on EU funding and funding of activities by other (international) bodies in England
May - the bi-annual conference on Electronic Monitoring in the Netherlands
June or September - a conference on Recruitment/training/education of Probation Officers in France ; in cooperation with the École nationale d’administration pénitentiaire
September or November - a conference on Deontology in the German language area

For 2010, apart from several ideas, there are three more concrete ideas for conferences. These are the bi-annual What Works conference in May in Hungary. In June a conference on Deontology, the basic values of probation is planned to take place in France. The CEP General Assembly and following conference will be held in September in Spain, most likely in Madrid or around. The topic of the conference will probably be Resettlement of offenders.

Communications: new logo, new website, new magazine
A working group installed by the Board to prepare the new logo for the CEP has proposed two designs to the Board: a human like figure stretching out, and a human like figure striding. Most Board members were very pleased with both proposals. However, there was a clear preference for the human like figure stretching out. Some minor changes were proposed, so in the next Newsletter, the new logo will be presented.

The first official use of the logo probably will be at the new CEP website. “The installation of a content management system requires new templates for the pages on the website. So that is a good moment to bring the website more in line with its communications strategy”, explains CEP Communications officer Koen Goei. “We are aiming to launch our new website by the 1st of July.”

Also in accordance with its communications strategy, the CEP planned to set up a European Journal for Probation. By lucky coincidence, Vista, a well-respected British magazine on probation issued by the University of Birmingham, was looking for ways to open up to a European audience at the same time. “Vista is a tri-annually-published journal on Probation and related issues”, explains John Raine, Professor of management in Criminal Justice of the University at Birmingham and Editor of Vista, who was present at the Board meeting when the topic was discussed. “Its particular aim is to provide an accessible, scholarly and relevant source of information on probation research and practice development for academics and practitioners.” The CEP Board regards a possible cooperation with Vista promising and has asked John Raine, the CEP Secretary General and the Communications Officer to write a draft business plan for a joint European Journal for Probation which can be discussed in the next Board Meeting.

International Register of Experts
As countries develop their probation services they often have a need for expertise in specific areas. Every European probation service has among its staff experts in certain topics, such as the management of Community Service, offender risk assessment and management, restorative justice. These experts are well known in their own country but not always outside.

“Being able to call on the wider experience of colleagues in other European countries is a valuable resource, which can save both time and money”, says Susan Lord, Head of Probation Communications of the probation service for England and Wales. “The UK has established its own register of short-term experts to work on EU-funded projects. UK Probation staff were invited to apply to be on the register. Each one indicated the area(s) in which they could offer expertise. A selection panel interviewed the applicants and decided who was accepted on to the register.”

Susan Lord and the CEP Secretary general Leo Tigges have drawn up a draft protocol and a draft application form for the Register of Experts, which has been discussed by the Board. “The Board has amended the drafts, so soon we can finalise the protocol and the application form”, tells Leo Tigges. “At the 1st of September the application forms will be on the website, so experts can apply online. That will be the official launch of the Register of Experts.”

Finance
The Audit committee has scrutinized ad random the book-keeping and the financial report of the financial year 2007 and considered it as correct and accurate. The Board approved the financial report of the year 2007.

CEP and commercial organisations
With its growing reputation as the European Organization for Probation, the CEP notices it becomes more and more interesting for commercial companies. Not only do representatives of for-profit organizations tend to visit CEP events more often, companies also are more eager to act as a sponsor. This raises the question how the CEP should deal with its relationship with profit-oriented organizations.

A working group of the CEP Board is studying the possibilities of the involvement of commercial parties in the CEP. Two principles stand out: CEP’s independence should be guaranteed at any case, and their involvement should not interfere with CEP’s mission and functions.

A first draft of a framework with guidelines was presented and discussed. It will be reworked and presented in the next Board Meeting. Anticipating possible requests by companies, the working group will prepare a working document for the General Assembly in 2010.

The next Board meeting will be held from October 23rd and 24th in Basel, Switzerland.