Interview with new CEP board member Ian Barrow

Can you shortly introduce yourself?

My name is Ian Barrow and I am the Executive Director of His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) in Wales. I am also the lead for Community Accommodation Services for England and Wales and I lead on Probation Pay with our recognised Trade Unions across HMPPS. I have a long history of working in the Criminal Justice Sector (CJS) and have worked in Probation Services since 1994. I have predominantly worked in operational roles across practitioner, manager and senior leader roles. I strongly believe in the importance of an effective Probation Service as part of a CJS that protects the public and reduces reoffending.

Why did you decide to run for the CEP Board?

I decided to run for the Board of CEP to be part of an organisation that has the ability to influence practice and ensure that the probation community across Europe are sharing best practice and learning from each other’s experience. I am keen to ensure that the community is aware of, and understands relevant research and that we are able to ensure that areas for improvement are identified and acted upon. In Wales, we deliver services on behalf of the UK Government, but in the context of a devolved administration – I am keen to understand the various arrangements that are in place across Europe and share experience as much as possible.

How would you like to contribute to the development of CEP in the upcoming three years, and what impact do you hope to have?

I would like to contribute to raising the profile of CEP within the sector – for the reasons I touched on earlier, I think the CEP has a vital role to play in connecting both practitioners and researchers to ensure that we all have access to some of the excellent work that is being undertaken across Europe. Whilst not all of this will be applicable to all jurisdictions, I think that we need to maximise exposure and ensure that we do all we can to support professional growth, both at an individual and organisational level. I hope my experience working at the board level for many years and my approach to partnership working will be beneficial and contribute to the excellent work undertaken by  CEP.

What are your main priorities or topics you would like to address as a CEP Board member, and how would you like to make use of your knowledge for the development of CEP?

I am very interested in supported accommodation as a tool to support public protection, desistance and reducing reoffending. I am also very interested in the links between prison and probation services and the ‘through the gate’ journey. These are both areas that I would be keen to pursue with the CEP portfolio.

What are the challenges that lie ahead for CEP in the future?

We work in a challenging environment! I think the challenges ahead include ensuring that jurisdictions are able to meet the demands of the workforce and recruitment, and where things are challenging, ensuring that a focus remains on staff development and training – there is a clear role for CEP in promoting the importance of this development and emphasising the importance of organisational strength and delivery. Secondly, I think there will be increasing scrutiny on community sanctions and their effectiveness against custodial sentences. I think that it will be of prime importance that CEP is at the forefront of sharing evaluations and research on such community options and is able to reinforce the positive outcome they can have. Finally, there is there obvious challenge of technological developments and AI – whilst I think there are lots of opportunities in this area, there is also the danger that we do not adopt the technology quickly enough or we are over optimistic on how it can assist delivery of predominantly human services, and I am keen to ensure that CEP is at the forefront of these discussions.