A LONG DAY AT THE COURT

Well actually it was an afternoon, but by the time we emerged from the Directions hearing and consulted again with our learned friends and got temporarily locked in at the Royal Courts of Justice (surely not deliberate) it seemed like I had been there forever.

We have just issued a brief update to members which cannot begin to give you the full flavour of the exchanges yesterday. These were ostensibly about the procedural timetable in which the Judicial Review is going to take place, and not to address the merits of the case, and you will see that we have a two and a half day hearing scheduled to start on 10^th December.

Whilst we are restricted in terms of what we can say, now that we have passed the first stage of being allowed the opportunity to mount a JR (some people never get this far). I do however share your frustration at how long it has taken the MoJ to respond to our requests for information ever since we first started writing what was to be a plethora of letters to them over a year ago.

The great departments of State are traditionally known for their obfuscation and this one especially takes the biscuit in that respect.

A gesture of Solidarity from Unison  

Another piece of good news for our campaign has come in the form of a financial contribution from Unison towards the specific costs of our application to the courts for JR. Here is what we have agreed that Unison will be telling their members this afternoon:

‘Following talks over the last month, UNISON is pleased to announce that we will be providing financial assistance to Napo in respect of our sister union’s specific costs in making its application to the courts in relation to judicial review proceedings regarding Transforming Rehabilitation. As you will be aware, Napo has now submitted its grounds for seeking judicial review to the courts.

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, who was personally involved in the discussions with Napo General Secretary Ian Lawrence, confirmed:

‘UNISON is proud to be able to assist our sister union in this way and we wish Napo every success in this vital endeavour. Napo, UNISON and GMB have worked together very well on the campaign against TR and we will continue working together for the joint benefit of our combined membership in probation.’

For the record, and because we know that Mr Grayling has had people poring over our published accounts, the NEC agreed long ago that we should progress to JR even without financial assistance from elsewhere. I hope that Napo members will also understand that for obvious reasons, neither Unison nor Napo would want to publicise the amount of money that they have contributed. I am sure that their gesture of solidarity is nevertheless much appreciated.