PDAC Feedback

Key Messages for Implementing Agencies

PDAC notes agencies have invested significant effort into getting the Justice Plan actions underway, and to prepare such a comprehensive report to PDAC at this early stage of the Justice Plan’s lifespan.

PDAC recognises that this report was intended as a ‘snapshot‘ at the start of the Justice Plan’s implementation journey, and not a comprehensive annual report. To support future reporting, key themes of PDAC’s feedback for implementing agencies are summarised below. Key messages are intended to highlight elements that PDAC particularly commends and hopes to see more of in future reporting, and those it would like to see developed as a priority over the first year of implementation.

PDAC notes the potential influence of a number of whole-of-government strategies on the work under the Justice Plan – for example, Safe Homes, Safe Families: Tasmania’s Family Violence Action Plan, and Accessible Island. PDAC emphasises if work under these strategies is to contribute practically to Justice Plan objectives, it must include targeted attention to the needs and priorities of people with disability.

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ACHIEVEMENTS TO BUILD ON

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Consultation, Collaboration and Partnerships

PDAC acknowledges efforts to engage and consult with people with disability and the sector through organisations such as Speak Out and National Disability Services. Collaboration across agencies (for example under Action 30) and partnerships with external organisations are a necessity if the Justice Plan is to be a success, and were demonstrated under many Actions. Examples include partnerships between the Tasmania Prison Service and the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA); and between Community Corrections and MAX employment service (Action 34).

PDAC would like to see a continual strengthening of this consultative and collaborative approach, incorporated in a range of areas, including:

  • The development and delivery of services: getting input from community based disability organisations must be central to the implementation of the Justice Plan. All of the strategies will be enhanced through active engagement with people with disabilities and their allies.
  • Training and supporting organisations that work with people with disability: these organisations often have the trust of people with disability but not necessarily the skills and resources to support a person who is interacting with the justice system. Better equipping their staff to do this – for example, to know when to contact Legal Aid for specialist advice – could have important flow on impacts.
  • Monitoring and evaluation impact: for example, checking with people with disability, their supporters, and service providers, whether actions are achieving their anticipated outcomes.

PDAC would also be interested to better understand how implementation is coordinated overall – for example, whether there are any regular interagency coordination or monitoring committees.

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Communicating well

PDAC commends the focus on demystifying and streamlining justice processes by improving communication between key agencies and with people with disabilities. Some examples were:

  • Staff training in Plain English and accessible media at the Tasmania Prison Service and Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management;
  • Readability reviews of websites and documents by the Guardianship and Administration Board and Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (under Action 3); and
  • the scheduled rollout of training for Tasmania Police investigators on interview techniques for vulnerable witnesses and/or witnesses with disability (Action 17).

PDAC considers that continued improvement of communication techniques must be a priority, to ensure maximum access to information, processes and implications for offenders (and potential offenders), witnesses, victims, and anyone engaged in the justice system.

To assist PDAC in monitoring the Justice Plan’s implementation effectively, it would welcome the opportunity to review documents and training materials developed under Plan actions.

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Recognising and responding to mental health and cognitive impairment support needs

PDAC notes that the clear progress towards greater recognition of and support for people with less visible support needs, particularly mental health conditions or cognitive impairment, is an incredibly important element of the Justice Plan, and the progress made to date.

   

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PDAC WOULD LIKE TO SEE

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Development of a strong monitoring, evaluation and learning system

While PDAC commends the increased attention on data collection and use in decision making, it notes that a more comprehensive and coordinated approach to monitoring and evaluation must be a priority. This could start with measuring outputs and setting out specific changes agencies hope to see as a result of actions taken, but should ultimately aim for understanding outcomes achieved under the Justice Plan. This is vital for practical implementation of the Justice Plan, but also for PDAC to fulfil its monitoring function. In order to assess whether intended outcomes are being met, there must be agreed measures of ‘success’ at some level, and associated data.

In future reports, PDAC would also be interested in more information on how lessons learned are shared between agencies – both the challenges and success stories.

Clear reporting of outputs and outcomes

In the comprehensive annual reporting that will commence in 2019, PDAC would like to see a clear and straightforward outline of progress under actions. For example:

  • differentiation of outputs and outcomes;
  • inclusion of key output and/or outcome data;
  • any key implementation timelines;
  • details of external providers involved in action implementation (eg training or support providers); and
  • where appropriate, any major risks or obstacles to progress under an action (eg funding expiry)

As noted above, PDAC would be interested to see examples or hyperlinks of key material (eg training packages) developed or updated under the Justice Plan.

   

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Feedback on Specific Action Areas

PDAC thanks all agencies for their advice on progress to date. The ‘Key Messages’ (above) provide some general guidance about what PDAC would like to see in future reporting under all action areas. For the following action areas, PDAC has also noted some more specific feedback:

Ensuring that services are disability ready and responsive (Actions 1-3)

Reporting Lead: Department of Justice

Action 1: Improve the justice system’s capacity to recognise an individual’s disability at the earliest opportunity and make available appropriate supports and adjustments to enable them to participate in those services on an equitable basis with others

  • PDAC notes the important work being done under this action to train staff in the justice system in disability awareness and mental health first aid, and provide appropriate induction materials. It would like to see further detail on the content and delivery of training, as an opportunity for it to gain a deeper understanding of the work being done.
  • PDAC commends the extensive renovation and refurbishment work completed, ongoing, and planned by a number of agencies to ensure justice facilities are physically accessible to all. PDAC would be interested in better understanding the scope for security-based exemptions from building accessibility requirements at the Tasmania Prison Service and how common any such exemptions are (Emerging Issues, report page 6),

The Secretary DPFEM, Mr Darren Hine, presented to the PDAC meeting of 10 November 2017. PDAC was aware of some incidents where people with disability, including vision impairment, had problems in their interaction with police officers. Mr Hine provided a response to PDAC that detailed the training provided to officers on appropriate engagement with member of the public with different needs (eg interviewing vulnerable people, working with University of Tasmania (UTAS) to deliver best practice frontline training and the partnership with UTAS to introduce a new unit Contemporary Social Issues and People at Risk. PDAC would like to see ongoing reporting on these initiative and any similar programs work to build understanding and awareness. Reporting on outcomes and number of courses/trainees per annum would be of interest for PDAC in future DJPT reporting

PDAC is also aware that sometimes the legal limits of parents with adult children with disability may be not always be fully understood or clearly articulated by the affected individuals in the heat of difficult situations.  PDAC would like to see reporting on what training or resources officers have deal with the adult children and their parents in these scenarios, to ascertain if a power of attorney and/or guardianship order is in place, and act in the best interest of the person with disability.

Action 3: Improve the provision of information to people with disability about services available to them in the justice system

  • PDAC commends the focus on demystifying and streamlining justice processes by improving communication with people with disabilities, including training staff in using Plain English and accessible media (Tasmania Prison Service and Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management); and readability reviews of websites and documents (the Guardianship and Administration Board and Consumer, Building and Occupational Services).
  • PDAC would also be interested to see examples of documents, training packages, and other material developed or updated under the Justice Plan (or relevant hyperlinks), to support its understanding of the work, and changes, occurring.

Preventing and Responding to Violence, Abuse and Neglect (Actions 4-9)

Relevant Reporting Leads: Department of Justice, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions

Action 7: Introduce enhanced screening procedures for people working or volunteering with people with disability

  • PDAC looks forward to the legislative and system changes to facilitate mandatory worker screening for people working or volunteering with people with disability, and would be interested to see updates on the timeline for this action in future reporting.

Action 8: Provide support to victims and witnesses with disability to give evidence in court and to deal with the personal and practical impacts of crime

  • PDAC would like to see some more descriptive information around the types of support systems available for victims and witnesses with disability throughout the court process, and more information on work done or planned links to the identified ‘Outcomes for Tasmanians with disabilities’. (For example, how has the outcome of “a readily available counselling service throughout the state” been achieved, or what is the Justice Plan to achieve it.)

Developing disability responsive legal services (Actions 13-15)

Relevant Reporting Lead: Department of Justice and the Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania (LACT)

Action 13: Ensure that legal aid and legal assistance services are responsive to people with disability, and;

Action 14: Improve the availability of legal information and advice services for people with disability

  • Staff training is identified as a key issue under these actions (Emerging Issues, p27 and p28). PDAC notes that the training not only needs to occur within core agencies such as LACT, but also amongst other organisations that are supporting people with disability who come into contact with the justice system. As mentioned above, these organisations often have the trust of people with disability but not necessarily the skills and resources to support a person who is interacting with the justice system – for example, knowing when to contact Legal Aid for specialist advice. Will training and funding be made available to organisations to run training for their own cohorts (eg carers, people with disability, service providers)?

Action 15: Identify alternative strategies to enable people with disability to address unpaid fines

  • PDAC would be interested in some broader context around work under this action in future reporting – for example whether/when a broader review of this approach may be considered (eg drawing on appropriate experiences in other jurisdictions), and how the options will be assessed.

Adopting disability responsive court processes (Actions 20-21)

Reporting Lead: Magistrates Court

Action 21: Provide communication assistance for people with disability when it is required

  • PDAC acknowledges the many measures being implemented to support the needs of people with disability in the courts as victims, witnesses or offenders under Action 20, and to provide communication assistance for people with disability when required under this Action (Action 21).
  • When the more comprehensive annual report is prepared, PDAC would also greatly appreciate more specifics on the communication aids available in court (under Action 21, ‘We have already’, report page 40).
  • PDAC fully supports the need for an intermediary/communication scheme in Tasmanian courts noted in the report. In its absence, PDAC is interested in what alternative measures may be pursued to ensure people requiring communication assistance are identified in as many cases as possible. For example, any relevant training being undertaken by court staff.
  • PDAC would be interested in an update in the next report on any work being done to enable people with disability to participate in a jury, for example – interpreters for hearing impaired jurors.

Implementing disability responsive youth justice services (Actions 22-23)

Reporting Lead: Department of Health and Human Services (likely to be allocated to the Department of Communities Tasmania from 1 July 2018)

Action 22: Consideration of national and international research to develop an improved understanding of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder

  • In future reporting, PDAC would be interested in more detail on how this action is being approached.

Providing disability ready and responsive prison services (Actions 27-34)

Reporting Lead: Tasmania Prison Service

  • In future reporting, PDAC would be interested in more detail on how offenders with a disability who are eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are supported to access this, and how those offenders with a disability who are not eligible for NDIS are assisted to access alternative supports.

Continuously monitor and improve performance (Action 37/All Actions)

Reporting Lead: Department of Justice

  • As discussed under ‘Key Messages’, PDAC commends the increased attention on data collection and use in decision making, evident in the first report, but recommends the development of a comprehensive and coordinated approach to monitoring and evaluation as a priority. This could start with measuring outputs, and identifying the specific changes agencies hope to see flow from these, but should ultimately aim for understanding outcomes achieved under the Justice Plan. In order for PDAC to assess whether intended outcomes are being met, there must be agreed measures of ‘success’ at some level, and the associated data to support its recognition.
  • PDAC would also be interested in more information on how lessons learned are shared between agencies – both challenges and success stories.
  • At a more action-based level, there is particular interest in understanding the cultural change prompted or supported by training, and how this will be assessed. As one PDAC member noted:

Lots of training has/will be undertaken to skill various staff in recognizing/acting in situations with people with disabilities but there is little mention of how this training will be tested to ensure there has been a cultural change in these organisations. Perhaps an audit of some description could be developed so that resources can be more effectively targeted to areas that aren’t working as well and reduced in areas that are.

  • As noted above, in the comprehensive annual reporting that will commence in 2019, PDAC would like to see a clear and straightforward outline of progress under actions. For example:
  • differentiation of outputs and outcomes;
  • inclusion of key output and/or outcome data;
  • any key implementation timelines;
  • details of external providers involved in action implementation (eg training or support providers); and
  • where appropriate, any major risks or obstacles to progress under an action (eg funding expiry)

As noted above, PDAC would be interested to see examples or hyperlinks of key material (eg training packages) developed or updated under the Justice Plan.

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