LEICESTERSHIRE & RUTLAND PROBATION TRUST: DIVERSITY RECEPTION

This evening I'm attending Leicestershire & Rutland Probation Trust's annual Diversity Reception, which is being held in Harvest City Church, St Margaret's Business Centre.

The theme of this year's event is "Young Men & Women: Making the Transition from Offender to Responsible Citizen".

After the chance to eat and drink from the buffet provided by Green's Delicatessen and Outside Catering Service, from Loughborough (nice range of vegetarian food, all clearly marked) while enjoying live music from guitar and keyboard duo, The Untouchables, we take our seats for the welcome and introduction by Helen West LRPT's Chief Executive. We're given an overview of the Trust's 2012 diversity programme that looks at issues affecting the under-25 age group, as well as a brief review of the Trust's progress through last year's diversity programme, working with individuals with hidden disabilities, such as Autism and Asberger's Syndrome.

There are short, informative presentations from a panel of ten staff members, broken down into general topics relevant to this evening's theme: Relationships and Lifestyles; Education, Training and Employment; and Accommodation. As an introduction to each of these themes, we hear three dramatised monologues, based on real-life experiences of service users, delivered by members of Off the Fence Theatre Company.

I've been to several of the Trust's Diversity Receptions during my five years in post and I have to hand it to them: they really know how to mix it up and present something fresh each year.

At the end of the Q&A, I get a few minutes to plug the forthcoming Choice Unlimited event, since both that occasion and this reception focus on the same age group.

Despite the fact that the Leicestershire & Rutland Probation Trust is one of the most effective organisations at putting diversity close to the top of its agenda, there has never been any meaningful working relationship between it and Leicester Council of Faiths. I hope that can be rectified in the near future.

I'm also glad of the opportunity to do some positive networking with some of the other guests - particularly Cllr Sarah Russell, who is standing as the Labour Party candidate for the new post of elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. We have an interesting chat about religiously motivated Hate Crime in the city and county and the relationship (such as it is) between Leicester Council of Faiths and agencies like the Safer Leicester Partnership.

IMPROVING STANDARDS OF CONSULTATION AND ENGAGEMENT: 2

To Leicester Town Hall at lunchtime for the second meeting of a Task and Finish Group on Improving Standards of Consultation and Engagement across Leicester Strategic Partnership. Among those attending on behalf of bodies involved with the Local Strategic Partnership, there are representatives of the City Council, Leicester City NHS, University Hospitals Leicester (UHL), Leicestershire and Rutland Probation Trust, Leicestershire Constabulary, Voluntary Action Leicester, I'm there on behalf of the Equality and Diversity Partnership (EDP) as well as flying the flag for Council of Faiths of course.

This piece of work is intended to improve the level (and kind) of consultation processes entered into by all the member organisations that comprise the Local Strategic Partnership - well, the public sector organisations at least, since those from the private sector have unanimously declined to take part. In terms of the Voluntary and Community Sector, we're making input as participants in the consultation and engagement processes as well as beneficiaries of the outcomes. Our boards (where we have them) are being invited to sign up to these documents too.

Something different from the first meeting: we started discussing the use of social media for this project, how to apply Facebook, Twitter, blogging ("Hel-lo-oh!") to making it a success. Leicester City Council has a twitter account, but we were told that the most recent tweet was a month ago. The City Council has 30 followers; Council of Faiths has 32! In this context, we discussed future involvement of Citizens' Eye Community News Agency and Leicester on the Map, possibly from the beginning of the public consultation stage.

LEICESTERSHIRE & RUTLAND PROBATION TRUST: DIVERSITY RECEPTION

This evening, to the Peepul Centre for the Diversity Reception of Leicestershire and Rutland Probation Trust. This is the third year I've attended this event and I'm intrigued by a radical change in format. It's in a different room (the main public performance area) the catering is minimal compared to what we've been treated to before but, most significantly, rather than the standard PowerPoint presentation of facts and figures, outputs and outcomes, we're treated to a drama, "The Journey of an Offender Through the Criminal Justice System". This is done by The Facilitator Agency: one woman on stage acting out the story of "Amanda", who is involved in a violent incident in a pub, then finds herself going through the system - arrested, bailed, tried, sentenced, imprisoned, released, rehabilitated. At various points along this path, the story stops momentarily, so that representatives of all the agencies she would encounter, sitting as a panel at the side of the stage, comment on what would be happening to her. This is a really unusual and stimulating format, which allows a feeling of involvement and participation for just about everyone in the room.