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Local Criminal Justice Board

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Local Criminal Justice Boards (LCJBs) bring together criminal justice organisations at police force area level to support joint working and improve services.

The purpose and vision of the LCJB is to reduce crime, harm and risk by increasing the efficiency and credibility of the Criminal Justice System. By working in partnership, the board aims to improve services to the public with the minimum costs, supported by the best available evidence.

The PCC chairs the Thames Valley LCJB and is working with them to reduce re-offending and improve the experience for victims and witnesses.

Leadership Statement

The LCJB is committed to delivering a high quality of service to the communities of Thames Valley, focussed on the needs of the individual, irrespective of background. Together we recognise that trust, confidence and equality are key factors in being able to work successfully with our communities to reduce crime, harm and risk. All staff within each organisation will play a part in that.

Membership & governance

All of the local criminal justice agencies are represented on the Thames Valley Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) namely;

In the Thames Valley the LCJB consists of:

Aims

  • To provide a strategic forum for the facilitation and delivery of joined up criminal justice in the Thames Valley where there is an impact on service delivery across the counties.
  • To provide a single strategic forum to engage with the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) on all criminal justice matters.
  • To provide a central point of contact through which communication on criminal justice can be received, considered, and disseminated.
  • To work with key partnerships to provide a joined up, co-ordinated criminal justice system across the Thames Valley.
  • To assess the need to form sub-groups to focus on particular areas of focus/future projects.
  • To continuously monitor and improve the performance of the criminal justice system across the Thames Valley.

Delivery Groups

The board has several delivery groups, consisting of strategic and operational agency leads. The groups will be responsible for delivery of improved performance, achieving the priorities in their area of business through strong leadership, management and supervision.

You can view the Thames Valley Local Criminal Justice Board Strategy on our website (opens as PDF).

Performance Management Group

This group has operational oversight of the performance of the criminal justice agencies. It reviews the work of the local (county-based) groups and the thematic delivery groups and reports back to the board’s strategic leads with its recommendations.

Local Criminal Justice Group

The Local Criminal Justice Groups operate on a county basis, bringing local Criminal Justice (CJ) partners together to deliver improvements to local performance and consider local delivery requirements in support of the LCJB priorities.

Victims and Witnesses board

This group oversees victim and witness processes to ensure that the quality of customer service given is compliant with the Code of Practice for Victims and the Witness Charter. Maximising the attendance of victims and witnesses is a high priority, either in person or by video link, in addition to reducing unnecessary attendance and costs.

Reducing Re-offending Board

The purpose of the reducing Re-offending main board is for all relevant agencies to come together and work collectively to improve Thames Valley’s overall approach to rehabilitation and reducing re-offending for adults and young people.

The board sets a direction to deliver a reducing re-offending strategy for the Thames Valley. It agrees and implements a whole systems approach to rehabilitation & reducing re-offending. The board oversees the work in 4 sub-groups:

  • Treatment pathways
  • Women
  • Education training & employment
  • Accommodation

Children & young person’s board

Children and young people should be at the front of centre of our conversations. The purpose of the children & young person board is to enable all relevant agencies to meet, reflect, review and collaborate to improve the timeliness and pathways for children and young people within the criminal justice system whether as defendants, victims or witnesses, whilst ensuring a ‘child first’ approach.

Disproportionality board

The Thames Valley Disproportionality Group will work with Criminal Justice System partners to coordinate and deliver improvements against a set of agreed actions in order to reduce inequalities. The 5 key areas of focus are:

  1. Trust and Confidence
  2. Partnership Engagement
  3. Workforce Diversity
  4. Shared Criminal Justice System Learning
  5. Governance