Notes of the meeting held in Mayfair House, Wellington on Wednesday 7 May 2008
Phil McCarthy (Chair) General Manager, Rehabilitation
Brendan Anstiss Service Development Manager
Russell Underwood National Advisor: Volunteers
Lyanne Kerr National Director, PARS
David Major National Director, PCSANZ
Kim Workman National Director, PFNZ
Apologies for absence:
None
1 Welcome and Introduction
1. Phil McCarthy extended a welcome to those present.
2 Volunteer Policy and Staffing Update
Volunteer policy
2. Russell Underwood reported that the new volunteer policy had come into effect on 1 April 2008. An implementation plan, to accompany the new policy, had been approved setting out a series of phased changes up to 2010. The next important milestone would be the ‘grand parenting’ of existing ‘approved’ volunteers to new approved status at the end of May.
Staffing update
3. Recruitment was now underway for the new volunteer coordinator positions, established on a permanent basis from 1 July 2008.
3 Volunteer Progress Report
4. Russell Underwood referred to the Volunteer Progress Report circulated prior to the meeting. The number of ‘approved’ volunteers continued to rise across the country, with a 23 per cent increase in volunteering capacity during the last year and a 5 per cent increase in the number of individual volunteers since the beginning of 2008.
5. The meeting noted that a number of induction training sessions were scheduled across all areas in the coming months. For the time being, induction training for the Wellington prisons was being arranged for individuals and groups on an ‘as needed’ basis. There were no significant delays to report in volunteers getting access to local training.
6. The volunteer coordinators had identified a number of specific volunteering needs and invited the volunteer stakeholder organisations to assist with sourcing volunteers to meet them.
7. The Department had held preliminary discussions with ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) Home Tutors about the potential for using volunteers to provide ESOL tuition to prisoners. ESOL Home Tutors had offered to train those volunteers that the Department and its key stakeholders were able to source. Expressions of interest had been invited in the latest edition of CORRvolunteer. David Major suggested arranging an article in some of the church newspapers to solicit interest. Action – David Major/Russell Underwood would discuss how this could be arranged.
4 Approved Provider Prison Access (APPA) system
8. Brendan Anstiss gave an overview of the Approved Provider Prison Access (APPA) project, intended to provide groups of non-Corrections staff, including volunteers, access cards based on bar code or swipe card technology. The access cards would electronically store a holder’s photograph and approval details. The aim of APPA was to provide a system that was easy to reconcile at the Gate and, consequently, helped to expedite entry into prisons. Christchurch Men’s (single access point) and Tongariro/Rangipo (multiple access points) prisons had been chosen to pilot the system. Subject to a positive evaluation, the Department would be looking to implement APPA across all prisons shortly after.
9. Progress with the APPA project had been paused at present as the Department considered the relative merits of basing future prison access arrangements on biometric technology, for example hand scanning, iris scanning, fingerprinting etc. Members of the Group expressed some reservations about the use of biometric technology at this stage, especially if the intention was to implement it for volunteers in the first instance. It was noted that identity misrepresentation was not an issue for volunteers. Action – Brendan Anstiss undertook to reflect the views of the Group back to the APPA project staff.
5 Any other business
Role of Volunteer Coordinators
10. David Major flagged up the potential for confusion where the role of the volunteer coordinators cut across PCSANZ’s contractual responsibilities as ‘guardians of the spiritual ministry’. In particular, he was concerned about volunteer coordinators becoming involved in the sourcing of volunteers for the delivery of faith-based programmes, without prior reference to the local prison chaplains. He believed that without early involvement of the chaplains in these matters, there was a danger that within five years many faith-based programmes would be run by fringe groups.
11. David Major raised a query concerning responsibilities for certain portfolios following the restructure of Prison Services. Action – Brendan Anstiss would seek clarification on these matters and circulate prior to the next meeting.
Volunteer recognition
12. David Major cited arrangements for volunteer recognition within correctional services in Canada, whereby prison managers would host a dinner or morning tea to thank local volunteers. He understood this to be a very powerful and effective recognition tool.
13. Russell Underwood agreed this was the case, and gave details of the Department’s volunteer recognition strategy for the remainder of 2008. During Volunteer Awareness Week in June, prisons were being encouraged, and funded, to host a series of morning teas for local volunteers. Some of these events would coincide with volunteer training to encourage as many volunteers as possible to attend. In December, to mark International Volunteer Day, the Department was intended to launch a new Award initiative to recognise the valuable contribution of both individual volunteers and teams.
Relational Ministry
14. The Group considered issues raised in a letter to Phil McCarthy from Kim Workman dated 28 February 2008. These issues concerned instructions given to volunteers during induction training that they should not have any post-release contact with prisoners met during their volunteering in the prison. Kim Workman had pointed out that this position went against the relational ministry which drives Christian ministry in prison. It was felt that these messages, which formed part of the induction training for Corrections staff, were being conveyed without appropriate adaptation for the audience. Action – Russell Underwood would include a message by way of clarification in the next CORRvolunteer.
6 Confirmation of future meeting dates
15. The following future meeting dates were noted:
Wednesday 6 August 2008 at 1.00pm
Friday 7 November 2008 at 1.00pm