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On Thursday 30 March, Reform held its 2017 criminal justice conference, ‘Where next for criminal justice reform?’. The conference explored how criminal justice services can work better together, how prisoner rehabilitation can be improved, and the role of digital in enabling both.

Panel one: Connected justice: a single system?

* Katy Bourne, Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner and Chair, Sussex Criminal Justice Board
* Paul Whittaker CBE, Common Platform Transformation Director, Crown Prosecution Service
* Bryan Clark, Director of Digital and Change, National Offender Management Service
* Jason Hall, Vice President Central Government and Police, BT

The first panel, held in partnership with BT, addressed opportunities for better integrating police, CPS, courts and prison systems, and the delivery challenges in doing so. Katy Bourne shared experiences from Sussex police force, who have been looking at ways of scaling up digital tools, such as the use of video links to provide evidence. Sussex is also a part of four police four areas where all CJ services, for the first time, will be working together. Paul Whittaker highlighted that since implementing online systems, a much greater proportion of the public has accessed information, but also raised the importance of continuing to work on transparency. Responding to a question from the floor, Bryan Clark told the audience that digital literacy challenges can be overcome by using well-designed interfaces, good graphics and encouraging both staff and prisoners to help each other. Jason Hall emphasised the difficulty for tech companies in extracting the right data from legacy IT systems, but also the importance of succeeding in doing so to improve practices. He argued that if we succeed, the UK could become the benchmark and envy of the world.

Part 2/2. Reform think tank and Westminster City Council held a breakfast panel event on Monday 3 July 2017 at which the Leader of the Council, Councillor Nickie Aiken, set out her vision for housing delivery in the heart of London. This was followed by an expert panel discussion that explored the challenges and opportunities in tackling Britain’s housing crisis (part 2). Panelists included:

* Cllr Nickie Aiken, Leader of Westminster City Council
* Natalie Elphicke OBE, Chief Executive of The Housing & Finance Institute
* James Cooksey, Chairman of the Westminster Property Association and Head of Central London for The Crown Estate
* Olivia Harris, Chief Executive of Dolphin Living and member of the Westminster Property Association Housing Committee

Since taking up the leadership of the council in January, Cllr Aiken has pledged to bring a renewed focus on providing good quality and truly affordable housing, harnessing new ideas to drive forward increases in Westminster’s stock.

At a time when national and regional government are both setting out their cases for addressing the housing shortage, this event provided an opportunity for attendees to hear about the proactive approach being taken in Westminster. This event examined the tools available to councils to increase supply, the reforms required to give them the additional levers, and how Westminster in particular can maximise both.