Probation Team Scoops Top Award
20/07/2011
Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust (SSPT) has won a prestigious national award for its work with drug and alcohol-addicted offenders.
SSPTs Substance Misuse Team in Surrey scooped the Customer Focus category in the coveted London Excellence Awards at Lords Cricket Ground on Monday night. The awards recognise and celebrate the country's outstanding companies and public sector organisations.
Surrey & Sussex Probation Trust Chief Executive Sonia Crozier said: We are delighted to receive this recognition from London Excellence. The Substance Misuse Team is providing a superb service to local communities by managing and rehabilitating some of the most entrenched and troubled offenders in society.
We are committed to achieving excellence in everything we do as we work to protect the public and reduce reoffending in Surrey & Sussex.
The Surrey Substance Misuse Team is contracted by the county's multi-agency Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) to deliver drug and alcohol treatment to offenders sentenced by the courts to undergo rehabilitation.
The Drug Rehabilitation Requirement and Alcohol Rehabilitation Requirement are six-month treatment programmes delivered over five days a week, where offenders are required to address their substance misuse and associated problems through attendance at group and one-to-one sessions. Those offenders on DRRs are also subject to weekly drug testing.
The team has won plaudits for delivering good results and working with other agencies to deliver services to offenders. That includes an innovative partnership between SSPT, Surrey County Council and Guildford College provides offenders with computer and work skills qualifications with the aim of steering them away from a life of crime.
The London Excellence Awards recognise organisations for improvements they have made in their performance. The rigorous assessment process is designed to provide feedback that will raise their achievements still further. The awards go only to organisations which can demonstrate the highest standards of excellence in everything from results, leadership and management systems to people development and corporate social responsibility.
Open to organisations across the UK, the finalists represent sectors as diverse as construction, property management, parks management, transport, housing, education and youth support.
Pictured above (L-R): Holly Baker (Chairman London Excellence), Dr John Hare (from award sponsor AWE), Carl Hall (Substance Misuse Team deputy manager), Ros Homyer (Substance Misuse Team manager) and Rose Viggiani (Chief Executive, London Excellence).
