The Rt. Hon Baroness Scotland QC, Minister for Criminal Justice and Offender Management, has called for a renewed effort across society to improve the rehabilitation of offenders and set out the core themes that are at the heart of the National Offender Management Service's efforts to reduce re-offending

The Minister was speaking at the Reducing Re-Offending Alliances launch in the City of London, where she announced a package of new measures designed to increase the public's engagement with the criminal justice system.

The different measures focus on ways in which the National Offender Management Service can work more closely with other government departments, criminal justice agencies, and with the wider community, to build more effective partnerships that help to address the underlying causes of recidivism.

The Minister outlined four key priorities that will improve community engagement and help to reduce re-offending: Community Integration; Unpaid and Reparative Work; Public Protection; and Victims and Restorative Justice.

Among the initiatives announced today were the launch of three Reducing Re-Offending Alliances - the Corporate, Civic Society and the Faith and Voluntary Sector alliances, which outlines how NOMS will work in partnership with employers, civil communities and the voluntary and faith sector to help offenders into employment and integrate into their community.

The event also promoted the announcement of the joint NOMS and YJB Approach to Communities and Civil Renewal - part of the Government's 'Together We Can' Action Plan to empower citizens and their communities to work in partnership with public bodies to develop local solutions to local problems, and the national launch of Community Payback, which encourages local communities have a greater say in the work carried out by offenders serving community sentences.

The Minister also used the event to set out the Cross-Government National Re-Offending Delivery Plan for the next 18 months and to outline the core themes that will be at the heart of NOMS 5 Year Strategy, which is being announced in December.

The Rt. Hon Baroness Scotland QC said;

"Rehabilitating offenders and reducing re-offending is a key priority for the government and at the heart of our efforts to cut crime.

"Crime is something that affects us all, but by working together we have an opportunity to turn offenders away from crime and provide practical support that will help them to become valuable, law-abiding members of society.

"There are many factors that need to be addressed in order to reduce re-offending - including poor educational skills, fractured family life, lack of employment and housing, poor health and drug misuse.

"Building strong partnerships across government and with the groups involved in the new alliances will enable us to bring the right skills and perspectives to this work. This is a key part of the development of the National Offender Management Service and will enable us to strengthen the provision of key factors involved in addressing the needs of offenders, such as education, health, social services, housing and employment.

"The range of measures we are announcing today re-affirms the Government's commitment to tackle the causes of re-offending but it is only by working together can we ensure that not just the criminal justice system, but society as a whole, effectively tackles the causes of crime to make safer and more prosperous communities for all."

This package of measure is supported by "Cracking a Criminal Cycle" - a report published today by the National Probation Service. The report was written by James Maguire, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Liverpool University and identifies how constructive work with offenders serving community sentences can help them to address their offending behaviour and break away from the cycle of crime.