Terms of reference
Terms of reference for the Academy's strategy group
Terms of Reference for the Academy’s strategy group
Purpose
The Academy for Social Justice is a UK learning network for people focussed on inspiring change to improve public services, civil society and help people thrive
By bringing people together to share knowledge and best practice in a cross sector community we will enable improved understanding and support development to deliver outstanding social justice services.
Academy Objectives
- Strengthen the reputation of social justice services by driving up standards and increasing value for money
- Identify and share good practice in social justice services
- Enable the development of social justice practitioners by providing learning opportunities
- Seek to provide a challenging learning environment by actively encouraging networking and stimulating debate
- Provide easy access to best practice through effective knowledge management
- Strengthening links with other stakeholders through active networking, collaboration and partnership working
- Deliver value for money in the services it provides
Terms of Reference for the Strategy Group
The Strategy Group provides the business oversight and operational management functions of the Academy for Social Justice.
- To plan, implement and manage objectives as identified at the Annual Planning meeting.
- To specify, oversee and co-ordinate the outputs of the core work functions and provide appropriate authority where required
- To ensure appropriate financial management and control
- To ensure appropriate engagement with stakeholders within the social justice arena and maintain links with other relevant government departments, private and voluntary sector, academics and organisations as identified / necessary
- To review and revise the structure of the Academy to meet the identified objectives
- To ensure that the Academy’s principles and ethics, as laid out in the Academy’s Charter, are applied throughout the structure and services supplied to members
- To ensure that members comply with the Academy’s Code of Conduct when using Academy services
Academy Strategy Group membership and terms of office
Chair
- A Chair will be elected by the members of the Strategy Group and should be an employee of the sponsoring funder. Each term of office will be for 3 years on a rolling basis with a notice period of 6 months to allow for replacement.
- There is no finite time that a single Chair can serve and any Chair can be re-elected again by the Strategy Group after each term.
Vice Chair/s
- Vice Chair/s will be elected by the members of the Strategy Group and each term of office will be for 2 years with each Vice Chair’s term being staggered by 1 year to ensure continuity. A notice period of 3 months will be required to allow for replacement.
- There is no finite time that a Vice Chair can serve and any Vice Chair can be re-elected again by the Strategy Group after each term they have served.
- A Vice Chair will deputise for the Chair in his/her absence.
Regional Ambassadors
- Regional Ambassadors will be invited by the Strategy Group and each term of office will be for 2 years with a notice period of 3 months to allow for replacement
- There is no finite time that a Regional Ambassador can serve and any person in post can be re-elected again by the Strategy Group after each term they have served.
Deputy Regional Ambassadors
- Regional Ambassadors will appoint a Deputy who will deputise in the Regional Ambassadors’ absence. The term of office for this post will be for 1 year with a notice period of 2 months to allow for replacement.
- There is no finite time that a Deputy Ambassador can serve and they can be re-appointed after each term they have served.
Strategy Group members
The Strategy Group is comprised of the following members:-
- The Chair
- Head of Academy for Social Justice
- The Vice Chair/s
- The Regional Ambassadors
- The Deputy Ambassadors (as required)
Current Strategy Group Membership:
Chair - Dr Simon Marshall │HM Prison and Probation Service
Head of the Academy - Janet Cullinan │ Academy for Social Justice
Vice Chair and London Regional Ambassador - Patsy Northern │Simply Transformation
Vice Chair and North West Regional Ambassador - Professor Chris Fox │Manchester Metropolitan University
East Midlands Regional Ambassador - Caroline Morrison│ HM Prison and Probation Service
South West Regional Ambassador - Sally Lewis │ Safeguarding and Criminal Justice Professional
South West Regional Ambassador - Professor Kieran McCartan │ University of the West of England
Yorkshire Regional Ambassador - Jonathan Martin │ HM Prison and Probation Service
Academy Sponsors
The Academy typically has two sponsors, one senior leader from HM Prison and Probation Service and one from the wider Ministry of Justice agencies.
Academy sponsors support the Academy and help set the Academy’s objectives.
Position Statement
The Academy for Social Justice (the Academy) is a UK networked community of people focussed on inspiring change to improve public services, civil society and help people thrive.
The Academy exists to bring a diverse range of people together from different vocations and sectors, to share knowledge, skills and practice and to help members self-reflect on lessons for their own sector and role. The Academy seeks to be a valued source of peer expertise and learning support to promote social justice through public services and civil society.
Both membership and Academy services are free, including seminars, workshops, conferences and learning sets featuring expert speakers. Event topics are guided by the membership and focus on sharing practice and learning to enhance collective knowledge and operational practice.
The Academy encourages a breadth of organisational participation but, through due diligence, promotes balanced and objective views; ensuring that members and speakers do not seek to commercially exploit the community. The Academy as a network does not hold specific positions or views or endorse the views of any speaker. It also has an acceptable behaviour policy which sets out the clear expectations of speakers and participants and reserves the right to warn and remove members and speakers over any breaches of that policy. All speakers undergo due diligence to ensure integrity and credibility.
The Academy is supported by HM Prison and Probation Services (HMPPS) but does not speak for or seek to represent its funder and the focus of activities is social justice and not purely criminal justice or criminal justice perspectives. An HMPPS Chair steers the direction of the Academy and is supported by cross sectoral volunteers to ensure a wide range of social justice topics are offered.