Hertfordshire Probation reached out to other agencies involved in the fight against crime, when it invited more than a dozen partner organisations to attend its staff conference.

Based on the theme of "How Others See Us", the conference, held at Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre, came in the run-up to Hertfordshire Probation becoming a Trust in April 2010.

As a Trust, Hertfordshire Probation will be part of new commissioning arrangements whereby community offender-management services will be delivered under contract and relationships with public, third and private sector organisations will become increasingly important.

Key conference speakers were Chief Inspector of Probation Andrew Bridges, East of England Director of Offender Management Trevor Williams and Guardian crime correspondent Erwin James.

To emphasise the importance Hertfordshire places on good relationships with other organisations in its work to reduce re-offending and protect the public, a special award was presented to Phil Cockroft, a volunteer working with SOVA, the charity which runs projects to recruit and train volunteers to work with offenders, supporting their rehabilitation.

Tessa Webb, Chief Officer at Hertfordshire Probation, said: "The day was a great success and it was very good to have members of our partner organisations with us, contributing their views of our service. They  learned more about us while our staff learned how our partners saw us. We are privileged in Hertfordshire to have strong working relationships across the key agencies and we are keen to build on this further."

Partner organisations attending the staff conference included: Hertfordshire Constabulary, Hertfordshire County Council, SOVA, Watford Afro-Caribbean Association, Men 4 Men, Stevenage magistrates, HM Prison The Mount and the YMCA.