MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
News Release (025-08) issued by The Government News Network on 1
April 2008
Six new probation
trusts have started work today as part of the Government's
drive to further reduce re-offending and increase protection for
the public.
Trust status, introduced through the Offender Management Act
2007, will allow probation services more independence to focus
their work on local communities and reduce re-offending while
providing the same high level of service to the courts and
oversight of offenders.
Minister for Justice David Hanson MP said:
"We must ensure we have the best possible systems in place
to manage offenders in the community, to protect the public and
reduce re-offending. For many offenders, community-based
punishments are proven to be more effective at reducing
re-offending than short-term prison sentences.
"Community punishments can include intensive supervision,
mandatory drug or alcohol treatment, behavioural classes, and
educational requirements along with physical labour. For many
offenders this can require more of them than a short spell in
prison. More importantly they provide the opportunity to get to
the bottom of the cause of offending. Which is why I committed
£40m to the Probation Service earlier this month for exactly this purpose.
"The new trusts will allow the Probation Service to use
services from the public, private and voluntary sector which
provide the best route to help rehabilitate and punish offenders
that are the most cost effective to the tax payer.
"We will be consulting on approaches to finding the best
value services in due course."
During the passage of the Offender Management Act 2007, the
Government signalled the move away from a target-based regime in
which probation areas had targets to sub-contract a proportion of
their work. We are now moving towards a system of Best Value
similar to that used by local government.
Best value was introduced into local government in April 2000,
under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1999. It placed
local authorities under a duty to make arrangements to secure
continuous improvement in the way in which they carried out their
functions, having regard to economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
Under this model, Probation Boards and Trusts will need to ensure
that services are continuously improved using the provider which
delivers the best value for money, whether they are from the
public, private or voluntary sector.
However, as part of the Offender Management Act 2007 the
provision of assistance to courts will be retained within the
public sector until Parliament agrees otherwise. There is also a
wider commitment to retain the management of offenders (such as
supervising offenders in custody or on licence) in the public
sector until 2010.
Notes to Editors
1. From the 1st April 2008, there will be established six new
probation trusts operating in England and Wales: Dyfed Powys;
Humberside; Leicestershire and Rutland; Merseyside; South Wales;
and West Mercia. The Government will be continuing to work closely
with and support these first six trusts in the year of 2008-2009
as they develop and evolve.
2. There remain 36 local probation boards that continue to
operate in all other areas of England and Wales. The Government is
currently assessing the performance of all the local probation
boards whilst considering the implications of wider issues around
efficiency and effectiveness. We will continue to learn from, and
with, our first probation trusts during this time.
ENDS