The government’s response to the public consultation, Strengthening probation, building confidence, sets out plans for the future of probation services.
This response was originally published on the 16th May 2019.
The Ministry of Justice is responsible for providing probation services in England and Wales. These are delivered via the public-sector National Probation Service and through contracts with Community Rehabilitation Companies.
This consultation seeks feedback on proposed changes to the structure and content of these services.
There will be a range of engagement activity planned throughout the consultation period: details can be found on GOV.UK.
In 2014/15 the Government fundamentally reformed the probation system - extending supervision and support to approximately 40,000 extra offenders each year who are released from short prison sentences.
We now have a diverse range of providers delivering probation services, and have seen a reduction of two percentage points in the reoffending rates of individuals supervised by CRCs. In addition, the National Probation Service is performing well supervising higher-risk offenders, advising the courts, and operating approved premises. But CRC contracts have faced challenges for a number of reasons, including changes in the type of offenders coming before the courts and the sentences they receive.
Evidence suggests that community sentences are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending, and if they are to be used more often we need a probation system that judges, magistrates and the public have confidence in, and that delivers the right balance of proportionate punishment and rehabilitative support to offenders.
We want to build and learn from what has worked, as well as what hasn’t, and focus on getting the basics right for probation – supervising offenders, delivering the orders of the court and working with others to tackle the problems which lead offenders to commit crime.
To achieve this, we intend to:
We are also interested in the views of people who have been through the probation system and/or in prison. Organisations supporting people to rehabilitate or resettle, including probation services and others, can use the guidance and questions included in the document below [Joint service user consultation] to facilitate group discussions with individuals in the system. People with lived experience of probation services can also respond directly to our consultation through the online survey.
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