Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Spellar Excerpts

Tuesday 10th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

17. Whether he has plans to change the contracts of private sector probation companies; and if he will make a statement.

[John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)]

21. Whether he plans to review the future provision of probation services; and if he will make a statement.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Ind)]

22. Whether he plans to review the future provision of probation services; and if he will make a statement.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Gauke]

We should be clear about what happened. Last year, we amended contracts to ensure that payments made to community rehabilitation companies were more in line with the costs that they incur to deliver core services. We are paying CRCs less than we originally intended when the contracts were let: they are receiving less than their costs, a consequence of over-optimistic bidding on their part. When we talk about bail-outs, we should be clear that those companies are receiving income that is less than it costs them to provide the services.

[John Spellar]

Why will the Secretary of State not accept the conclusion of the Conservative-led Justice Committee that this is, in its words, “a mess” and may never work? Why does he not stop throwing good money after bad, cut his losses, blame his predecessor and be applauded for bringing this vital service back in-house?

[Mr Gauke]

As I said in my earlier answer, we are engaging with the CRCs, which do need to improve their service. The model that we have has opened up the delivery of probation services to a range of new providers. It has extended support and supervision to an additional 40,000 offenders leaving prison. First-generation contracts can be difficult to get right—I acknowledge that—but we are taking all necessary steps to get the performance that we require.