Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Tuesday 24th April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Vicky Foxcroft (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab)]

11. What assessment he has made of reoffending rates since the part-privatisation of probation services.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

18. What assessment he has made of reoffending rates since the part-privatisation of probation services.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Rory Stewart)]

While the frequency of reoffending—in other words, the number of offences committed by prolific offenders—has risen since 2009, the base rate, or the number of people reoffending, has dropped by two percentage points since the introduction of community rehabilitation contracts.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ruth Cadbury]

The joint report of the inspectorates of probation and of prisons stated that if the key functions of community rehabilitation companies

“were removed tomorrow…the impact…would be negligible.”

So what exactly are we paying for?

[Rory Stewart]

I must respectfully disagree with that. As I have said, the base rate of reoffending has dropped by two percentage points, which is actually quite significant, as the rate was flat for nearly 40 years before that. It would be very dangerous indeed to remove the community rehabilitation companies, which are looking after 40,000 people who were previously under very short periods of supervision, and nearly 100,000 extra people who would be dangerous to the community if not properly monitored.