Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken in relation to poor performance by community rehabilitation companies in the last five years.

The performance of all CRCs is robustly managed by the department and we will not hesitate to take action if standards fall short. Contract Management teams rigorously monitor performance across all CRCs. Where poor performance has been identified; relevant contractual levers are applied including service credits and performance improvement plans to drive up the performance standards as required. As of July 2018, there were 35 specific improvement plans in place across 15 of the CRCs and covering 10 service metrics.

On 16 May 2019 the Government made an announcement by setting out plans for the future of probation in England and Wales. From spring 2021, our reforms will see a stronger role for the National Probation Service in managing all offenders, greater voluntary sector involvement in rehabilitation, and the private sector leading where it has specialist experience and can support innovation.