Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to recruit more probation officers.

Following the changes we made to the recruitment process and eligibility criteria for probation officers there have been increases in both the volume and diversity of probation officer applicants. A national campaign to recruit probation officers was conducted earlier this year with new officers starting in July. As of 30 June 2019 there were 614 FTE Trainee Probation Officers in post.

There were 3,357 FTE band 4 probation officers in post as at 30 June 2019. This figure represents a broadly steady trend. Regular figures on staffing in the NPS are released on Gov.uk;

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-offender-management-service-workforce-statistics