Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what factors led him to conclude in July 2017 that the problems experienced as a result of the reform of the probation service were unforeseen.

In 2014/15 the government reformed the probation system to strengthen its focus on reducing reoffending and protecting communities. These reforms included dividing the probation caseload between Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) who supervise low and medium-risk offenders and the National Probation Service (NPS) who supervise higher-risk offenders.

Since these reforms there have been unforeseen falls in the number of offenders sentenced to community orders, and an increase in the proportion of offenders assessed as posing a higher risk of harm. The result has been fewer offenders being referred to CRCs, leading to falls in CRC income to levels below those expected at the time of competition. It is for this reason that we took action to adjust the payment mechanism in CRC contracts so that providers’ income better reflects the fixed costs of delivering services to offenders and is less sensitive to changes in demand. As previously confirmed, this additional investment will see projected payments to CRCs still being no higher than originally budgeted for at the time of the reforms.