Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what action they intend to take in response to the findings of the His Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation's Annual Report 2022/2023.

The Ministry of Justice fully recognises the challenges raised by the Chief Inspector in his annual report and my Right Honourable Friend, the Prisons and Probation Minister will respond to him in full. We are committed to addressing the issues he outlines, most vitally around staffing levels and the need to improve the management of risk. We have injected extra funding of more than £155 million a year to deliver more robust supervision, reduce caseloads and recruit thousands more staff to keep the public safe. The unified Probation Service is delivering greater consistency in supervision and we are already giving local leaders greater decision-making powers so they can better address the issues that are unique to their local area.