Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate his Department has made of the cumulative number of years of experience held by all probation officers in each year since 2010.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The cumulative length of service, in years, held by all probation officers is given in the following table. Most years’ figures are given as at 31st December each year, aside from 2022, where the latest published figures are as at 30 September 2022.
It should be noted that Information on probation officers is only available from the creation of National Probation Service (NPS) in June 2014.
Table 1 – Probation Officers in England and Wales cumulative length of service1,2, as at 31 December each year from 2014 to 2021 and September 20223,4
Date | Cumulative length of service of all probation officers |
31/12/2014 | 1,969 |
31/12/2015 | 5,537 |
31/12/2016 | 9,801 |
31/12/2017 | 12,727 |
31/12/2018 | 15,522 |
31/12/2019 | 19,195 |
31/12/2020 | 22,411 |
31/12/2021 | 36,017 |
30/09/2022 | 36,053 |
Notes to tables:
1. The length of service in HMPPS is calculated from most recent hire date. Where staff have transferred in from another Government Department or have transferred in through HMPPS taking over a function, length of service is calculated from entry to HMPPS
2. Figures presented here do not represent the full experience of Probation Officers
3. The dates reflect the Full Time Equivalent and cumulative years of service at that particular point of the year.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to train prison staff on the additional needs of people in prison on remand with disabilities, including for neurodiverse people.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
On 30 June 2022, the Government published our Action Plan in response to the Evidence Review on Neurodiversity in the Criminal Justice System, setting set out a number of steps we are taking to increase support for neurodivergent people encountering the criminal justice system (CJS), including those on remand.
The action plan includes a number of steps specifically focused on training staff:
we are on track to have a dedicated Neurodiversity Support Manager in every prison across England and Wales by March 2024. A key part of their role is to deliver awareness sessions to upskill staff, and to improve prisoners’ access to education, skills and work;
by the end of 2022, we will have developed and launched a National Neurodiversity Training Toolkit available for all prison and probation staff; and
HM Prison and Probation Service has commissioned the organisation Skills for Justice to develop an ‘Adult Health, Care and Wellbeing Core Capabilities Framework’ for frontline staff, to set out what skills, knowledge and behaviour are required to support offenders with health requirements, including neurodivergent need.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to train prison staff on the additional needs of prisoners with disabilities, including for neurodiverse prisoners.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
On 30 June 2022, the Government published our Action Plan in response to the Evidence Review on Neurodiversity in the Criminal Justice System, setting set out a number of steps we are taking to increase support for neurodivergent people encountering the criminal justice system (CJS), including those on remand.
The action plan includes a number of steps specifically focused on training staff:
we are on track to have a dedicated Neurodiversity Support Manager in every prison across England and Wales by March 2024. A key part of their role is to deliver awareness sessions to upskill staff, and to improve prisoners’ access to education, skills and work;
by the end of 2022, we will have developed and launched a National Neurodiversity Training Toolkit available for all prison and probation staff; and
HM Prison and Probation Service has commissioned the organisation Skills for Justice to develop an ‘Adult Health, Care and Wellbeing Core Capabilities Framework’ for frontline staff, to set out what skills, knowledge and behaviour are required to support offenders with health requirements, including neurodivergent need.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report by HM Inspectorate of Probation, Race equality in probation: the experiences of black, Asian and minority ethnic probation service users and staff, published in March 2021, which states that pre-sentence reports prepared for people from a BAME background were of insufficient quality, what steps he is taking to improve the quality of those reports.
Answered by Simon Baynes
While the decision of whether to order a pre-sentence report (PSR) is up to the discretion of the judiciary, we recognise their importance and are working to improve their quality, targeting and timeliness.
In March 2021 HMPPS published a response to the HMIP report in the form of a detailed Action Plan responding to the recommendations within it. This document sets out how the Probation Service is improving the quality of PSRs for ethnic minority individuals.
An example of this work is demonstrated through the PSR pilot which is running in 15 magistrates’ courts across England and Wales. Amongst other activities the pilot has:
More widely the HMPPS Race Action Programme is working to tackle the racial disparities that persist in the Criminal Justice System by increasing the diversity of our workforces, addressing the risk of bias in our policies, and improving training delivered to staff on race issues in probation, prison, and youth custody settings.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Probation Service staff, who retired in the past 12 months, are currently employed as agency staff in the service; and what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of these staff.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The cost of agency staff for the month of April 2022, by probation region, is set out in the following table:
Region | Total Spend £ |
East Midlands | 60,959 |
East of England | 164,061 |
Greater Manchester | 51,305 |
Kent, Surrey and Sussex | 139,953 |
London | 367,628 |
North East | 39,419 |
North West | 55,299 |
South Central | 70,315 |
South West | 46,626 |
Wales | 14,523 |
West Midlands | 116,020 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 52,778 |
The overall Spending Review settlement continues investment in probation services and provides significant wider investment in new initiatives to reduce reoffending and beat crime. The funding secured for the next 3 years of the spending review (April 22 – March 25) has seen an additional £155m made permanent in the baseline.
The Probation Service recruited a total of 1,007 trainees in 2020/21; we committed to recruiting a further 1,500 trainee probation officers in 2021/2022 and we met this target, recruiting 1,518 in total. The Probation Service will also recruit a further 1,500 trainee probation officers in 2022/23. In addition, we are recruiting around 500 additional unpaid work supervisors, Probation Service Officers (PSOs) and case administrators.
The number of agency staff employed changes from day to day: it would not be possible to collate regional or national totals without incurring disproportionate cost.
We do not hold information on the number of retired staff working as agency staff. This is considered to be the personal information of these agency staff and is therefore not requested.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of agency staff working in the Probation Service, broken down by region.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The cost of agency staff for the month of April 2022, by probation region, is set out in the following table:
Region | Total Spend £ |
East Midlands | 60,959 |
East of England | 164,061 |
Greater Manchester | 51,305 |
Kent, Surrey and Sussex | 139,953 |
London | 367,628 |
North East | 39,419 |
North West | 55,299 |
South Central | 70,315 |
South West | 46,626 |
Wales | 14,523 |
West Midlands | 116,020 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 52,778 |
The overall Spending Review settlement continues investment in probation services and provides significant wider investment in new initiatives to reduce reoffending and beat crime. The funding secured for the next 3 years of the spending review (April 22 – March 25) has seen an additional £155m made permanent in the baseline.
The Probation Service recruited a total of 1,007 trainees in 2020/21; we committed to recruiting a further 1,500 trainee probation officers in 2021/2022 and we met this target, recruiting 1,518 in total. The Probation Service will also recruit a further 1,500 trainee probation officers in 2022/23. In addition, we are recruiting around 500 additional unpaid work supervisors, Probation Service Officers (PSOs) and case administrators.
The number of agency staff employed changes from day to day: it would not be possible to collate regional or national totals without incurring disproportionate cost.
We do not hold information on the number of retired staff working as agency staff. This is considered to be the personal information of these agency staff and is therefore not requested.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many agency staff are currently working in the Probation Service by region.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The cost of agency staff for the month of April 2022, by probation region, is set out in the following table:
Region | Total Spend £ |
East Midlands | 60,959 |
East of England | 164,061 |
Greater Manchester | 51,305 |
Kent, Surrey and Sussex | 139,953 |
London | 367,628 |
North East | 39,419 |
North West | 55,299 |
South Central | 70,315 |
South West | 46,626 |
Wales | 14,523 |
West Midlands | 116,020 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 52,778 |
The overall Spending Review settlement continues investment in probation services and provides significant wider investment in new initiatives to reduce reoffending and beat crime. The funding secured for the next 3 years of the spending review (April 22 – March 25) has seen an additional £155m made permanent in the baseline.
The Probation Service recruited a total of 1,007 trainees in 2020/21; we committed to recruiting a further 1,500 trainee probation officers in 2021/2022 and we met this target, recruiting 1,518 in total. The Probation Service will also recruit a further 1,500 trainee probation officers in 2022/23. In addition, we are recruiting around 500 additional unpaid work supervisors, Probation Service Officers (PSOs) and case administrators.
The number of agency staff employed changes from day to day: it would not be possible to collate regional or national totals without incurring disproportionate cost.
We do not hold information on the number of retired staff working as agency staff. This is considered to be the personal information of these agency staff and is therefore not requested.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and Penge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) number and (b) cost of agency staff working in the Probation Service was in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The table below shows figures for the number and cost of contingent labour (agency staff) working in the Probation Service between April 2021 and March 2022. The total cost and numbers relate to the National Probation Service from 01 April 2021 to 26 June 2021, and then for the Probation Service thereafter.
It has been broken down by the number of Operational and admin/clerical agency staff workers. It should be noted that the figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Probation England, Wales and Probation Reform Programme
| FY 2021-22 | Number of Agency Staff |
Operational Agency Staff | £23,069,614 | 734 |
Admin/Clerical Agency Staff | £6,020,447 | 541 |
The Probation Service is actively recruiting to all vacancies. The Probation Service has recruited an additional 1,007 against a target of 1,000 trainee Probation Officers in 2020-21, and an additional 1,518 against a target of 1,500 in 2021/22. A further 1,500 trainees will be recruited in 2022/23 in order to reduce the use of agency staff.
Asked by: Baroness Burt of Solihull (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many progression panels have been established in each National Probation Service division in each year since June 2019.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The IPP Action Plan is regularly reviewed to ensure that it is responsive to the needs of those serving IPP sentences, whether in prison or in the community. A large number of IPP prisoners have been released each year since the IPP Action Plan was first introduced in 2016, and the Plan will be refreshed, reviewed and republished after careful consideration of the forthcoming Justice Select Committee’s Report and recommendations.
The Public Protection Casework Section in HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) HQ has implemented active case management, which is directed towards ensuring that probation and prison staff comply with directions from Parole Board Panels in a timely fashion.
Best practice ideals, based on an initiative that started in prisons in the East of England Region, were developed and rolled out for use in a number of prisons prior to the pandemic. The roll out was then unavoidably disrupted by the exceptional delivery models which had to be implemented on the grounds of public health. Progress of the best practice ideals will be reviewed as part of the wider action plan following consideration of the Justice Select Committee’s report and recommendations.
Offenders subject to IPP sentences are eligible for electronic monitoring following release on licence, where considered necessary and proportionate by the Parole Board. The additional investment of £183m in the expansion of electronic monitoring will also increase the availability of electronic monitoring for IPP offenders. Those whose risk is linked to alcohol are eligible for alcohol monitoring on licence, which was introduced in Wales in November and will be rolled out to England this summer. IPP releases will also be eligible for a project targeting high-risk domestic abuse perpetrators, where they will have their whereabouts monitored using GPS tags to protect victims, and potential future victims, from further trauma. The project will begin in 2023 and we expect to tag around 3,500 offenders.
HM Prison and Probation Service has developed a dataset and data dashboard, which is shared on a quarterly basis with Probation Regions and Prison Groups to support them in their efforts to monitor and manage their IPP populations, both in prisons and the community. The dashboard is still evolving and kept under review, as we identify new ways to capture additional key management information and present it in such a way as to be the most helpful to the operational line.
The following table shows the number of progression panels (lifers and IPPs) that have taken place in each Probation region by year since June 2019*: During the COVID-19 pandemic, and in accordance with measures mandated in the interests of public health, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) implemented exceptional delivery models which inevitably had some impact on all operational work.
Probation Region | The number of progression panels held (Lifers and IPPs) | ||||
01/06/2019 to 31/12/2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 01/01/2022 to 22/03/2022 | Total | |
East Midlands Region | 114 | 466 | 241 | 23 | 844 |
East of England | 224 | 715 | 554 | 107 | 1,600 |
Greater Manchester | 294 | 472 | 291 | 36 | 1,093 |
Kent Surrey Sussex Region | 129 | 529 | 426 | 79 | 1,163 |
London | 236 | 551 | 629 | 134 | 1,550 |
National Security Division | - | * | 4 | * | 9 |
North East Region | 117 | 423 | 196 | 33 | 769 |
North West Region | 298 | 710 | 447 | 85 | 1,540 |
South Central | 156 | 271 | 328 | 79 | 834 |
South West | 111 | 469 | 197 | 137 | 914 |
Wales | 174 | 197 | 150 | 16 | 537 |
West Midlands Region | 304 | 868 | 522 | 126 | 1,820 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 170 | 635 | 422 | 72 | 1,299 |
Unknown Region | 3 | * | - | * | 16 |
Total | 2,330 | 6,322 | 4,407 | 929 | 13,988 |
*Notes:
1. Panels without a recorded outcome (from the point that an outcome was required to be recorded) were assumed to not have taken place.
2. Due to probation restructures in 2020 and 2021, a small number of panels could not be assigned to a region. These are recorded as 'Unknown Region'.
3. Disclosure control. An asterisk (*) has been used to suppress values of one or two. This is to prevent the disclosure of individual information. Further disclosure control may be completed where this alone is not sufficient.
4. Data sources and quality. The figures in these tables have been drawn from the Probation Case Management System, National Delius administrative, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
Asked by: Baroness Burt of Solihull (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress the National Probation Service has made in delivering improvements to the operational oversight of prisoners subject to Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences, further to the Joint IPP Action Plan published by Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service and Parole Board in June 2019.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The IPP Action Plan is regularly reviewed to ensure that it is responsive to the needs of those serving IPP sentences, whether in prison or in the community. A large number of IPP prisoners have been released each year since the IPP Action Plan was first introduced in 2016, and the Plan will be refreshed, reviewed and republished after careful consideration of the forthcoming Justice Select Committee’s Report and recommendations.
The Public Protection Casework Section in HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) HQ has implemented active case management, which is directed towards ensuring that probation and prison staff comply with directions from Parole Board Panels in a timely fashion.
Best practice ideals, based on an initiative that started in prisons in the East of England Region, were developed and rolled out for use in a number of prisons prior to the pandemic. The roll out was then unavoidably disrupted by the exceptional delivery models which had to be implemented on the grounds of public health. Progress of the best practice ideals will be reviewed as part of the wider action plan following consideration of the Justice Select Committee’s report and recommendations.
Offenders subject to IPP sentences are eligible for electronic monitoring following release on licence, where considered necessary and proportionate by the Parole Board. The additional investment of £183m in the expansion of electronic monitoring will also increase the availability of electronic monitoring for IPP offenders. Those whose risk is linked to alcohol are eligible for alcohol monitoring on licence, which was introduced in Wales in November and will be rolled out to England this summer. IPP releases will also be eligible for a project targeting high-risk domestic abuse perpetrators, where they will have their whereabouts monitored using GPS tags to protect victims, and potential future victims, from further trauma. The project will begin in 2023 and we expect to tag around 3,500 offenders.
HM Prison and Probation Service has developed a dataset and data dashboard, which is shared on a quarterly basis with Probation Regions and Prison Groups to support them in their efforts to monitor and manage their IPP populations, both in prisons and the community. The dashboard is still evolving and kept under review, as we identify new ways to capture additional key management information and present it in such a way as to be the most helpful to the operational line.
The following table shows the number of progression panels (lifers and IPPs) that have taken place in each Probation region by year since June 2019*: During the COVID-19 pandemic, and in accordance with measures mandated in the interests of public health, HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) implemented exceptional delivery models which inevitably had some impact on all operational work.
Probation Region | The number of IPP progression panels held (lifers and IPPs) | ||||
01/06/2019 to 31/12/2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 01/01/2022 to 22/03/2022 | Total | |
East Midlands Region | 114 | 466 | 241 | 23 | 844 |
East of England | 224 | 715 | 554 | 107 | 1,600 |
Greater Manchester | 294 | 472 | 291 | 36 | 1,093 |
Kent Surrey Sussex Region | 129 | 529 | 426 | 79 | 1,163 |
London | 236 | 551 | 629 | 134 | 1,550 |
National Security Division | - | * | 4 | * | 9 |
North East Region | 117 | 423 | 196 | 33 | 769 |
North West Region | 298 | 710 | 447 | 85 | 1,540 |
South Central | 156 | 271 | 328 | 79 | 834 |
South West | 111 | 469 | 197 | 137 | 914 |
Wales | 174 | 197 | 150 | 16 | 537 |
West Midlands Region | 304 | 868 | 522 | 126 | 1,820 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 170 | 635 | 422 | 72 | 1,299 |
Unknown Region | 3 | * | - | * | 16 |
Total | 2,330 | 6,322 | 4,407 | 929 | 13,988 |
*Notes:
1. Panels without a recorded outcome (from the point that an outcome was required to be recorded) were assumed to not have taken place.
2. Due to probation restructures in 2020 and 2021, a small number of panels could not be assigned to a region. These are recorded as 'Unknown Region'.
3. Disclosure control. An asterisk (*) has been used to suppress values of one or two. This is to prevent the disclosure of individual information. Further disclosure control may be completed where this alone is not sufficient.
4. Data sources and quality. The figures in these tables have been drawn from the Probation Case Management System, National Delius administrative, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.