Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the annual staffing budget was for the Probation Service in each of the last five years.

The total amount budgeted and spent by Ministry of Justice on Probation Services in England and Wales for the years requested is set out in a summary table below.

Note:

- All figures in £m.

- Annual budgets are set taking into account vacancy levels and recruitment profiles.

- Data extracted from the MoJ accounting system, as per the year-end audited management accounts.

- Includes payroll costs and agency staff used to cover vacancies.

- Figures from July 2020 onwards includes costs that were transferred back to public ownership following the end of Community Rehabilitation Companies.

- In June 2021 over 7,000 staff were transferred from more than 50 legacy employers into the new unified Probation Service. This explains the payroll increase in spend and budget in 20/21 (part-year impact) and 21/22 (full year impact).

- All figures presented in nominal terms and have not been adjusted for inflationary factors.

- Data includes all Probation Services in England & Wales, Probation Reform Programme and those within Reducing Reoffending & Accommodation.