Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the average waiting time for the allocation of offenders to probation officers.

As of 25 January 2023, 1655 people on probation were awaiting to be allocated to a Probation Practitioner (Probation Officer, Probation Services Officer (PSO) or training Probation Officer (PQiP). This will include cases very recently sentenced and still going through the allocation process.

Our workload measurement tool tells us that 0.4% of the total caseload is allocated outside of the Probation Officer allocation policy to PSOs or PQiPs.

Whilst there is no target for allocation of a person on probation to a Probation Practitioner; timely allocation enables the first face-to-face appointment with a person on probation to take place within five working days of sentence for a community order and suspended sentence order and one working day for those on release from prison.

The Probation Service is introducing a digital tool to support case allocation decisions. The tool will allow for efficient allocation of cases, ensuring adequate consideration and identification of case complexity when being allocated to a probation officer.