Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s report, Caseloads, workloads and staffing levels in probation Services, published in March 2021, what assessment he has made of the effect of reintegration of community rehabilitation companies into the national probation service on the (a) mean caseloads and (b) distribution of caseloads for (i) probation services officers and (ii) probation officers.

Our future model for the probation system is based on enabling our staff to deliver all elements of their role to protect the public and to help people live law abiding lives, rather than an average caseload per probation staff member. Consolidating probation services into one organisation will enable staff to work with a more diverse range of people on probation with different needs and develop a broader range of skills, which in turn will increase the flexibility of our workforce. All staff will deal with work and caseloads that have a range of complexity, matched to their level of training and expertise.

We are also increasing our recruitment of trainee probation officers to unprecedented levels in order to meet increased demand on the system. We have committed to recruiting 1,000 trainee Probation Officers in 2020/21, with 443 already started in July 2020 and further intakes planned throughout 2021. This increase will help to ensure that probation officers have the capacity to effectively manage their caseload.