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 steps he is taking to reduce the numbers of probation staff with caseloads in excess of (a) 50 cases and (b) 60 cases.

A probation worker’s tasks are not based solely on the number of cases they are managing, but the level of supervision each case requires. Capacity of probation officers is regularly monitored by Senior Probation Officers and line managers. We have policies and guidance in place to support managers and staff who are deemed to have an excessive workload.

However, we know that workloads for many probation officers are too high, which is why we are ambitious in our recruitment of additional staff. We are committed to recruiting 1,000 trainee Probation Officers in 2020/21, with 443 already having started in July 2020 and further intakes planned for 2021.

Our planned reforms for the probation system will enable our staff to deliver all elements of their role, protect the public and help people live law abiding lives. All staff will deal with work and caseloads that have a range of complexity, matched to their level of training and expertise.