Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many probation officers his Department plans to recruit in the next 12 months; in which countries those posts will be advertised; and what his Department's budget for that advertising is.

A campaign is in progress to recruit graduates to train as probation officers. It is being advertised on United Kingdom websites only and will be tailored to the overall staffing needs across probation. Funding for the advertising campaign is found from within the overall budget, but does not form a separate budget item.