Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what domestic violence training programmes are available for probation staff; and how many probation staff have undertaken domestic violence training in the last 12 months.

Prior to 1 June 2014 when the National Probation Service (NPS) was set up along with 21 community rehabilitation companies (CRCs), 35 independent Probation Trusts were responsible for commissioning specialist training such as domestic violence for probation staff.

Since June 2014, a new National Probation Training team has been set up for NPS.

Currently, the National Offender Management Service is commissioning a new domestic abuse package to reflect recent changes in practice and ensure a consistent national standard of training. In the interim, the seven NPS divisions are continuing to deliver their own local domestic violence training packages.

Training is also available for probation officers to use a specific tool for assessing the risk of domestic abuse and to case manage offenders subject to domestic violence programmes.

Before June 2014 there were 35 Probation Trusts, which have now been replaced by the NPS and the CRCs. Information is not available centrally on the number of staff in the former probation trusts who have undertaken domestic violence training in the last 12 months as this was held at a local level.