Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on the performance of the probation service in (a) Newport West constituency and (b) Wales.

I, and my officials, have regular discussions with the Welsh Government on all areas of MoJ business. Officials in HMPPS Wales have a close working relationship with their counterparts in the Welsh Government and work with them through a mixture of regular and ad hoc meetings on operational and policy issues.

During the pandemic normal performance metrics have been suspended as the Probation Service has been working under Exceptional Delivery Models, however, we continue to use them as part of our internal management information to ensure continued effective delivery of service.

Both Wales and the Gwent Probation Delivery Unit are operating well during the Exceptional Delivery Model period and against the normal performance metrics.