Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what action he has taken against the Community Rehabilitation Companies that have failed to deliver a quality service; and whether such companies will still be able to bid for future contracts despite this failure.

I have been clear that probation services need to improve. We have taken decisive action by ending current Community Rehabilitation Company contracts early, investing in improvements to Through the Gate services and conducting a consultation on future arrangements.

We continue to hold Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) to their contractual obligations using a variety of levers. These include putting in place action plans for all CRCs where concerns relating to quality have been identified by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service or Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, and applying service credits where appropriate for underperformance on any one of 12 Service Levels focusing on particular aspects of delivery.

We will award contracts to those best placed to deliver them. Any bidder in a future competition will need to provide evidence of their ability to deliver probation services.