Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average caseload was for probation service responsible officers in (a) Wales and (b) England in 2018.

Figures on the average caseload of probation officers are not collected centrally. 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 and an assessment of risk involved. Public protection is our priority and probation services are crucial to help offenders on community orders or leaving prison to turn their lives around in the community, while keeping the public safe.

The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics showing total caseload in both England and Wales. This information is broken down by Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) and the National Probation Service division (NPS). These figures are published quarterly as part of the Offender Management Statistics Bulletin, England and Wales: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly