Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many hours of Community Payback are yet to be delivered as of 28 November 2023 in each (a) region of (i) England and (ii) Wales and (b) probation service area in the latest period for which figures are available.

Below is a table which shows the total number of community payback hours yet to be delivered for each region of England and Wales as of 27 November 2023.

The current number of hours outstanding reflects the hours yet to be delivered on the Unpaid work caseload.

Please see attached annex for a table which shows the total number of community payback hours yet to be delivered for Probation Delivery Units (PDUs) as of 27 November 2023.

This Government has announced up to £93million additional investment in Unpaid Work over the next three years. The funding is being used to recruit an additional ~500 Unpaid Work staff so that we can ramp up delivery to address the Covid backlog and effectively manage oncoming orders.

This investment gives Probation a vital opportunity to relaunch Unpaid Work and make sure that placements are visible and robust, and put UPW delivery on a sustainable footing following disruption caused by the pandemic.

Explanatory note

Data for part B (Probation service areas) has a high proportion of hours allocated to unknown PDUs within regions. This is due to regional practice on how UPW requirements are managed (single Regional PDU for all UPW requirements vs localised PDUs managing both standalone UPW requirements and other multi requirement orders).