Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the performance of (a) the National Probation Service and (b) community rehabilitation companies in placing ex-offenders into employment in (i) Norfolk and (ii) England.

We assess the performance of the National Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) through a range of service levels and, for CRCs, through a robust contract management and assurance process. Performance information against these service levels is published quarterly but it does not include an assessment of performance in placing offenders into employment. We have, however, introduced enhanced measures of resettlement which include the recording of employment at the start and end of the sentence and at the end of the licence supervision period for any offender. We aim to include this in future publications, for both CRCs and the National Probation Service, once data collection has bedded in.

We closely monitor and robustly manage providers to make sure they fulfil their commitments to maintain service delivery, reduce reoffending, protect the public and provide value for money to the taxpayer.