Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help improve the quality of probation services across the North West of England.

The Probation Service in the North West has developed a Quality Improvement Plan which prioritises and focuses improvement activity across Probation Delivery Units in the region, and at regional level, and includes actions derived from internal audits and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation reports. Progress is routinely monitored, assured and supported by regional and national, Performance, Assurance and Risk functions.

We regularly publish performance ratings for each region of the Probation Service, which can be found at the following link: Community Performance Annual, update to March 2024 - GOV.UK.

We are hiring 1,300 trainee probation officers by March 2026 in addition to the 1,050 already appointed last year. We are also investing in new technology to lift the administrative burden on probation officers so they can focus on what they do best – managing and rehabilitating offenders.

Probation funding will increase by up to £700 million by the final year of the spending review – a 45% increase in the next three years. We will deliver thousands more tags, more staff, and more accommodation to ensure that offenders are tracked and monitored closely in the community.