Probation Service: Lancashire
(asked on 11th July 2025) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the probation service in Lancashire.
Lancashire is part of the North West region of the Probation Service. The North West region has developed a Quality Improvement Plan that prioritises and focuses improvement activity. It includes actions derived from internal audits and reports by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation. Progress is regularly monitored, assured and supported by regional and national, Performance, Assurance and Risk functions.
Data on probation performance are published at regional and national level. Performance statistics for Probation Delivery Units in Lancashire in 2023-24 are shown in the table below:
Performance Measure | Target | Lancashire Performance |
PS02 SL004 Initial appointment for community sentences | 95.0% | 97.0% |
PS02 SL005 Initial appointment for releases from custody | 95.0% | 96.7% |
PS02 SL006 Initial sentence plan for community sentences and releases | 95.0% | 73.1% |
PS02 SL007R Monthly appointments offered | 95.0% | 91.3% |
PS02 SL010 Timely risk management plans (recall reports part B) | 90.0% | 93.2% |
PS02 SL011 Timely parole reports | 90.0% | 94.9% |
PS02 SL012R Completion of targeted interventions for people convicted of sexual offences | 70.0% | 66.8% |
PS02 SL013 Requirements completed by sentence expiry | 85.0% | 82.4% |
PS02 SL014 Housed on release from custody | 90.0% | 85.1% |
PS02 SL015a Settled accommodation at 3 months post release or disposal (custodial sentences) | 80.0% | 72.6% |
PS02 SL015b Settled accommodation at 3 months post release or disposal (community sentences) | 80.0% | 86.6% |
PS02 SL016 Employed at 6 weeks post release from custody | 19.0% | 23.1% |
PS02 SL017a Employed at 6 months post release or disposal (custodial sentences) | 32.0% | 34.9% |
PS02 SL017b Employed at 6 months post release or disposal (community sentences) | 37.0% | 44.4% |
PS02 SL023 Pre-release sentence plans for enhanced cases | 59.0% | 33.9% |
PS03 SL022R POM/COM handover meeting | 93.0% | 61.9% |
PS04 SL026 Unpaid work assessment | 90.0% | 91.6% |
PS04 SL027 Unpaid work starts within 15 business days of sentence | 80.0% | 89.1% |
PS04 SL028 Unpaid work stand downs | 2.5% | [x] |
PS04 SL029 Unpaid work completions within 12 months | 75.0% | 62.0% |
PS05 SL031 Accredited programme starts [targeted] | 89.0% | [x] |
PS05 SL033 Accredited programme completions [targeted] | 57.0% | [x] |
PS09 SL040R Recording protected characteristics | 95.0% | 100.0% |
Note:
- These data are the aggregated outcomes from the four Probation Delivery Units in Lancashire (PDU Central Lancashire; PDU East Lancashire; PDU North West Lancashire; PDU Blackburn and Darwen).
- PS04 SL028 Unpaid work stand downs performance is not available at PDU level for this area.
- PS05 SL031 (Accredited programme starts [targeted]) and PS05 SL033 (Accredited programme completions [targeted]): performance for these measures are not available at PDU level. A number of cases are assigned to an organisational level PDU in the region, and are therefore not reflected in these geographic PDUs. This has been marked by “[x]”.
Outcomes for the North West Region and National probation (including scorecard rating) can be found at: Community Performance Annual, update to March 2024 - GOV.UK.