Question to the Ministry of Justice:

If he will make it his policy to return the probation service to the public sector.

We have been clear that probation needs to improve and have taken decisive action to end current CRC contracts and develop more robust arrangements to protect the public and tackle re-offending.

We have seen examples of good and innovative work from CRCs. In Cumbria, adapting probation to a rural setting and in London, working with the Mayor’s Office on programmes to rehabilitate offenders involved in knife crime.

I still believe that public, private and voluntary organisations all have a role to play. The reforms we are making are crucial to better integrate the system so that different providers can work more effectively together. We will set out our proposals later this year.