Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what funding his Department has allocated to maintain probation services for each National Probation Service region from April 2021 onwards.
Answered by Alex Chalk
Public Protection remains the number one priority in the probation system. With this in mind we continue to manage our high risk and complex cases face to face, as far as possible. Last summer, the Probation Roadmap to Recovery was published, which has since been revised to align with the Prime Minister’s National Roadmap. It sets out the aims for delivery in the coming weeks and months and outlines when we will lift national pauses, rather than mandate when services will be re-introduced.
A four-year estates strategy will see £131m of funding allocated to the refurbishment of existing sites and creation of 65 new sites across England and Wales. As part of the Probation Reform Programme 191 sites which are currently used by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) will be transferred to the National Probation Service.
As part of the Probation Reform Programme, the estates strategy for Liverpool City region and the North West has been reviewed. The probation contact centre in St Helens closed in March 2021 as a result of the Probation Reform Programme estates strategy review. Staff and supervised individuals subsequently moved to Probation contact centres in Knowsley and Prescot. Changes to the estate have not affected the existing partnerships arrangements that are in place between the National Probation Service and key stakeholders/partners in St Helens. Currently there are no plans to increase the number of Probation contact centres in the region, however, we continue to source local premises for specific needs as required.
Funding for the Probation regions for 2021/22 is yet to be finalised. Given the changes to the nature and scope of Probation Service provision since 2010 it is not possible to provide meaningful figures covering the period requested without incurring disproportionate costs.
Data on the number of service users from 2014 to 2019 is provided on the attached table. It is not possible to provide probation caseload figures for the Liverpool City region specifically prior to 2014 as this would involve re-extracting data which would now be incomplete due to deletions in line with Data Protection Act rules applied on the recording system at the time; the cost of undertaking this exercise would therefore be disproportionate.
The number of offenders supervised by each National Probation Service region, division and CRC is regularly published as part of the Offender Management Quarterly series of statistics and can be found via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding his Department has allocated to maintain probation services in (a) Liverpool City Region and (b) the North West in each year since 2010.
Answered by Alex Chalk
Public Protection remains the number one priority in the probation system. With this in mind we continue to manage our high risk and complex cases face to face, as far as possible. Last summer, the Probation Roadmap to Recovery was published, which has since been revised to align with the Prime Minister’s National Roadmap. It sets out the aims for delivery in the coming weeks and months and outlines when we will lift national pauses, rather than mandate when services will be re-introduced.
A four-year estates strategy will see £131m of funding allocated to the refurbishment of existing sites and creation of 65 new sites across England and Wales. As part of the Probation Reform Programme 191 sites which are currently used by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) will be transferred to the National Probation Service.
As part of the Probation Reform Programme, the estates strategy for Liverpool City region and the North West has been reviewed. The probation contact centre in St Helens closed in March 2021 as a result of the Probation Reform Programme estates strategy review. Staff and supervised individuals subsequently moved to Probation contact centres in Knowsley and Prescot. Changes to the estate have not affected the existing partnerships arrangements that are in place between the National Probation Service and key stakeholders/partners in St Helens. Currently there are no plans to increase the number of Probation contact centres in the region, however, we continue to source local premises for specific needs as required.
Funding for the Probation regions for 2021/22 is yet to be finalised. Given the changes to the nature and scope of Probation Service provision since 2010 it is not possible to provide meaningful figures covering the period requested without incurring disproportionate costs.
Data on the number of service users from 2014 to 2019 is provided on the attached table. It is not possible to provide probation caseload figures for the Liverpool City region specifically prior to 2014 as this would involve re-extracting data which would now be incomplete due to deletions in line with Data Protection Act rules applied on the recording system at the time; the cost of undertaking this exercise would therefore be disproportionate.
The number of offenders supervised by each National Probation Service region, division and CRC is regularly published as part of the Offender Management Quarterly series of statistics and can be found via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many service users of the National Probation Service there have been in (a) Liverpool City Region and (b) the North West in each year since 2010.
Answered by Alex Chalk
Public Protection remains the number one priority in the probation system. With this in mind we continue to manage our high risk and complex cases face to face, as far as possible. Last summer, the Probation Roadmap to Recovery was published, which has since been revised to align with the Prime Minister’s National Roadmap. It sets out the aims for delivery in the coming weeks and months and outlines when we will lift national pauses, rather than mandate when services will be re-introduced.
A four-year estates strategy will see £131m of funding allocated to the refurbishment of existing sites and creation of 65 new sites across England and Wales. As part of the Probation Reform Programme 191 sites which are currently used by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) will be transferred to the National Probation Service.
As part of the Probation Reform Programme, the estates strategy for Liverpool City region and the North West has been reviewed. The probation contact centre in St Helens closed in March 2021 as a result of the Probation Reform Programme estates strategy review. Staff and supervised individuals subsequently moved to Probation contact centres in Knowsley and Prescot. Changes to the estate have not affected the existing partnerships arrangements that are in place between the National Probation Service and key stakeholders/partners in St Helens. Currently there are no plans to increase the number of Probation contact centres in the region, however, we continue to source local premises for specific needs as required.
Funding for the Probation regions for 2021/22 is yet to be finalised. Given the changes to the nature and scope of Probation Service provision since 2010 it is not possible to provide meaningful figures covering the period requested without incurring disproportionate costs.
Data on the number of service users from 2014 to 2019 is provided on the attached table. It is not possible to provide probation caseload figures for the Liverpool City region specifically prior to 2014 as this would involve re-extracting data which would now be incomplete due to deletions in line with Data Protection Act rules applied on the recording system at the time; the cost of undertaking this exercise would therefore be disproportionate.
The number of offenders supervised by each National Probation Service region, division and CRC is regularly published as part of the Offender Management Quarterly series of statistics and can be found via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has for the provision of services under the National Probation Service in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens.
Answered by Alex Chalk
Public Protection remains the number one priority in the probation system. With this in mind we continue to manage our high risk and complex cases face to face, as far as possible. Last summer, the Probation Roadmap to Recovery was published, which has since been revised to align with the Prime Minister’s National Roadmap. It sets out the aims for delivery in the coming weeks and months and outlines when we will lift national pauses, rather than mandate when services will be re-introduced.
A four-year estates strategy will see £131m of funding allocated to the refurbishment of existing sites and creation of 65 new sites across England and Wales. As part of the Probation Reform Programme 191 sites which are currently used by Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) will be transferred to the National Probation Service.
As part of the Probation Reform Programme, the estates strategy for Liverpool City region and the North West has been reviewed. The probation contact centre in St Helens closed in March 2021 as a result of the Probation Reform Programme estates strategy review. Staff and supervised individuals subsequently moved to Probation contact centres in Knowsley and Prescot. Changes to the estate have not affected the existing partnerships arrangements that are in place between the National Probation Service and key stakeholders/partners in St Helens. Currently there are no plans to increase the number of Probation contact centres in the region, however, we continue to source local premises for specific needs as required.
Funding for the Probation regions for 2021/22 is yet to be finalised. Given the changes to the nature and scope of Probation Service provision since 2010 it is not possible to provide meaningful figures covering the period requested without incurring disproportionate costs.
Data on the number of service users from 2014 to 2019 is provided on the attached table. It is not possible to provide probation caseload figures for the Liverpool City region specifically prior to 2014 as this would involve re-extracting data which would now be incomplete due to deletions in line with Data Protection Act rules applied on the recording system at the time; the cost of undertaking this exercise would therefore be disproportionate.
The number of offenders supervised by each National Probation Service region, division and CRC is regularly published as part of the Offender Management Quarterly series of statistics and can be found via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s report, Caseloads, workloads and staffing levels in probation Services, published in March 2021, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ensuring that probation staff manage a mix of higher and lower risk cases after the reintegration of community rehabilitation companies into the national probation service.
Answered by Alex Chalk
Following our reforms to the probation service, cases will be allocated based on both risk of harm and complexity of need, with an increased focus on ensuring continuity. The new Tiering Framework will inform the allocation of cases to the right Probation Practitioner, meaning staff will handle cases matched to their level of training and expertise. Enabling Probation Practitioners to work with a more diverse range of offenders with different risks and needs will mean staff are able to develop a broader range of skills, which in turn will increase the flexibility of our workforce.
Where possible, individuals will remain with the same Probation Practitioner throughout their supervision. This will allow for continuity of contact and support the building of a constructive relationship between practitioners and people on probation, helping them to achieve better outcomes and ultimately avoid reoffending.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s report, Caseloads, workloads and staffing levels in probation Services, published in March 2021, how many probation staff have experienced a Workload Measurement Tool capacity of over 120 percent for more than four consecutive weeks in a year for each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Chalk
The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics showing the total caseload of the 20 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) as well as the National Probation Service (NPS). The latest published figures cover the period from June to September 2020. Figures for the following quarter will be published in due course. Figures for total probation caseload are published quarterly in the Offender Management Statistics Bulletin, England and Wales: https://data.justice.gov.uk/probation/offender-management/caseload-total
Senior Probation Officers monitor the capacity of individuals in their teams regularly. The Workload Measurement Tool is a tool designed to assist a Senior Probation Officer in allocating cases to Probation Practitioners by balancing the workload out amongst their teams. Anyone over 110% for a period of 4 consecutive weeks is deemed to have an excessive workload and we have policies and guidance in place to support managers and staff who meet this threshold.
Figures detailing how many probation staff have experienced a Workload Measurement Tool capacity of over 120 percent for more than 4 consecutive weeks in a year for each of the last five years could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s report, Caseloads, workloads and staffing levels in probation Services, published in March 2021, what steps he is taking to enable accurate and relevant measurement of probation staff workloads after the reintegration of community rehabilitation companies into the national probation service.
Answered by Alex Chalk
Our future model for the probation system is based on enabling our staff to deliver all elements of their role to protect the public and to help people live law abiding lives.
We have developed a revised Workload Measurement Tool (WMT) to support Senior Probation Officers to monitor the capacity of their teams. From the point of unification in June the WMT will include CRC caseloads and staff.
All staff will deal with work and caseloads that have a range of complexity, matched to their level of training and expertise.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s report, Caseloads, workloads and staffing levels in probation Services, published in March 2021, what assessment he has made of the effect of reintegration of community rehabilitation companies into the national probation service on the (a) mean caseloads and (b) distribution of caseloads for (i) probation services officers and (ii) probation officers.
Answered by Alex Chalk
Our future model for the probation system is based on enabling our staff to deliver all elements of their role to protect the public and to help people live law abiding lives, rather than an average caseload per probation staff member. Consolidating probation services into one organisation will enable staff to work with a more diverse range of people on probation with different needs and develop a broader range of skills, which in turn will increase the flexibility of our workforce. All staff will deal with work and caseloads that have a range of complexity, matched to their level of training and expertise.
We are also increasing our recruitment of trainee probation officers to unprecedented levels in order to meet increased demand on the system. We have committed to recruiting 1,000 trainee Probation Officers in 2020/21, with 443 already started in July 2020 and further intakes planned throughout 2021. This increase will help to ensure that probation officers have the capacity to effectively manage their caseload.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the report, A Process Evaluation of the Enhanced Through the Gate Specification, published on 1 October 2020, what steps he is taking to ensure that all prisons from which regular releases take place provide support for prison leavers to (a) open bank accounts and (b) obtain identity documents before release.
Answered by Alex Chalk
We are aware of the importance of these issues for successful resettlement, as well as the co-dependency between them.
In order to support those prisoners who do not have a bank account, the HMPPS Prisoner Banking Programme, previously known as the Offender Banking Programme, was set up in 2010 in partnership with the charity UNLOCK. Around 6,000 accounts per year are opened under the programme. We continue to work with UK Finance and banking partners to improve the service and increase the number of successful applicants.
We know that lack of ID is a substantial problem for the prison population. This is significant as ID is normally required to claim benefits, move into work and obtain accommodation. The Enhanced Through the Gate Specification makes Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) clearly responsible for support with acquiring identification documents and opening bank accounts, and they have previously received additional funding to improve current service delivery. We are exploring ways to increase the number of individuals leaving custody with appropriate ID following the expiry of the current CRC contracts.
Asked by: Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation’s report, A thematic review of the quality and effectiveness of probation services recovering from the impact of exceptional delivery models introduced owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, published on 25 February 2021, what steps he is taking to establish the extent to which service user digital exclusion affects access to available service support and provision and resolve shortfalls.
Answered by Alex Chalk
Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) thoroughly reviewed technology requirements to ensure that Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRC) and partner organisation staff could access Microsoft Teams collaboration tools remotely and helped purchase laptops and mobile phones as part of Covid-19 relief and change notice 41. Several CRCs have also adapted their own ICT approach to enable remote working in advance of migration to HMPPS.
As part of the transition activity, the Probation Reform Programme has begun migrating CRC staff over to the same Ministry of Justice (MoJ) equipment and environment used by National Probation Service (NPS) which will allow CRCs to access the digital solutions they require for partnership liaison and remote service provision. People Plus (WWM) were the first CRC to successfully migrate on February 14th; all remaining 21 CRCs will migrate by June 13th.
Remote supervision has played a key part of our exceptional delivery models through the pandemic. Whilst video call capability has offered a digital solution for maintaining virtual contact with our service users, we recognise that digital poverty disproportionately impacts the people we supervise. In recognition of this, we sourced 6500 talk and text devices in April 2020 for NPS service users without access to a mobile phone. The CRCs separately sourced 11,000 at the same time. Whilst these devices do not provide access to digital applications for video calling, they form part of a mixed approach which underpins remote supervision. We believe there is an ongoing need for text and talk devices for service users. We are therefore scoping requirements for the probation service to cover demand during 2021/22.