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Question
The shadow Minister asked whether the Government would accept responsibility for failing to address staff shortages and excessive caseloads that contributed to the tragic failures. He also inquired about a timeline for filling vacancies.
Minister reply
The minister acknowledged the need for improvements but did not provide a specific date for addressing staffing issues, focusing on ongoing reforms and additional funding.
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Question
MP questioned if there were any cases where probation staff incorrectly classified offenders as low risk due to high caseloads, leading to inadequate supervision.
Minister reply
The minister confirmed that excessive caseloads can impact decision-making but stressed the importance of rigorous training and support for staff to mitigate such risks.
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Question
MP inquired about measures to ensure better information sharing across services, particularly regarding domestic violence and safeguarding children.
Minister reply
The minister detailed new policies and funding for staff dedicated to accessing domestic abuse and child safeguarding information from relevant agencies.
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Question
The MP thanks the minister for his statement, acknowledges staffing challenges in probation service, and asks about data centralisation for better information sharing. He also questions when staff vacancies will be filled.
Minister reply
The Minister appreciates the questions posed by the shadow Minister and confirms ongoing efforts to recruit more staff with additional funding of £155 million annually. Specific measures are being implemented in London to address high vacancy rates.
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Question
The MP thanks the Minister for his statement, highlighting risks identified by the Justice Committee concerning information sharing, officer workloads, transition with reunification of service, and quality reports. He asks to strengthen HMIP abilities, create a comprehensive workforce strategy, and move away from video meetings between probation officers and clients.
Minister reply
The Minister accepts the scrutiny provided by the Select Committee and commits to reviewing recommendations for follow-up actions internally. He acknowledges ongoing efforts to address issues before these tragic cases occurred.
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Question
Questions the adequacy of the probation service's handling of cases, citing a specific incident where delays in assigning a community offender manager led to inadequate supervision and the tragic death of Zara Aleena. Asks about funding and strategy for expanding workforce and tackling excessive workloads.
Minister reply
Acknowledges failings but notes investment in staffing and prioritisation towards areas with staffing challenges, including London. Emphasises ongoing efforts to support probation staff.
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Question
Highlights concerns about high vacancy rates in probation service, citing a 43% overall vacancy rate in parts of London, and urges recruitment and retention of staff.
Minister reply
Acknowledges the need for recruiting and retaining talented people to deliver effective services. Committed to addressing staffing challenges.
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Question
Critiques the lack of monitoring for violent offenders, highlighting a case where a woman was killed despite her ex-partner being on probation for violence against women and girls. Questions the Government's failure to make VAWG a strategic policing priority.
Minister reply
Acknowledges high levels of violence against women and girls and commits to prioritising it within the Government, police, and justice system.
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Question
Asks about improvements in decision-making speed and recall process for offenders who should be returned to prison.
Minister reply
Commits to making systematic changes to ensure recalls are actioned swiftly, with a prompt to prevent delays.
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Question
Calls for a holistic approach to the criminal justice system, advocating for intervention in education and youth provision to prevent entry into the adult criminal justice system.
Minister reply
Acknowledges need for link-ups with children’s services, local authorities, education, youth provision, among others.
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Question
Questions whether there are any improperly categorised offenders out there who may pose a risk of committing similar crimes.
Minister reply
Commits to ensuring accurate risk assessments and continuous improvement in intelligence sharing, joint working, and regimes for managing high-risk individuals.
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Question
I am sure the Minister will have read the reports on London probation services published last October and November, so he will know that the chief inspector found that three quarters of cases failed in their assessment of serious harm; that domestic abuse checks were not made in two thirds of cases where they should have been; and that more than 50% of practitioner posts are vacant. My probation service in Hammersmith and Fulham scored zero points, meaning that every service is inadequate—something the chief inspector said he never expected to see. In the light of this meltdown, which is the Government’s responsibility, is the Minister’s reaction not also inadequate?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman is right to identify the particularly serious findings on London probation services and his particular service in Hammersmith and Fulham. We published at the start of this month a comprehensive plan for addressing those issues. We had already been implementing a number of initiatives and programmes. A lot of it is to do with ensuring that we get the staffing up to where it needs to be. At the time of the London inspections, quite a large number of individuals had not been allocated to named officers and were instead coming through a central facility. All those cases are now allocated, ensuring that the multi-agency public protection arrangements are properly in place. There is an ongoing programme of surveilling progress in London to make sure we are delivering against the really important improvements that we know need to be made. Although we do not have the numbers yet, I expect that in the next set of statistics on recruitment, we will see an improvement in the London area.
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Question
I rise as the co-chair of the justice unions parliamentary group. The first recommendation of the chief inspector of probation’s review into the case of Damien Bendall states that His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service should “ensure that domestic abuse enquiries are carried out on everyone sentenced so that accurate risk assessments can be made and safe proposals are made in court reports”. The Minister has told us that domestic abuse inquiries are now being made in cases where electronically monitored curfews have been recommended, but the Government’s action plan reveals that that first recommendation may never be extended to everyone who is sentenced if the Government decide that it is too expensive or key partner agencies do not want to do it. How does that reveal that domestic abuse and violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government?
Minister reply
The probation service needs to look at everything about the individual in terms of their risk. The specific thing I was talking about earlier is that, before putting somebody in a domestic situation with an intimate partner with children, or saying that they can be in that situation, a series of mandatory additional checks need to be done around intelligence and their record on domestic abuse, safeguarding issues and the consent of the partner. That does not take away from the overall risk assessment of the individual, which should take into account all factors.
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Question
I want to ask something specific about the statement. The Minister said that “senior probation officers must now record why they have allocated a case to a particular probation officer”. That must include evidence of, among other things, the “experience and workload” of the probation staff member taking it on. Is that not predicated on the idea that there are plenty of staff to choose from who have the experience and are not swamped by their workload? He also talked about the plan to recruit a further 1,500 trainee probation officers by March this year. It is 24 January, and he said that the graduate market was very difficult, so I simply do not understand how he intends to do that.
Minister reply
On the first point, the hon. Lady is right about the need to manage workloads and ensure they are reasonable. That is very closely linked to her second question. I did not mean to imply that the 1,500 people were going to be recruited between 24 January and 31 March. It is within the planning year or the fiscal year. Government years, like company years, tend to run 2020-21, 2021-22 and so on. We are now in the year 2022-23, which will end at the end of March, so we expect the figure to be 1,500 for the year ending March 2023. I hope that that clarifies the point.
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Question
My hon. Friend the Member for Croydon North (Steve Reed) identified the issue of poor data management of high-risk former offenders. What are the Government doing about that?
Minister reply
Data management goes to the heart of record management. We have talked a lot about how we share intelligence and information, and how to make it better. Of course, how we manage it internally is also very important and something I take a close interest in. The systems we use should be straightforward to use and not overly onerous. Ideally, a record-keeping system should also make us think as we use it and should raise questions. I am told that the systems do that. I am sure there is more we can do. I mentioned some changes we are making to OASYS, to ensure that it includes information specifically about risks to children.