Reoffending on Probation 2025-06-03
2025-06-03
TAGS
Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Direct Answer
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Context
Reoffending rates remain high with 80% of offenders being reoffenders. The Lord Chancellor recently announced measures to toughen community punishment.
What steps are being taken to recruit and retain probation officers, ensuring they have manageable caseloads and improved morale? What programmes or partnerships are in place to help those on probation access stable accommodation and employment?
Funding will increase by £700 million by the final year of the spending review, a 45% increase in annual budgets. This will fund further recruitment on top of the 1,300 officers to be recruited this year and the 1,000 officers recruited last year. The investment supports services that rehabilitate offenders and reduce crime.
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Assessment & feedback
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
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Context
The Lord Chancellor acknowledged in an interview that sentencing reforms could create tensions with the government's efforts to halve knife crime and violence against women. Mr Holden questions if these reforms are effective.
Does the Lord Chancellor realise that her sentencing reforms will create inevitable tensions with efforts to reduce crime, and that the country will hold her accountable for any failure?
I think the country will hold to account those responsible for the absolute mess this Government inherited. The previous Government, which Mr Holden supported, brought prisons to the brink of collapse. These reforms are necessary; our prisons cannot run out of places.
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Assessment & feedback
The Lord Chancellor shifted focus to criticising the previous government's policies and performance instead of addressing potential conflicts with sentencing reforms.
Response accuracy