Commons Sense

House of Commons · Written Ministerial Statement

Probation Delivery

12 February 2025 · Ministry of Justice

Proposed by Shabana Mahmood Lab Birmingham Ladywood

Justice & Courts

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

View on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Key points

  • The UK Probation Service faces challenges including high workload and underperformance.
  • The minister proposes prioritising accredited rehabilitation programmes.
  • The government will focus on high-impact interventions for higher-risk offenders.

Issue summary

The statement discusses the challenges faced by the UK Probation Service, including workload issues and underperformance.

Action requested

The minister requests a prioritisation process for accredited rehabilitation programmes and commits to onboarding more trainee probation officers. The government will also focus the service on high-impact interventions for higher-risk offenders while providing swifter intervention for lower-risk cases.

Key facts

  • Around 13,000 Accredited Programmes did not happen from March 2021 to March 2024.
  • The government committed to bringing on 1,000 trainee probation officers by March of this year and will onboard at least another 1,300 in the next financial year.
  • The Probation Service oversees more than 4 million hours of community payback each year and monitors 9,000 offenders on tags.
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