Efficiency and resilience of the Probation Service
On the basis of a report by the Controller and Auditor General, the Public Accounts Committee took evidence from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) on the efficiency and resilience of the Probation Service.
The summary conclusions draw together many of the themes throughout the very concerning report:
"HMPPS acknowledges that the current system is unsustainable. To address high workloads and poor performance, it plans to roll out an ambitious reform programme over the next 18 months. Even if it recruits as many staff as it plans to, HMPPS still needs to address a staff shortage of at least 3,150 staff (out of 15,000 sentence management staff needed). It aims to address this gap by March 2027, by reducing workloads through introducing new digital tools, improving processes, and changes to the level of supervision for some offenders. However, these changes may cause further disruption, and increase pressure on staff who are already significantly overworked. It is vital that the programme goes beyond applying a sticking plaster to the service and that it creates sufficient headroom to allow staff time for learning and development, to enable significant improvements in performance. For the programme to succeed, MoJ and HMPPS will need to have strong leadership in place. We are concerned that they have not yet set out clear thresholds for the level of risk they are willing to take to help monitor operational and public protection risks. Some of the changes intended will place greater reliance on the third sector or private sector to meet the needs of lower risk offenders. MoJ and HMPPS must ensure there is adequate funding for these organisations to help stop the cycle of offending"