Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-06-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how he plans to allocate National Probation Service staff to new community rehabilitation companies.

Jeremy Wright

On 1 June, as part of our ongoing Transforming Rehabilitation Programme of reform, the new National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) formally commenced operation. All probation staff were allocated to either the NPS or CRC and many have been working in their new teams since April.

The probation workforce was allocated to the new organisations in line with future capacity needs. This was calculated on the basis of existing staffing needs for the different operational functions. The process was based on an objective consideration of the future functions and offender groups that each organisation will be responsible for.

There are no plans to allocate NPS staff to CRCs. However to help ensure effective working relationships between the bodies, we are in favour of an arrangement that would facilitate interchange between the NPS and CRCs where it was in the interests of both employers.