Lord Beecham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-02-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many vacancies for qualified staff there are in each National Probation Service region.

Lord Faulks

Staffing levels are kept under constant review to ensure public safety is maintained. A new reporting tool for the National Probation Service is being implemented which will provide functionality to capture vacancies centrally as part of the ongoing development of workforce planning processes and capability.

We continue to invest in a qualified workforce. Last autumn, we made over 270 training places available for new probation officers. A similar number were made available in January this year, and a further intake is planned for April. Recruits undertake on-the-job training and study, and graduate in 15 months as qualified probation officers. This represents the biggest investment in the professionalism of the probation workforce for some considerable time.