§ Lord Hackingasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they will publish their proposals on the future of the Probation Services and for improving their joint effectiveness with the Prison Service [HL3252]
§ Lord Williams of MostynWe will be publishing a consultation document shortly entitledJoining Forces to Protect the Public, which seeks views on my right honourable friend the Home Secretary's plans for reforming the organisational structure of the probation services, and for improving its systems of accountability and its joint effectiveness with the Prison Service. Copies will then be placed in the Library.
The proposals are the product of the emerging findings of the Prisons-Probation Review which was announced on 16 July last year in another place, (Official Report, col. 172) and which formed part of the Comprehensive Spending Review. Among other things, the document sets out our proposals for creating a modern unified national Probation Service as a Next Steps Agency forming part of the Home Office, directly accountable to the Home Secretary through a Chief Executive. The proposals form one part of our wide-ranging programme to modernise and improve the performance of the criminal justice system in England and Wales. The consultation exercise will continue until 27 November, and we will announce final decisions before the end of the year.
254WATo assist the consultation process we will also make available the report of the review of options which has informed our proposals.