§ Sir W. Jenkinsasked the Home Secretary whether a county probation committee is a statutory committee; to whom it has to report its findings; either the standing joint committee, the quarter sessions, or the county council; and will he consider issuing an order to make the probation committee and education committee a joint committee of a limited number to deal with probation matters, and that the probation officer can be used before court proceedings as well as after?
§ Mr. H. MorrisonProbation committees are statutory bodies created by the provisions of Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1925, which define their functions. They are comprised of a small number of justices selected by the justices acting for the court or courts concerned, and they do not report to any other body. Probation is a method of treatment which is applicable to adult as well as to juvenile offenders, and the functions of probation committees and education committees are distinct except in so far as both are concerned with the welfare of juveniles who come before the Court. It is, however, most desirable that they should co-operate as closely as possible in matters which are their common concern, and particularly in encouraging collaboration between probation officers and school teachers the need for which was emphasised in the joint memorandum recently issued by the Home Office and the Board of Education. As regards the use of the services of a probation officer in making preliminary inquiries, including inquiries into the home circumstances of offenders with a view to assisting the Court to decide what is the most appropriate method of treatment, the Probation Rules of 1926 expressly include among the duties of probation officers the making of such inquiries under directions from the court; and the Home Office has called special attention to the importance of such investigations in the published handbook on the probation service and in the recent memorandum on juvenile offenders.