§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many probation officers there are; how many are currently seconded to the Prison Service; and what are the projected figures over the next five years. [7216]
§ Ms Joyce QuinThe number of probation officers at 31 December 1996 (the latest date for which figures are as yet available) was 7,313, of which 543 were working in prisons. The previous Government's spending plans for the probation service, as set out in the Home Office Annual Report 1997, envisaged expenditure of £428 million in the present financial year, falling to £425 million next year and £417 million in 1999–2000. We shall maintain central government support at the planned level this financial year, and consider what level of funding the probation service needs in future years, in order to provide community sentences which are effective and which command public confidence, as part of the comprehensive review of spending on Home Office services. It is then for individual probation committees to determine the number of probation officers which they can employ within total available provision to carry out their responsibilities under the Probation Service Act 1993.
The number of probation officers seconded to the Prison Service in future years will depend on the outcome of the comprehensive spending review and of discussions between governors and chief probation officers about the number of officers necessary to support effective throughcare in prisons, within governors' overall budgets.