§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what action he has taken to improve the level of supervision of those on parole following the criticism made in the 1978 report of the Parole Board for Scotland;
(2) in how many cases in 1977 and 1978 licensees on parole were not allocated to a supervising officer; and what proposals have been considered to deal with the problem raised by the Parole Board for Scotland in its report for 1978.
§ Mr. RifkindThe provision of supervision for parole licensees and young offender licensees is the responsibility of340W the local authority for the area in which the licensee lives. In its annual report for 1978, the Parole Board for Scotland acknowledges that, thanks to the efforts of local authorities, social work departments and individual social workers, there have been great improvements both in the volume and the quality of the work being done. The board did, however, express concern about the supervision being given to young offender licensees, and my Department is considering with the directors of social work ways in which these difficulties can be overcome.
There were no cases in 1977 and 1978 in which a person on parole was not allocated to a supervising officer. Information is not available centrally about the number of young offender licensees who have not been allocated to a supervising officer.