§ Mr. Charles Irving asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will examine whether probation officers, currently unemployed after completing their training, could be employed in any way in order to facilitate the reduction of prison overcrowding; and if he will make an estimate of the cost of so doing.
§ Mr. Mayhew:Some students sponsored by the Home Office who this summer completed courses with a probation content leading to the certificate of qualification in social work are still waiting for vacancies in the probation service; this is because of a fall in the rate at which serving probation officers leave the service. The generic nature of the courses makes the probation trainee eligible for employment in other fields of social work; and it is also open to probation committees, as employers, to consider in consultation with local authorities whether such students might be employed temporarily in an ancillary grade, possibly in ways that would support the operation of non-custodial facilities available in conjunction with probation. The cost would depend on the extent to which such employment was provided, and the grading of the posts. Salaries of probation service employees are met by local authorities in the first instance; 80 per cent. is reimbursed by way of Home Office grant.