§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the probation service budget in England and Wales was spent on(a) research and information and (b) administration in 1981, 1991 and 1992 respectively.
§ Mr. Jack[holding answer 19 February 1993]: Probation service expenditure, while broken down, is not done so in such a way as to enable this information to be given.
Probation areas, taking account of both national arid local plans and priorities, make their own decisions about expenditure on research and on administration. Much valuable research work as well as essential information work is conducted within probation areas.
The number of personnel employed by probation committee in England and Wales as research and information officers and as clerical, secretarial and adminstrative staff was as follows (percentage of total staff in parentheses):
289W
31 December 1981 31 December 19911 30 Sepember 19921 per cent. per cent. per cent. Research and information officers n/a (n/a) 63.5 (0.4) 66.7 (0.5) Clercial, secretarial and administrative staff 23,461 (29.0) 4,378 (30.5) 4,513 (30.8) 1 Figures are full-time equivalents. 2 Includes 947 part-time staff.