Probation (Hansard, 19 January 1994)

§ Mr. Rooker
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what would be the extra costs involved in resourcing the probation service to work with people sentenced to less than 12 months' imprisonment; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Maclean
Adult offenders sentenced to less than 12 months' imprisonment are not subject to statutory supervision on release, but the probation service already offers supervision on a voluntary basis. If all offenders in this category were supervised on the same statutory basis as offenders sentenced to longer terms, the annual additional cost would be of the order of £13 million.

§ Ms Corston
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many probation orders were made with added conditions, as a proportion of all probation orders made in England and Wales for the latest year for which figures are available.

§ Mr. Maclean
The latest published information shows that some 26 per cent. of probation orders commenced in 1992 had additional requirements, but that in the first three months after the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 on 1 October 1992 this rose to 29 per cent.
700W

§ Ms Corston
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of persons on(a) probation and (b) community service orders had a previous custodial sentence at the latest available date.

§ Mr. Maclean
The latest available figures were published in summary probation statistics England and Wales 1992 which is available in the House of Commons Library. The percentage of persons commencing supervision by the probation service with a previous custodial sentence in 1992 were(a) 38 for probation and (b) 32 for community service orders.

§ Ms Corston
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he plans to meet the National Association of Probation Officers, the Association of Chief Officers of Probation or the Central Probation Council to discuss changes in the probation budget.

§ Mr. Maclean
I plan to meet representatives of the Central Probation Council and the Association of Chief Officers of Probation to discuss issues of current concern. I have no immediate plans to meet the National Association of Probation Officers.