§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the extra costs incurred by probation services for every 1,000 extra added to the daily prison population; and if he will make a statement. [46259]
§ Ms Quin[holding answer 16 June 1998]: Increases in the prison population produce additional pressures on probation staff, whether they are seconded to prisons and funded by the Prison Service or working in area services and funded by probation grant, but there are too many variables to permit a simple translation of prisoner numbers into costs. However, we are taking workload attributable to pre- and post-release supervision requirements into account in determining what resources should be provided for the probation service.