§ Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average number of offenders under supervision per probation officer was in each probation area in each of the last five years. [102451]
§ Hilary BennThe average number of offenders under court order supervision per maingrade probation officer as at 31 December in each of the last five years is given in the table.
Since 1998 there have been significant changes in the way in which the services of the National Probation Service (NPS) have been delivered, with increasing
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Average caseload1 of criminal court orders per maingrade officer in post at 31 December England and Wales Cases per officer Areas2 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Avon2 22.3 24.4 25.2 17.6 — Somerset2 16.6 15.6 15.0 14.8 — Avon and Somerset — — — — 15.8 Bedfordshire 15.1 17.2 15.9 14.2 17.8 Cambridgeshire 14.2 15.8 15.8 13.3 17.8 Cheshire 18.6 19.9 19.3 18.3 15.9 Cumbria 14.9 17.2 21.5 19.8 21.3 Derbyshire 21.4 22.7 24.5 23.0 20.6 Devon2 17.4 18.6 18.8 19.2 — Cornwall2 20.2 17.9 16.4 14.2 — Devon and Cornwall — — — — 19.1 Dorset 17.2 23.1 17.6 20.3 24.1 Durham 21.2 20.9 22.1 21.5 25.1 Essex 16.1 19.9 22.3 19.4 23.6 Gloucestershire 16.7 17.3 17.0 16.8 15.5 Hampshire 16.6 20.8 24.9 20.3 21.2 Hereford and Worcester2 11.7 13.0 13.9 14.7 — Shropshire2 15.8 17.5 15.4 12.5 — West Mercia — — — — 16.3 Hertfordshire 15.9 17.5 16.7 18.5 21.4 Humberside 16.9 20.0 18.9 17.3 14.3 Kent 16.3 17.4 15.4 15.7 21.9 growth in the use of probation service officers (PSOs) and trainee probation officers to support the work of the trained probation officer. Both the numbers of PSOs and trainees have increased significantly in the last few years, meaning that there has been a significant increase (20.09 per cent.) overall in the numbers of probation staff with direct responsibility for the supervision of offenders. While the figures published in Probation Statistics may reflect the average numbers of offenders who are assigned to each probation officer, they do not accurately reflect the supervision work delivered by the Probation Service for offenders. I will arrange for a short briefing note prepared by the National Probation Directorate (NPD) which explains this situation more fully to be placed in the Library.
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Average caseload1 of criminal court orders per maingrade officer in post at 31 December England and Wales Cases per officer Areas2 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Lancashire 19.2 20.2 18.3 17.1 16.4 Leicestershire 15.7 17.9 17.0 15.8 15.9 Lincolnshire 14.3 16.5 20.2 15.1 16.2 Greater Manchester 18.0 22.3 26.2 27.2 23.7 Merseyside 15.9 18.0 18.3 17.6 20.1 Norfolk 13.6 15.8 14.1 14.4 15.6 Northamptonshire 12.4 16.9 18.0 13.5 21.4 Northumbria 15.5 17.7 17.7 16.1 18.0 Nottinghamshire 17.7 18.9 21.1 19.5 20.9 Oxford and Buckingham2 14.8 16.9 16.5 15.2 — Berkshire2 19.5 18.2 19.5 17.8 — Thames Valley — — — — 19.0 Staffordshire 16.7 16.5 17.1 15.8 17.1 Suffolk 12.8 14.0 14.8 12.8 13.6 Surrey 15.0 16.6 20.5 18.0 19.7 East Sussex2 14.5 15.4 14.8 13.5 — West Sussex2 16.8 17.5 17.3 13.7 — Sussex — — — — 16.2 Teesside 21.6 24.1 30.6 30.5 44.8 Warwickshire 15.3 12.9 15.8 17.2 16.2 West Midlands 17.7 19.5 18.8 18.9 22.8 Wiltshire 16.9 19.8 17.2 17.3 21.7 North Yorkshire 25.0 17.2 20.5 16.5 14.7 South Yorkshire 18.4 19.3 19.4 17.2 19.1 West Yorkshire 17.6 17.8 19.0 15.7 15.5 Inner London2 17.1 17.4 16.3 15.8 — NE London2 14.6 18.6 19.4 20.4 — SE London2 15.4 14.1 12.6 11.0 — SW London2 14.4 13.5 11.9 11.4 — Middlesex2 15.3 18.4 17.9 16.3 — London — — — — 17.6 Dyfed2 28.3 24.2 25.6 24.8 — Powys2 24.4 35.7 28.3 19.0 — Dyfed-Powys — — — — 18.2 Gwent 18.5 16.5 19.7 17.7 18.9 North Wales 16.2 18.5 23.4 20.1 22.2 South Glamorgan2 14.1 17.6 18.1 15.7 — Mid Glamorgan2 19.3 17.4 18.3 21.0 — West Glamorgan2 1.6.9 18.2 17.8 14.1 — South Wales — — — — 16.8 All areas 16.9 18.5 19.0 17.7 19.0 1 Excludes community punishment orders and drug treatment and testing orders. Includes cases supervised by staff other than maingrade officers. 2 Under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, the following probation areas were amalgamated on 1 April 2001: Devon and Cornwall merged; Avon and Somerset merged; Hereford and Worcester and Shropshire became West Mercia; Oxford and Buckinghamshire and Berkshire became Thames Valley; Dyfed and Powys merged; East and West Sussex became Sussex; Mid, South and West Glamorgan became South Wales; and Inner, North East, South East and South West London merged with Middlesex to become London.