Mr. RuffieyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many probation officers were in post in Suffolk in each year since 1997; and how many(a) offences and (b) offenders the Probation Service in Suffolk dealt with in each year since 1997. [104800]
349W
§ Hilary BennThe information requested is as follows:
Numbers of probation officers1,2 Suffolk 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Probation officers 89 94 95.4 97 97.5 Probation Service officers 12 9 16 18 25 Total 101 103 111.4 115 122.5 1 Numbers shown as whole time equivalents. 2 Information shown taken at 31 December. Although the question specifically asks for the number of probation officers, the information on Probation Service officers has also been provided. There has been an increasing growth in the use of Probation Service officers to support the work undertaken by probation officers. In particular, the use of accredited programme has seen a number low/medium risk offenders supervised as part of a group rather than on an individual basis as has occurred in the past. Probation Service officers, who receive specific training to enable them to manage these programmes and supervise the offenders participating, run these accredited programmes.
(a) Probation figures are reported by person and therefore information pertaining to the number of offences dealt with by the probation service are not available.
(b) Suffolk:
Persons starting supervision by the Probation Service Number of offenders 1997 1,346 1998 1,467 1999 1,420 2000 1,418 2001 1,373 Source:
Figures obtained from RDS Probation Statistics 2001.