§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of establishing and running probation boards was in(a) 2000–01, (b) 2001–02 and (c) 2002–03. [147627]
§ Paul GogginsThe cost of running the local probation boards in the three years in question is:
£ million 2000–01 (Estimated) 529 5 2001–02 580.1 2001–03 626.8 The estimated transition costs incurred to set up the new board arrangements was £2 million, excluding the costs of amalgamating some of the boards. Prior to April 2001, there were 54 probation committees. These were largely autonomous organisations, and produced their own accounts under local authority rules and guidelines. The accounts were not consolidated by the Home Office. The accounts for 2000–01 also included the cost of the Family Court Welfare Service, which transferred out of the Probation Service on 1 April 2001 and is therefore not included in the costs for 2001–02 and 2002–03.