Probation Providers’ Forum response to the Future of Probation report published by the Justice Committee report

Responding to the House of Commons Justice Committee’s report on the future of probation, a spokesman for The Probation Providers’ Forum, representing community rehabilitation companies supervising 50,000 low and medium risk offenders, said:

“This report recognises the contribution community rehabilitation companies made to probation in terms of the new approaches to rehabilitation, our willingness to employ former service users and use of sophisticated data tools to understand offender needs.

“While we were disappointed the Ministry of Justice decided to end the Probation Delivery Partner competition, we remain committed to ensuring our people and systems are integrated into the National Probation Service in June. Maintaining continuity by working closely on the ground with our criminal justice partners to keep communities safe has always been at the forefront of our minds.

“MTC and Seetec will continue to work constructively and collaboratively with National Probation Service colleagues and remain on-hand to support contingency arrangements for successful day one services and tackle the challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic, including reducing the growing backlog of people waiting in the community to complete unpaid work or programmes designed to reduce reoffending.”