Cuts May Damage Probation In UK
Probation staff will struggle to stop criminals committing more crimes because of £3m worth of cuts, an English Member of Parliament warned last night. Report from the Witney Gazette.
Thames Valley Probation Service is having to make the cuts over the next three years following a reduction in its budget from the Government. Four offices, including two in Oxford, may be shut under a review. It is also feared up to 140 staff may lose their jobs and Banbury MP Tony Baldry said it would mean the probation service would struggle to monitor the 8,000 people a year it currently deals with …
Mr Baldry said he understood staff from closed offices might be relocated to a central base in Botley Road, Oxford, meaning they would have less time to monitor criminals outside the city. Mr Baldry said: “It will not be an improved service. “The whole point of local offender management is to have knowledge of the offender, local circumstances and their family. Removing offices and staff is a retrograde step. It’s going to mean probation officers will spend all their time driving round the county. It will clearly damage offender management” …
Justice Minister David Hanson MP said: “Public protection is the main priority of the probation service and it will not be put at risk – offenders who pose the highest risk receive more intensive contact, with other resources being directed accordingly.”
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