MP urges support for probation service
9:08am Monday 28th January 2013 in News
BOLTON North East MP David Crausby, pictured, is lobbying people to take part in a consultation on the future of the probation service.
The government has outlined plans for the probation service to be replaced with private companies and voluntary sector organisations by 2015.
Unions claim as much as 70 per cent of the work currently done by the probation service will move to private and voluntary sector providers.
Mr Crausby said: “The government has proposed a radical change to a service that has proven to be successful. I think it is important that people have the chance to express their opinions on this and I urge people to take part in the consultation.”
The consultation will be open until February 22. For details of the proposals, which can be read in ful go to justice.gov.uk/consultations.
Greedy Banker says...
9:01pm Thu 31 Jan 13
The plans, which will place the running of big regional contracts into the hands of multi-national private sector companies, would destroy the localism and accountability that is key to the success of probation Trusts
Probation is a local service. In Bolton it gains its strength from its links with local authorities, police forces and community and voluntary sector organisations that operate at a neighbourhood level. The probation service, working alongside these community partners keeps people and communities safe whilst rehabilitating offenders, and these proposals risk fragmenting Probation and passing over its vital work to an unaccountable and poor performing private sector, interested only in profits, not rehabilitation nor crime reduction.
The private sector is only interested in large, regional contracts which would sever the link of Probation to the communities it currently serves and make it impossible for small voluntary groups to contribute
We saw how the private sector performed at the Olympics