Offender Management Bill

I speak to Amendments Nos. 51A and 51B which are in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Turner. Amendment No. 51A aims to keep a key public protection function in the public sector and, in so doing, prevent the conflicts of interest which partly led the Government to list court work as a restricted provision. The Probation Service currently provides impartial, accurate, reliable, skilled and professional advice to assist the parole board in making its decisions on the release of prisoners. Information is provided in writing and verbally and a risk assessment is offered where appropriate. If this function were to be commissioned, there could be an immediate conflict of interest. For example, if the writer were an employee of a company with commercial interests in the outcome, such as tagging or private jails, that would affect the ability of the parole board to carry out its functions. Indeed, in evidence to the Home Affairs Committee in 2005, a representative of the judiciary warned that it could not be involved in a body such as a probation board if competition were introduced into services for courts and therefore, presumably, in prison board decisions. Amendment No. 51B would keep approved premises—probation hostels—outside contestability by adding them to the list of those included under restricted probation provision in the Bill. It is important to keep probation hostels in the public sector. These premises deal with some of the most dangerous offenders in the community and as such are not suitable for private provision. The Probation Service currently operates 104 hostels with approximately 2,500 places, the majority now for people on parole. Over half of these are convicted sex offenders, and in many other cases the original offence involved violence. It is essential that hostels are resourced by experienced and trained staff in order to minimise risk to the public. If hostels were commissioned, there would be a risk that the information and data could be compromised, staffing levels could be reduced and the risk to the public could be increased. The safest way to house the most dangerous offenders on their release is therefore in approved premises, commissioned and managed from within the public sector. It seems to be acknowledged within NOMS that approved premises occupy an anomalous position in that they straddle aspects of public protection and offender protection alongside offender management. Even though many aspects of their regime are designed to change and challenge behaviour and to offer support and so on, the primary purpose of approved premises is to manage the risk posed by serious sexual and violent offenders on their release. On 4 May 2007, NOMS wrote to board chairs confirming that offender management would remain in the public sector until 2010. However, the letter then stated that, "““lead providers would subcontract much of their intervention work to other providers””." That statement appeared to be predicated on the concept of what was ““most effective”” and who was ““best placed to deliver””. The feeling among those working in the area is that such provision is expected to be outside the public sector. If so, that does not appear to be consistent with the principle of best value, which will ensure that if the public sector is the best provider, then it should be given the work. Indeed, such a promise was made in the Third Reading debate in another place by the Home Secretary, John Reid, in an exchange with my honourable friend Mr Clive Betts, MP for Sheffield Attercliffe, reported at col. 1019 of Hansard for 28 February. In the same speech, the Home Secretary indicated that the 2007-08 target for subcontracting will be deleted so that trusts or boards will retain local commissioning powers while ensuring best value provision of services. It would therefore appear that we need a statutory guarantee about the direction of commissioning in relation to approved premises at whatever level they are commissioned. This amendment is not an attempt to prevent the third sector taking an increased role in the accommodation of offenders. It is about ensuring proper provision for different groups and, in some cases, at different stages of a sentence.