Offender Management Bill

My Lords, I am instinctively concerned when I hear percentages put down because, as the noble Baroness explained, they can become ceilings. Of course one wants to see everyone possible involved, but I have to return to the point that I tried to make earlier: this is all very well, provided thatthe resources are there to commission the people. I have not yet seen set out what will be required professionally of the Probation Service and how much of its budget that will take. It is no good saying, ““You have to do that and, incidentally, you have to ensure 7 per cent for the voluntary sector””. That could eat into its statutory requirements, and then what is the Probation Service to do? Having read through the regulatory impact assessment in great detail, I am not conscious that these sums have been done. I have tried to engage with the chief executive of NOMS to find out whether the professional probation services provided by the public sector had been costed and the budget that will be available to commission services from the other sectors. Without being too dogmatic, I think that people have to be clear about this. It is no good launching an intention with which everyone agrees unless it can be delivered; otherwise we will end up dispiriting, not only the people on the receiving end of hopeful contracts which can never be given, but too many members of all three sectors.