Offender Management Bill

My Lords, I undertake to be very brief. Having had a very long experience in a wide range of voluntary organisations, I support my noble friend Lady Howe. It may be a good thing that some probation work should be contracted out to the voluntary sector or possibly to the private sector. However, it is totally unrealistic to believe, and to work on the assumption, that this will make things a lot cheaper. Probation services themselves have used volunteers for a very long time. The voluntary and private sectors may use a lot of volunteers, but the safety considerations have already been pointed out and it will not be cheap.