Offender Management Bill

My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to participate in this Second Reading debate. I well understand the desire of the Government to improve the management of offenders and thus contribute to reducing crime. However, the approach of the Bill is deeply flawed. In 2004, the Government published the Carter report and, as a result, the National Offender Management Service was created. It is strange that there is no reference to NOMS in the Bill. Instead, it appears to abolish the National Probation Service and replace it with a competitive market. I simply do not understand the Government’s desire to privatise irrespective of the service to be provided, and, as far as I can see, without any assessment of the level of experience and professionalism required. I know that the Minister has said this afternoon that the Bill does not privatise, but I am not convinced. Neither are a number of people who work in the service. The Bill will also abolish probation boards and replace them with trusts, removing the requirement for magistrates and local authority members to sit on the boards. There is no indication that the current 42 criminal justice areas will form part of the set-up. There would appear to be a far higher degree of centralisation indicated in the Bill; whereas the general view of those concerned with the service appears to be that local involvement is very necessary, including support from the local community. I have had some discussions with NAPO and also with the Probation Boards’ Association. The Probation Service is in its centenary year, as we have heard this afternoon, and, before costly reorganisation is embarked on, the aims of the service need to be re-established. NAPO’s view is that the Government have tended to emphasise probation’s role in terms of punishment and public protection, often at the expense of rehabilitation and reintegration. NAPO says that the core objective has always been about changing people’s behaviour. Through supervision, offenders should be encouraged to change their attitudes and lead law-abiding lives. Probation has always emphasised the need to ensure that offenders comply with the conditions of the orders. The cost of administering the corrections service has substantially increased. Supplementary estimates for 2006-07 show that the total amount to be spent on the centralised and regionalised bureaucracy of NOMS is £899 million compared with £832 million for the whole of the Probation Service for England and Wales. So what is the justification for the introduction of the market? I understand that Ministers have justified the proposal on the grounds that the performance of the Probation Service is not good enough and that reoffending rates are unacceptably high. NAPO claims that neither argument stands up to examination. It says that the service is performing well, indeed better than ever, against its 30 government targets. As to reoffending, during the passage of this Bill Ministers have claimed that nearly 60 per cent of offenders were reconvicted within two years. That is said to be similar to jail. But it appears that 65.8 per cent of offenders released from jail reoffended, compared with 53 per cent on community penalties. This afternoon my noble friend mentioned that there has been a reduction in reoffending. She was also generous enough to praise the work of the Probation Service and the commitment of its members, for which I thank her. But is it really imagined that the service could be improved via a multiplicity of competing private providers? What kind of training, if any, is to be provided? What qualifications will they require? It surely cannot be justified on grounds of cost. A private company must make a profit in order to satisfy its shareholders, which is why privatisation usually involves staff reductions and sometimes salary reductions. The Probation Service is currently responsible for enforcing conditions for the 200,000 people on community orders or parole, in addition to a number of other services. Moreover, it seems very likely that these functions will increase. The service is likely to need more trained and qualified people rather than fewer. The Probation Boards’ Association maintains that the Government’s objectives in relation to reduction of reoffending and better management of offenders could be achieved without what they term ““costly reorganisation?. Money spent on breaking up the Probation Service and on transaction costs in relation to commissioning from a multitude of providers would be better spent on boosting the Probation Service and its partners. It is interesting that Scotland has rejected the notions in this Bill, which covers England and Wales only. Scotland has rejected the idea of a NOMS and competition and instead opted for the establishment of a statutory duty on prisons and probation to consult each other and the voluntary sector on the provision of offender services. The Scottish Executive has also accepted the argument that services for offenders should be as close to the point of delivery as possible. I gather that before the Bill left the Commons the Home Secretary made a number of concessions, so we may presumably expect some government amendments in Committee. There will of course be an opportunity to seek amendments then, and I have no doubt that a number of noble Lords will wish to do so.