Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood has condemned plans to slash the budget of the Probation Service as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Chancellor George Osborne today outlined 20% cuts in frontline prison, probation and court staff. The bulk of the 14,000 jobs lost by the Ministry of Justice will be in the National Offender Management Service.
Mr Osborne also announced that voluntary and private organisations will be taking on rehabilitation of prisoners on a ‘payment by result basis’ which will see a significant step taken towards the privatisation of the probation service.
Ms Wood, who represents the South Wales Central region in the Assembly, once worked as a probation officer in the valleys and remains a member of the NAPO trade union.
She said: “The Con/Dem assault on the probation service makes no sense at all. At a time when Ken Clarke, the Secretary of State for Justice, is seeking to reduce the prison population, a corresponding cut in the probation service is sheer stupidity.
“I know from my experience as a probation officer that short prison sentences rarely work. Community rehabilitation is proven to be far more effective at reducing the risk of further re-offending but what staff will be left in the probation service to supervise and manage offenders and programmes now that Osborne’s axe has been swung to such devastating effect?
“It’s not possible to provide rehabilitation on the cheap – staff delivering offender management programmes have to be suitably qualified and experienced.
“This announcement is extremely short-sighted and shows an astonishing level of ignorance by the Con/Dem coalition.
“The outsourcing of services signals a creeping privatisation of the probation service. History has proven that when a profit element is introduced to a service, it inevitably brings higher costs and poorer results in the long-term.
“These cuts represent a false economy but what else should we expect from the Tory party and their sheepish friends, the Liberal Democrats?”
