Written question asked by Dominic Grieve (Conservative) on Monday, 15 June 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 June 2009. It was answered by Jack Straw (Labour) on Thursday, 25 June 2009 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Probation Officers: Manpower

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many vacant probation officer positions there are in each region.

Answer

The following table shows the number of vacant Probation Officer positions in each of the regions:

	Vacant probation officer positions¹,²,³,4
North East	3.0
North West	11.0
Yorkshire and Humberside	11.0
East Midlands	14.20
West Midlands	10.80
East of England	6.40
London	2.0
South East	15.81
South West	24.43
Wales	13.60
¹ Figures shown as FTE as at 30 June 2007 and can be found in Issue 13 of the Workforce Information Report.
² Includes: Senior Probation Officers, Probation Officers, Practice Development Assessors and Senior Practitioners.
³ Vacancies are defined as "active vacancies", which includes any post that is being actively recruited into.
4 Due to the HR System in use, Hampshire Probation Area (South East Region), Greater Manchester Probation Area (North West Region) and West Midlands Probation Area (West Midlands Region) have been unable to provide any vacancy figures and are excluded from this return.

Secondary information