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Offender Management Bill

I intend to address that point in a moment, if my hon. Friend will bear with me. The Bill aims to open up the monopoly of probation to new ideas and thinking, in a partnership of equals. I have grave concerns about the claims by NAPO that police and prison services will be unwilling to co-operate if multiple supervision is introduced or if private sector companies become involved in the supervision of high risk offenders. I would welcome a response from my hon. Friend the Minister on the likelihood of the police being unwilling to co-operate in working with the private sector. That suggestion must be addressed. I cannot agree that this Bill will result in chaos, less co-operation, silo mentalities, and an overly bureaucratic and impossible to manage system. In my constituency, I have Parc prison, which is managed by Group 4. I acknowledge that in its initial years the prison had problems, but there are state sector prisons that have had problems for many years. I now see, especially in the Parc supporting families group, good examples of partnership working between the police, prison staff, the probation service, the local authority and the voluntary sector. In setting up our new relationships with the private sector, we may have to be absolutely clear about our expectations for the operation of partnerships and the production of the outcomes we want. Success is possible and we can demonstrate it. In particular, I welcome the commitment to slow implementation of the proposed changes. If the pace of change is slow, there will be time for the changes to bed in and for the problems to be solved. I welcome the commitment to training, regulation and inspection. I welcome the voluntary sector’s innovation and creativity in offender management. As the Bill progresses, I am sure that my hon. Friend the Minister will be able to address the anxieties of the probation service and the fears about the erosion of local accountability. Let us hope that through the Bill we will better serve the persistent reoffenders whom the present system is not best serving.