---

Offender Management Bill

I have a lot of sympathy with this series of amendments. I feel that the more commissioning, initiation and so on that can be done locally, the better. At the moment, probation boards have expert members who direct well qualified and trained probation officers but, even so, there is some risk of trying to manage everything from the office. I trust that, in future, contestable Probation Service arrangements will not become bureaucratised, as I fear has happened with some traditional social services. They often seem to be too preoccupied with political correctness, avoiding legal liabilities and failing safe. In the process they have become rather remote from the clients they are supposed to serve. I trust that the new probation arrangements will avoid these pitfalls and retain their creativity and close relationship with clients. I hope that there will be a further opportunity to talk about the length of contracts that will be offered.