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Prisons and Probation

My Lords, I welcome the announcement that Titans are no more, although I cannot say that I am particularly happy about the announcement of prisons that will house 1,500 inmates. That is another unit that has been consistently proved to be far too large. The Minister reminded us that it was 5 December 2007 when Titans were announced. What a pity we did not have a consultation either before or immediately after that date. It could have saved 18 months of confusion and uncertainty, and directed the minds, experience and advice of all the people who contributed to the consultation towards producing something that was practical and realisable. I worry that again we have had the announcement of what the noble Lord, Lord Henley, referred to as mini-Titans, without consultation. How can we be certain that they are going to work? Another thing that concerned me in the Statement was the remark that the Government are always seeking to reduce management costs. That is far from the truth. We now have a monster National Offender Management Service agency with more than 4,270 people on its staff. Yet the prisons are saying that they lack staff to deal with overcrowding, and probation staff are pressed. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Mayhew, mentioned that only 25 per cent of probation time is available for probation work. I visited a prison where the governor told me that 90 per cent of her time was taken up with bureaucracy. If the Government are faced with extreme financial problems demanding a clear, consistent and detailed look at how they are going to spend money for the better protection of the public by rehabilitating offenders, how can they produce yet more figures, Bills and developments without doing anything about the waste that is hidden in the current structure of the prison system, and which has been proved over and over again? Surely they should do something about the bureaucracy that is preventing people who are there doing the work that they ought to be doing.