Clause 1
Offender Management Bill
9:30 am
Gerry Sutcliffe (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Bradford South, Labour)
On bail hostels, the hon. and learned Gentleman is quite right. There is a great deal of concern about approved premises and estates—he referred to “Panorama”. He makes a fair point. I should like to put something on the record to which I hope we will return in our deliberations on the probation service. I acknowledge that one concern is that the media would have us believe that supervision of offenders happens 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That is impossible on approved premises. When we debate the probation service, I am sure that we will discuss it in more detail, but this is a good opportunity to put it on the record at the start that we must also manage public expectations and defend probation officers, who are sometimes expected to do a great deal more than is physically possible.