To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what structure will be put in place for joint working on public protection between the Probation Service and the police under the new National Offender Management Service structure.

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) will build upon the range of work probation boards undertaken at a local level. The significant contribution the multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) have made to public protection will form a key part of the core offender management function within the NOMS. Operationally MAPPA usually function at a local rather than area level and will continue to do so under the arrangements for NOMS. The multi-agency public protection panels, which oversee the management of the highest risk offenders, will continue to operate at whatever level is most appropriate—usually local, sometimes area but occasionally wider—to manage the risks posed by the individual offenders in question.