Justice written question – answered at on 18 July 2007.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the impact of contestability on probation services; and if he will make a statement.
If we are to tackle re-offending effectively, we need a flexible approach which brings together all those with a contribution to make. We need to be able to commission services at national, regional and local level according to need. Contestability will enable specialist, low-volume, high-cost services to be commissioned at a national or regional level, where that makes sense.
But it also enables the local lead provider to continue to act as provider and commissioner. Lead providers will concentrate on delivering core offender management, while commissioning much of the interventions work from local providers. Provided their performance meets the requirements, the lead provider in a probation area will be the probation trust.
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