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Probation: Greater London

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many probation officers in each London borough have been qualified for more than three years. [290331]

Maria Eagle: Probation officers employed by London Probation in London boroughs with three years plus experience is shown in the following table.

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Borough	Total probation officers	Total three years plus experience	Percentage three years plus experience
Barking, Dagenham, Havering	27	17	63
Barnet, Enfield	36	31	86
Brent	24	18	75
Camden, Islington	42	29	69
Ealing	22	12	55
Hackney	24	18	75
Haringey	25	15	60
Harrow, Hillingdon	31	23	74
Newham	34	25	74
Redbridge, Waltham Forest	33	25	76
Tower Hamlets	25	13	52
Bexley, Bromley	27	20	74
Croydon	32	17	53
Greenwich, Lewisham	53	29	55
Hounslow	23	16	70
Hammersmith, Fulham	22	9	41
Kensington, Chelsea, Westminster	29	21	72
Kingston, Richmond	17	12	71
Lambeth,	38	22	58
Merton, Sutton	22	12	55
Southwark	39	20	51
Wandsworth	21	17	81
Note. In some areas of London; London Probation manage the boroughs on a joint basis and staff are expected to see offenders from both boroughs. In these areas the data cannot be broken down further.

Probation: Hertfordshire

Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent assessment he has made of the effect on national standards and service delivery of proposed reductions in the number of jobs in the Probation Service in Hertfordshire Probation Area. [289341]

Maria Eagle: Hertfordshire probation area has carried out a detailed assessment and analysis of its services for 2009-13 to determine how service delivery and compliance with national standards can be sustained in a scenario where the economic downturn resulted in a challenging financial settlement for Hertfordshire probation. The Four Year Strategic Business Plan 2009-13 addresses the potential impact on work force and service delivery demand and the six strategic priorities outline how the service intends to ensure that services continue to be delivered and developed. The Four Year Strategic Business Plan and supporting planning documents form the cornerstone of Hertfordshire probation board's trust application.

Both internal and external stakeholders have been consulted and contributed to the development of the Four Year Strategic Plan and Organisational Development Plan 2009-13, which has been made available on the area website.

Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) probation officers and (b) probation service officers were employed in Hertfordshire Probation Area on 31 March in each of the last five years. [289348]

Maria Eagle: The information requested is shown in the following table:

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Number
	31 March
Hertfordshire	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Probation officers	59	62	52	61	60
Probation service officers(1)	54	72	81	86	86
(1) Community Service Officers are included within the PSO figures, these roles were assimilated into the PSO role during 2006-07.

The data provided for probation officers do not include trainee probation officers.

Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the (a) community and (b) custody caseload of the Probation Service for Hertfordshire Probation Area was on 31 March in each of the last five years. [289349]

Maria Eagle: The total community and pre-release custodial offender caseload for Hertfordshire as at 31 March in each of the last five years was as follows:

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Supervised in community(1)	1,798	1,993	2,366	2,661	2,730
Supervised in custody	684	700	719	725	662
(1) Includes those supervised on court orders as well as post-release supervision. Note: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders resident in Hertfordshire Probation Area were categorised as Tier 4 in each of the last five financial years. [289353]

Maria Eagle: The total number of offenders in Hertfordshire probation area who were categorised as Tier 4 (high risk) as at 31 March in each of the last three years are shown in the following table:

	Number
2006	291
2007	374
2008	298
Notes: 1. Information on tier prior to 1 April 2005 was not recorded. 2. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) probation staff and (b) trainee probation officers he anticipates will be made redundant in Hertfordshire Probation Area in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) the next two financial years. [289354]

Maria Eagle: Hertfordshire probation area currently has served no notices of redundancy on probation staff for 2009-10.

Five trainee probation officers are anticipated to qualify on 31 October 2009. Hertfordshire probation area is currently assessing potential probation officer vacancies and is conducting an internal recruitment process. Any existing probation officer vacancies will be
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offered to the qualifying trainee probation officers in the first instance. Hertfordshire probation area is also anticipating an ability to offer some fixed term contracts, to enable the area to remain flexible to manage its resources. No notice of redundancy has been issued to the trainee probation officers due to qualify in 2009.

Four trainee probation officers are due to qualify on 31 October 2010. It is too early to provide an indication of potential redundancies in 2010-11 for trainee probation officers. The work force planning approach is to avoid redundancy and safeguard the skills the area has invested in wherever possible.

No budget decisions have been made for the 2010-11 financial year, or for subsequent years, and it is therefore not possible to produce accurate staffing projections for this period. In relation to their trust application Hertfordshire probation have consulted with stakeholders and a copy of their four year strategic/organisational development plan can be found on their website.

Probation: Prison Service

Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what targets his Department has set for the (a) probation and (b) e for 2009-10. [290877]

Maria Eagle: The national targets that have been set for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) Agency for 2009-10 are shown in the following table. In addition, there are more detailed targets in the service level agreements and contracts of public and private prison and probation providers against which performance is assessed.

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Number	Combined NOMS Agency Measures	Target 2009-10
Probation	Reduce re-offending (PSA 23) - 10% reduction on 2005 levels by 2011	-
Prison	No Category A escapes	National 0
Prison	The rate of escapes from prison and prison escorts to be no more than 0.05% of the average prison population	National 0.05%
Prison	Fewer than 1 in 20,000 escapes from contractor escorts	National 1 in 20,000
Probation	70% of orders or licences successfully completed	Regional Minimum 70%
Prison	The rate of drug misuse in prisons is less than 9.3% as reflected by those testing positive in mandatory drug tests	9.3% (incl. bupre-norphine)
Probation	The proportion of accredited programme starts that meet the OGRS/Risk of Serious Harm eligibility criteria where relevant to be at least 80%	National 80%
Agency wide	The percentage of offenders in employment at termination of their sentence, order or licence to be at least 35% (PSA 16)	35%
Agency wide	The percentage of offenders in settled and suitable accommodation at the end of their sentence, order or licence to be at least 79% (PSA 16)	79%
Prison	The rate of serious assaults is less than 1.9% of the prison population	1.9%
Prison	The percentage of prisoners held in overcrowded accommodation is less than 26% across the prison system	National <26%
Agency wide	Staff sickness does not exceed an average of 10.5 days per annum in public sector	National 10.5
Agency wide	Ethnic minority staff for the NOMS. Agency, expressed as a proportion of the workforce who have declared their ethnicity, is at least 8.5% by April 2010	National 8.5%

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