Press Release - The National Probation Service: the supervision
of community orders in England and Wales
31 January 2008
The National Audit Office reported today that the effective
delivery of community order sentences could be improved to secure
the full benefits of the scheme by the National Probation Service.
Not all components of community orders are used in all probation
areas. In addition, there is incomplete data on the cost of orders
and the number of offenders who have not completed all aspects of
their orders, and there are long waiting lists for some group
rehabilitation programmes.
The NAO also found that community orders offer benefits such as
enabling offenders to stay with their families and in work, and
avoid additional pressure on the prison estate by reducing
reoffending. Early data show the actual reconviction rate for
community orders is 3.6 per cent better than the predicted
reconviction rate. However, more research is needed on the
effectiveness of some order requirements, such as supervision, in
reducing reconviction.
Courts can choose from twelve requirements, such as unpaid work,
group programmes or drug rehabilitation to create a specially
designed community order. The NAO’s case file review found that in
our sample, 94 per cent of orders were completed, breached or
revoked. National data relating to the accredited programme
requirement showed 97.5 per cent of programmes were completed,
breached or revoked in 2006-07. The remaining offenders were unable
to complete an order requirement before their order ended, either
because of process and delivery reasons within Probation or the
chaotic lifestyles of offenders. The National Offender Management
Service accepts that it needs to establish a mechanism to report
the percentage of community orders ending before all requirements
have been completed.
Some community order requirements are not available or rarely
used in some of the 42 Probation Areas. For example, alcohol
treatment (which is largely funded by the National Health Service
and for the delivery of which responsibility primarily rests with
Primary Care Trusts) varies greatly in availablility. This is
despite strong links between alcohol and offending behaviour. This
means orders may not be addressing the underlying causes of
offending behaviour as fully as they could.
Between 1995 and 2005 the number of community orders given by
courts increased by more than 50 per cent. This contributed to the
68 per cent increase in the number of offenders managed by the
Probation Service from 139,700 in 1995, to 235,000 at the end of
2006. However, the National Probation Service does not know with
any certainty how many community orders it has the potential
capacity to deliver within its resources, nor has it determined the
full cost of delivering community orders.
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, said
today:
“There is some evidence that community orders can reduce
the likelihood of reconviction, but I am concerned by gaps in the
National Probation Service’s knowledge about its management of
these sentences. The Service needs to identify its capacity to
deliver community orders and the associated costs, and the
effectiveness of different order requirements in reducing
reconviction.
“As a matter of urgency, the Service should establish a
mechanism to monitor and report the number of orders not completed
in accordance with courts’ wishes.”
Notes for Editors:
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website, which is at www.nao.org.uk. Hard
copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702
3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office which employs some 850 staff. He
and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
- The NAO reviewed 302 offender case files across five local
Probation Areas visited as part of the study. The sample findings
are not statistically representative of the national picture but
are indicative of what could be found nationally.
Press Notice 06/08
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